Another Important Lesson

I had this thought while watching Yellow Face - and I feel almost certain that I've reflected on this before, though I don't remember why - that there is something very comical about TREASON as an insult. I can't put my finger on it. It strikes me as being similar to the comic potential of COWARDICE, or to a lesser extent VOLUPTUOUSNESS, or perhaps even CANNIBALISM. Well, let me qualify: cowardice is additionally funny because it reflects back to the character of the insulter, ie it takes a certain amount of cowardice to insult someone you know won't fight back. But I also think it may be funny for some of the same reasons as treason. I have a few theories.

1. It's quaint and improbable to require the opposite characteristics (love of fatherland, courage in battle, chastity) as necessary virtues in our postmodern world.
2. The vices themselves are so improbable as to be quaint (treason, cannibalism), or inevitably an exaggeration in the context of an insult.
3. The corresponding virtue is so strong an expectation that it's impossible for anyone to live up to it (loyalty, thinness, comeliness, virginity of mothers). By the same token, the insult could be considered a "cheap shot," like calling someone fat or ugly or saying your mom's a slut.

Despite what I threw in there about our postmodern world, I have a hunch that any of these reasons might be more timeless. Being a Persian-sympathizer was a standard trope in Greek comedy, and Archilochus, who lived in a time when people actually did fight in battles and protect their virgins, often makes fun of himself for being a coward and a lecherer. I haven't made up my mind yet. I'll have to give more thought to why these things are funny.