Today, you are a member of… A Raven Walks Into This Bar…
The definition of Adoxography is (to paraphrase) “penning exuberantly about that which is unworthy of such efforts.” A lauded example is the Renaissance-par-excellence treatise by Erasmus titled, “In Praise of Folly” – a book length swagger by our Lady Folly about the virtue of fools and how “you’ll find nothing frolic or fortunate that it owes not to me.” Problem with such exercises is, sometimes they backfire. In Erasmus’ case, his intent was to criticize the Catholic Church for its pendantic bureaucracy, but in fact, Pope Leo X found the book a complete howl. A more modern case would be when Fela Kuti found soldiers dancing to his song “Zombie.” Point being members, on a week that begins with April Fools Day, yes, Folly and Adoxography can certainly can get a point across. But don’t forget about where that point is landing – being truly foolish in a witless universe requires more than eliciting a good chuckle.
