One of my favorite sources for excellent international (and national) news coverage is a magazine called THE WEEK. It is chock full of great executive summaries, plus the editors of THE WEEK have a healthy sense of humor. They express their humor in many ways, such as with their weekly sidebar/column, “Only in America.” They also have a column for “Good week for/Bad week for” which always gives me a good chuckle, again based on fact checked news stories.
My best laughter therapy from THE WEEK often shows up in The Week Contest, when they ask us to help name something, or label something, or describe something useful to help sort out the news.
The most recent Contest was about creating a new diagnosis for dealing with the current political climate…here are the results, for your therapeutic laughter du jour:
Source: THE WEEK, 10/21/16, page 38:
Last week’s question: The American Psychological Association has found that more than half of Americans identify the 2016 presidential election as a significant source of stress in their lives. Please come up with a psychological term that describes the unique feeling of anxiety induced by this race.
RESULTS:
THE WINNER: “Sufferage”
Phyllis Klein, New York City
SECOND PLACE: “ADHD (Another day with Hillary and Donald)”
Don Walker, Lexington, Mass.
THIRD PLACE: Democrazy
Peg O’Neil, Bloomingdale, N.J.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
“Strep vote”
Ken Kellam III, Dallas
“Campains”
Valerie Resnick, New York City
“Polliosis”
Dorothy L. Delman, New York City
“POTUS parting depression”
Robert Koshiyama, San Francisco
“Boast rhetoric stress disorder”
Ken Liebman, Williston, Vt.
“Seasonal elective disorder
Emily Aborn, Temple, N.H.
“Pair-annoy-ya”
Richard Pitruzzello, Hanceville, Ala.
“Polls traumatic stress disorder”
Justin Bookey, Santa Monica, Calif.
“Poli-tics”
Curtis Irwin, Clearfield, Pa.
“Turnout burnout”
Peter Bergin, Kings Park, N.Y.
I’m curious, which one is your favorite? Or do you have a better diagnostic term for us to use?
Yes, politics and our election process are serious business, but let’s not get sick from watching this drama unfold!
Onward and Upward,
Lisa Wessan