Vaudeville at the United Nations
"My name is Ban, not James Bond. I"m not called the name 007 but I will take my office in '07. I may be shaken but I'm only too stirred."Actually I've no complaints about that; vaudeville performances at the United Nations, that is. A little good-natured humour can be injected into any situation to defuse otherwise nasty misunderstandings and to draw people a little closer together. When applicable.
When the situation is such that the comic relief that vaudeville can bring to the topic at hand is timely and appropriate. Assuredly, there are some events that merit the blackest of humour to enable people to cope with the demands of the horrors endemic in emotive overload, but that's another story altogether.
So, who knows, it might be a good idea to inject maudlin, silly, irreverent humour into the United Nations. After all, those hallowed halls of tolerance and good will toward all, have been sullied with the permissiveness that allowed a former (according to some schools of thought) terrorist to bring a hip-holstered revolver into the General Assembly (did those united feel they were being hip in not protesting?).
Member states have been permitted to issue threats of doom and portentive annihiliation against another member-state, and the assembly did not rise as one in horror at this signal lapse of diplomatic niceties practised as a mantra of civil good taste in this institution. But then, every family has its ugly child and its orphan child, so why not the United Nations?
So here we have the formal investiture of a new UN Secretary-General, former foreign minister of South Korea, Ban Ki-moon. Who even knew he excelled as a stand-up comedian? If anyone did, they issued not so much as a peep of caution, something like: "to know him is to love him", or "wait 'till you hear this guy's schtik", or "his disarming blend of diplomacy and humour is unique!".
Mr. Ban Ki-moon addressed the assemblage by informing them that he is fondly known in certain circles as "Slippery Eel" (eauw!), and "Teflon Diplomat". Does that translate to the man's oily ability to slither out of uncomfortable situations? Could he translate that to urgent matters of bringing critical stand-offs within the UN to acceptable conclusions? On the other hand, if nothing sticks to him, can we ever hold him to account for malfeasance, for under-achievement, for dishonourable performance?
Already my head is aching. On the other hand, I have but to re-read his comments as reported in my local newspaper: "My name is Ban, not James Bond. I'm not called the name 007 but I will take my office in '07. I may be shaken but I'm only too stirred." Through the medium of halting English, yet. Not bad, not bad; a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek sophistication, one supposes.
And he's a song-and-dance man, too. He most capably offered to his audience a song: "To borrow from a carol of the season - Santa Claus is Coming to Town - everybody should know about." And then crooning:
"I'm making a list, I'm checking it twice, I'm going to find out who's naughty or nice. Ban Ki-moon is coming to town."Chuckle, chuckle, the promise of great achievement on the international scene; the achievement of great breakthroughs in world peace, world poverty, the equalization of society, grappling with the universal phenomenon of climate change - through humour. On the theory, presumably, that if we're all tickled pink we'd be more inclined to love one another and work hand-in-glove to solve the world's woes.
Well, why not? Intelligent discourse has failed. Religious commandments to treat others as one would oneself have failed. Threats and plea-bargaining have failed. Public shaming has failed. Stringent (but porous) sanctions have failed. Why not chuckle our way agreeably to brotherly love?
Mr. Ban Ki-moon - the God of Merry Mirth bring blessings upon him - will have us laughing in the aisles while he solves the Darfur crisis and brings peace to the Middle East.
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, December 17, 2006
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