No democracy can ever exist or thrive without a national sense of humor

I have read that the monarchy kingdom of Saudi Arabia just summoned its ambassador home from Hungary. The reason?

According to the report by ArabicNews.com,

The Hungarian mass media quoted the Hungarian prime minister as praising in a special celebration the Hungarian team in bravely fighting "against Arab terrorists" after the end of a friendly competition game between the two teams ended in negative equality on February 2nd.

I have also read that the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, in a show that it is moving toward the 20th Century, may allow women in the kingdom the right to vote.

I'll never believe that Saudi Arabia is moving toward democracy until that country's leaders obtain a sense of humor. We know the monarchy has a sense of pride, but hubris is inevitably and inexorably followed by nemesis. What it needs is to be able to laugh. Too many wars have been started and too many innocent people have been killed because some monarchist's nose got out of joint by a perceived slight.

Admittedly, the prime minister of Hungary's comments were a bit insensitive, especially nowadays with all the psychotic jihadis and hardline Islamists running around. It's obvious he got wrapped up in the moment. He apologized for his remarks. That should've been the end of the incident.

After I quit smoking I put on more than 100 pounds and now I'm forever getting "fat boy" comments from my friends and co-workers. What can I say? It's true. I like starches, don't exercise much, and my metabolism is so slow now I'm not burning the pounds away like I did when I had nicotine flowing through my system and the dieting process was automatic. But when they come out with the "fat boy" remarks (or their children do and the parents don't correct them), I just laugh it off. It's either that or punch them out, and I've made the decision not to go through life beating the crap out of folk because my nose is out of joint over their insensitive or thoughtless remarks.

If King Fahd or Crown Prince Abdullah want to get back at the Hungarian prime minister for the slight, they should demand the Hungarian prime minister deliver at least three seasons of "Green Acres" on DVD for each member of the Saudi football team. Season 2 is scheduled for release March 8.

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UPDATE -- As-Salamu `alaykum. Here are a few hyperlinks I have found on the web:

• Did the Prophet (PBUH) Ever Make Jokes?
• Does Islam Go against Laughter?
• Lying Jokingly
• Did the Prophet (PBUH) Ever Joke and Laugh?