On the other hand, others claim that the whole of Greek life is so suffused with humor that there has never been a need – or even a possibility – to define it precisely. It is true that Greek governments are woefully lacking in humor, but that is true of most governments, and when self-importance is often displayed publicy, Greeks are bound to laugh at it.
In any case, χιούμορ, χιουμορίστας, χιουμοριστικός all appear in responsible dictionaries and are constantly used in speech. And never was the word humor more often heard than last month when the comedian Harry Klynn and the weekly magazine Tachydromos received court summonses for offending the president of the democracy and the Christian religion.
Last summer, on a visit to Mount Athos, the president posed for a photograph wearing the penitential collar and holding the staffs of St. Athanasios. Whether the president was well advised to be snapped in this particular manner is neither here nor there, but by all counts it was the most publicized picture since actress Zoe Lascari appeared sunning herself in the buff last year on the back of a Lion of Delos.
Innumerable cartoons of the president were all published without legal consequences. Harry Klynn, however, is as familiar a figure as the president, and in this case the offensive material was a photograph appearing on the cover of a popular, pro-government weekly.
After receiving judicial rebuke, the comedian made a statement. “If I am not mistaken,” he said, “I have every right to satirize the person of the president, just as I have the right to applaud him. Satire is my job.”
Constitutions, however, are by nature humorless documents, and it may be argued in favor of Greek humor that the consitution has had to have been revised so often in the last 150 years. Nevertheless, Article 14 of the document, ratified in 1975, states: “The Press is free. Censorship and all other preventive measures are prohibited except in the case of a) an offense against the Christian religion, b) an insult against the person of the President of the Republic.” It seems then that the publisher and the comedian had few legal legs to stand on. Nevertheless, the press accused the government of lacking humor.
Now it is happens that the president at this time was making an official visit to the islet of Castellorizo, whose 200 inhabitants have lived till now in relative isolation off the south coast of Turkey. The purpose of the visit was to inaugurate a 799-metre airstrip. To effect the trip properly – since the distance from airport to village is just under two miles – the transportation of the presidential bullet-proof Mercedes was required, as well as three police escort vehicles, two other private cars, a small pullman bus and motorcycles. As the 250 million drachma project was unable to handle this maneuver, the vehicles had to be flown to Rhodes and then sent by ship, accompanied by two aircraft and a helicopter. A further complication arose from the fact that the island is not equipped to handle automobiles, and that air passengers are expected to travel from airstrip to village on foot or by donkey. At the inaugural ceremony the president said that the airport was an active expression of the country’s devotion to carrying out peaceful, cultural projects as demanded by the times.
Whatever may have been the public reaction to this event in Greece, the one in Turkey was cause for surprise. “We are keeping a close watch over the purposes the airport will be used for,” an official spokesman said. “Its construction can only be explained by the unlimited resources of the Greek government to encircle Turkey with a chain of airfields and bases.”
Considering that the Castellorizo airstrip could not even accommodate the presidential entourage, the Turkish expression of fear of encirclement seemed to show that the lack of humor on the other side of Aegean is more pronounced than it is here.
Whether this series of events is seen as rich in humor or not may be a matter of personal taste, but it did arouse a great deal of amusement. For totalitarian regimes humor of course is deadly. But for those who proudly claim that it springs from popular sovereignty, it is a quality not to be despised. And for those pursuing multi-dimensional policies, surely one facet allowing for humor should be cultivated. For Greeks do have humor, and any government should beware of that fact. There are many who even insist -possibly a majority – that life in Greece is so incongruous to begin with that it is impossible to live – let alone operate – for any length of time here without humor.
