By Arjun Walia

Laughter is an important part of health and happiness. Imagine if laughter was banned.

We are lucky to live in reasonably free countries which value democracy, allow free elections, free speech and freedom of the press (although some might dispute this). Some countries ban alcohol and women’s faces. We are the lucky ones. We value freedom. We value humor, and, whatever else happens, we can still laugh. Imagine if laughter was banned?

What Is The Value Of Laughter

Laughter is an amazing product, and is vital to our health and wellbeing. According to Norman Cousins, in Anatomy of an Illness,” Laughter is a powerful prescription” for pain, stress, anxiety and depression. Moreover, it costs nothing and has absolutely no side effects. This best medicine has been shown to help with heart disease, asthma, diabetes and many other common health problems. This has been proven by various studies.

What would we do without it?? William B. Strean, in his article “Laughter Prescription” for the Canadian Family Physician, agreed there is “a substantial body of well-researched information demonstrating many benefits and potential benefits of laughter and humor”. It definitely makes our lives worth living, and best of all, it’s free, it’s tax exempt and (so far) it’s legal.

If Laughter Was Banned

But, one day, the powers that be will discover how valuable and powerful it is and they’ll ban it.

Imagine if all the joke books and funny videos, movies and DVDs were burnt, comedians were banned, and laughter was illegal? Jerry Seinfeld would be banished to a lonely island; laughter groups all arrested and off to the laughter prison.

Secret societies would spring up with special handshakes and private meeting places, like the opium dens of old, where small groups with furtive faces would dare to watch black market movies and comedy DVDs, and chortle quietly into their red wine.

No doubt a laughter mafia would move in to sell illegal copies of comedy films in back alleyways and demand protection money to safeguard the secret laughing dens.

WikiLeaks would have to publish secret jokes and funny stories and Sarah Palin’s embarrassing quotes would be at a premium.

Have you ever tried to stifle a laugh, like at a funeral or in a church, when something very funny popped into your mind? It’s almost impossible. Pulling a long face doesn’t work, and focusing on a spot on the ceiling while biting your lip only makes it worse. When the guffaw finally explodes, it’s uncontrollable. Laughter is very infectious and spreads rapidly. Soon, the whole church would erupt and all those poor guilty people would be hauled away not even knowing what they were laughing at.

Eventually, of course, protest marches and public outcry would enforce a modification of the law and laughter would be allowed in the privacy of our own homes, but certainly not anywhere in public. It might scare the horses. People would not dare laugh in case the laugh police were watching. The streets would be full of people with long, miserable faces.