The Honesty of the Fool: “Oh, I thought I was weird. Now I’m just normal.”
What makes us human? This was the question Robin Ince was going to answer for the next 45 minutes. I originally thought that 45 minutes might not be appropriate given the scope of the topic ahead. I thought I was being a bit cheeky when I asked Robin Ince our only essay question for the unit: “What is the Public Role of the Humanities?” He informed me that he had yet to be asked that question on his current tour, however his answer was revealing and has altered my own thoughts on the topic.I had long believed the answer to the question of ‘what it means to be human’ is our ability to connect with one another. It is an innately human quality.
The University of Bristol has been going through a crisis of mental health recently with men’s mental health being a cause of great concern. Looking around the library there is a plethora of poster’s asking whether or not we are okay. I’m not entirely convinced that a poster is going to help.
“The humanities show the enormity of the picture and provides a life belt to make people feel less crazy.”
The majority of the talk was spent on the topic of therapy, and to mental health in general. It was refreshing to hear a man talk about his ongoing journey through therapy as I fear that it is something that is rarely discussed outside of the university setting.
Listening to the talk, I was reminded of a moment in ‘The History Boys: “The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you […] And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.” Robin Ince, on several occasions, tearfully took our collective hands whilst discussing his “comedy creation story.”
It seemed perhaps ironic that on the week I had to read Peter Pan for another unit, Robin Ince was here talking about an accident he was involved in at the age at two that inspired his journey into comedy; two, after all, being “the beginning of the end.” Rather than an uncomfortable voyeurism into his life, the purpose of this story was to connect to a crowd of total strangers and to normalise therapy and trauma by making it accessible to a wider audience.
I consistently use humour to make light of my disability; it allows me to connect with those who are able-bodied. It doesn’t mean that I am in any less pain. However, it makes discussing the topic a bit less daunting for me. Ince used this tactic throughout most of his talk, interjecting serious topics with off the cuff, morbid humour. The decline of communication and rise of isolation were two of Ince’s fears for the world ahead. Second to this was lack of critical thinking and analysis. By being able to connect the humanities to day-to-day life, we are able to harness this “lifebelt,” find comfort, and understand situations in new light. The underpinning premise of his fears is that storytelling, which is at the heart of the humanities, is dying. We must protect it if the future of the humanities is to succeed.
Afterwards, when discussing the show with Kate, a fellow liberal arts student, we had both found the phrases “honesty of the fool,” and “high and low art” reaching our lips. “Low art” was decided to be the more open, accessible and amusing of the two. We must unshackle the ideas that art can only retain importance if it is “high-brow” when its value is identical to that of “low art.” By marrying these two ideas of art then we are able to normalise and make accessible that which was alien before.So, what does it mean to be human? I’m still not entirely sure, but at least I can laugh about it along the way.