The Trouble with Bureaucrat Humor

This scene from classic Simpsons shows the trouble with typical bureaucrat-bashing humor. It shows that it's people at the intellectual level of Homer that are usually the ones to get needlessly upset about so-called "red tape." Bureaucrat humor is good for a stand-up comedy line or throwaway gag, but as a basis for a drawn-out satire, it wears thin. Sure, there's a level at which some organizations can get frustratingly disorganized in their structure, but whether some people try to understand them or not, there are important rules and procedures needed to keep any organization running smoothly.

Homer goes off to the Springfield Hall of Records to talk to the bureaucrats.

     Homer: Listen here: my name is Homer J. Simpson.  You guys think
            I'm dead, but I'm not.  Now I want you to straighten this
            out without a lot of your bureaucratic red tape and mumbo-
            jumbo!
Bureaucrat: [typing] OK, Mr. Simpson, I'll just make the change here...
            and you're all set.
     Homer: I don't like your attitude, you water-cooler dictator.  What
            do you have in that secret government file anyway?  I have a
            right to read it.
Bureaucrat: [spinning monitor around] You sure do.
     Homer: [reading] "Wife: Marjorie.  Children: Bartholomew, Lisa" --
            aha!  See?  This thing is all screwed up!  Who the heck is
            Margaret Simpson?
Bureaucrat: Uh, your youngest daughter.
     Homer: [mocking] "Uh, your youngest daughter".  Well how about
            this?  This thing says my mother's still alive; she died
            when I was a kid!
             [goes to window] See that stone angel up there?  That's my
            mother's grave.  My dad points it out every time we drive
            by.
Bureaucrat: Mr. Simpson, uh...maybe you should actually go up there.

-Eric S. ([email])

"I stand still, the conclusions jump to me." -Bill McNeal, Newsradio, 1998

The joke here is about Homer's ignorance and knee-jerk complaints about bureaucracy (I've met my share of his type), not a joke on bureaucrats..

The Futurama episode actually made fun of bureaucrats. It was a well-done satire, IMO, even if it wore thin a little. I love the guy in the desk-byplane at the end as a throw-back.

satire, IMO, even if it wore thin a little. I love the guy in the desk-byplane at the end as a throw-back.<<

Still, the Homer joke was better than any bureaucrat jokes in 2ACV11. The reason for this is that our stereotyped view of bureaucrats was what Homer was expecting to see (and what was spoofed endlessly in the Futurama episode), and when the clerk turned out to be a pretty down-to-earth, realistic guy, both we and Homer were thrown for a curve -- and in Homer's case, his simple, stubborn mind refused to change tracks.

Nothin' quite like combing every episode with a razor then writing up a drawn-out report on it, eh? :)

"Eric S." wrote: