The ability to laugh each day is not a right, but a skill.
Have to disagree with you there, poemless.
Laughter is one of the most potent and subversive weapons in our armoury. Few governments (or religions) can survive widespread laughter.
The despots and fundies realise this of course: how many lock up (or worse) those who poke fun at them? So that's why the right to laugh is probably one of the most fundamental we have.
And while the ability to laugh certainly arises out of experience, it is an innate ability, certainly not a "skill" IMHO.
How do you teach people to laugh? The very idea is laughable.
With humour people either "get it", or (Mrs Thatcher comes to mind) they don't.
And we must not conflate "weapons" with "rights."
I think what you might be getting at is freedom of speech : freedom to laugh at. I agree that expression, which includes laughter, is a right and a weapon. But why specifically laughter? The ability to laugh, which is what Sven said, requires first the ability to find humour in things. No, not all people can do this, or do it well. It requires some skill. Not a skill taught in school. No more than defending yourself on the playground is "taught." Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Absolutely. One use of laughter is as a tool to deescalate social tensions - to note to others that there are no ill intentions involved and that the current situation is harmless. In this use, too, it is largely unconscious, and speaks to others unconsciously, meaning suppressing it takes a lot of effort.
If some authoritarian is going on and on about a topic that they claim is extremely important, and someone blurts out a "there is nothing critical going on here" laugh, the whole house of cards comes down in an instant. Authoritarians are rightly terrified of laughter.
you are the media you consume.
