philosophy – Success Across Cultures

Ricky Gervais, Gad Elmaleh, Dave Chappelle, Ken Shimura. Take a look at your favorite comics, and you’ll often find that humor is rooted in shared experiences.

A shared cultural background and community often helps in connecting with what makes humor humorous. Without insider knowledge and localized context, jokes about politics, social norms, and everyday life are totally lost on outsiders.

The slapstick comedy that makes people laugh in one part of the world may leave those in another part rolling their eyes. The sarcasm some cultures find witty may confuse or offend others. And puns aren’t punny to those who don’t know the language or idioms enough to follow.

So, let’s explore humor across several cultures to identify where we might divide or come together.

British Sarcasm: Wit or Confusion?

“Let’s face it, the gene pool needs a little chlorine.” – Jimmy Carr

Irony is the Brits’ cup of tea.

With a dry, understated humor, the Brits have taken sarcasm to the next level.

They love deadpan, banter, innuendo, puns. It’s all part of their wit.

Monty Python is heavy with satire and wordplay. To a Brit, it’s hilarious – because they’ve learned to use sarcasm to deal with life’s sometimes painful and complex aspects.

But to someone unfamiliar with the British way of speaking, their sarcasm can be baffling or even sound like genuine complaining.

Without understanding the cultural context or the delivery, the humor is lost.

Japanese Puns: Wordplay That Falls Flat

In Japanese, puns are called dajare – literally “bad jokes” – and they’re the local version of dad jokes. These rely on homophones and wordplay, often charmingly silly.

Take this classic:

アルミ缶の上にある蜜柑 (arumi kan no ue ni aru mikan)

“A tangerine on an aluminum can.”

It plays on how “arumi kan” (aluminum can) and “aru mikan” (there is a mikan/tangerine) sound nearly identical.

The result? A pun that’s more about the sound than the punchline

As you can see, to a non-Japanese speaker or one who is not fluent, this would just sound like a string of random words without any punchline.

The humor relies on the nuance of Japanese language, which doesn’t translate well into other languages – and this can be said about puns in any language/culture.

When it comes to humor, context truly is king. A joke that causes audiences to double over with laughter in one country may fall flat in another…or may even be deemed offensive.

That’s why understanding humor in a cross-cultural context isn’t just about the words; it’s about the culture that shapes them.

“If you can revive the ancient and use it to understand the modern, then you are worthy to be a teacher.” – Confucius

History. Religion. Language.

We’ve been talking about these cornerstones of culture the past few weeks, taking them one at a time.

But what happens when they meet?

And how can you, as Confucius says, understand the modern by reviving the ancient?

Welcome to the Beijing Olympics

It was 2008. Beijing, China. Olympic Opening Ceremony.

“Friends have come from afar, how happy we are.”

A quote by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, was presented at the fore.

Later, the Bird’s Nest was invaded by 3,000 Confucian disciples. The performers held bamboo slips, upon which some read the ancient Chinese character, “He,” which means harmony.

The religious philosophy of Confucianism was present at the international ceremony, as the great philosopher represents the Chinese mind.

Alive from 552 to 479 BC, “The Uncrowned King” remains today, 1,500 years later, Chinese history’s most influential person.

He is so influential that his traditional ideas and teachings remain a part of modern Chinese thought.

A Culture Influenced By Religion and History

Although Confucius was once deemed “The Number One Hooligan Old Kong” by Mao’s Red Guards, the Communist Party realized that the great philosopher might be useful for their agenda.

Only, instead of true harmony in the way Confucian taught, the Communist Party Confucius emphasizes obedience and loyalty. He bucks Western ideals and pushes for authoritarian rule.

“Harmony” – a Confucian concept – is used a lot by Communists; harmony, meaning no dissent.

The true Confucian take on harmony, however, is one in which each person in a society works together toward prosperity.

A research paper entitled, “The Relevance of Confucian Philosophy to Modern Concepts of Leadership and Followership,” explains Confucius’ views as follows:

“Confucius observed that because society is a weave of relationships between individuals, a healthy community depends upon an attitude of human caring among its members.”

By cherry-picking and restructuring Confucian values, the party is able to create a version of a modern political system that it can say is based on the traditional past.

In this way, Chinese history and religion tell us why a nationalistic central government, guided by moral individuals who have the people’s best interests at heart, is the way China chooses to be led – and to become a major world power.

History and religion tell us why a democratic Western political system does not sit well culturally in China.

This demonstrates that, in the end, to truly understand the ways and mentalities of your host country and its people, you must study its history and religion – and also the ways in which that history and religion might be politicized in the modern world.

Tag: philosophy

When Religion Meets History: Confucian & Communism in Chinese Culture