I was a frequent listener to the humble Farmer’s radio broadcast. One weekend I met him in person at a fair and recited the beginning of a joke he told on his most recent program. I began: “If you believe in telekinesis …” We both in chorus finished the quip: “raise my right hand.”

A thought-provoking distinction was made in the article regarding the death and life of Robert Skoglund (“Fans and friends remember ‘The humble Farmer’ as the real Maine deal,” Dec. 2). A comedian aims for the LOL; a humorist invokes subtle laughter but also implants thoughts to reflect on afterward. The goal of the humorist is to almost subliminally instill in the audience the inclination to engage in the most subversive thing humans can do: think. To get folks to accept their own flawed humanity, it requires a knowledge of human nature and an acceptance of one’s own complicity in the human condition.

The thoughts infused by the humorist can be and are often intended to be unsettling. It is an example of the responsibility of the social commentator to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. As humans, we all qualify for both categories.

At times humble’s commentary may not have been politically neutral nor socially “correct.” But his statements were those of a person who exemplified what artist Robert Shetterly has called “courageous citizenship.”

It was through his puckish delivery that the humble Farmer reinforced the maxim “Lord, what fools these mortals be.”

Joe Wagner
Lyman