Oleg Atbashian, the genius behind The People Cube, explores how jokes about Soviet era paradoxes are becoming much more relatable to more Americans every day. Of course we Cubans are quite familiar with things such as this type of humor:
- There is full employment — yet no one is working.
- No one is working — yet the factory quotas are fulfilled.
- The factory quotas are fulfilled — yet the stores have nothing to sell.
- The stores have nothing to sell — yet people got all the stuff at home.
- People got all the stuff at home — yet everyone is complaining.
- Everyone is complaining — yet the voting is always unanimous.
Here’s the American version:
- America is capitalist and greedy — yet half of the population is subsidized.
- Half of the population is subsidized — yet they think they are victims.
- They think they are victims — yet their representatives run the government.
- Their representatives run the government — yet the poor keep getting poorer.
- The poor keep getting poorer — yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.
- They have things that people in other countries only dream about — yet they want America to be more like those other countries.