Jokes and Society: Another form of Art

They say every joke is half true. The more I think of it, the more I have to agree. Maybe even more than half. Not in the exact facts or actions that the jokes describe, but in the underlying realities and often absurd - but existing - truths that they expose.
We channel our dissatisfaction with society into punchlines - 'social' jokes express feelings and thoughts: pain, rebellion, cultural differences, much like poetry or any kind of socially critical literature.
What am I talking about? This is one of my favourite examples:

  A world survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was: "Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world." The survey was a huge failure.

• In Africa they didn't know what "food" meant
• In Eastern Europe they didn't know what "honest" meant
• In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortage" meant
• In China they didn't know what "opinion" meant.
•  In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" meant.
•   In South America they didn't know what "please" meant, and
•   In the USA they didn't know what "the rest of the world" meant. 

(from 1000ventures.com) 

Nobody is trying to suggest that any of those sentences are true, but you kinda have to agree with the grain of truth they carry about the stereotypes of people living in different countries. And if any or all of these stereotypes happen to be wrong, then the grain of truth lies in the fact that somebody
(and the popularity of this joke proves that not only one person) believes them (the stereotypes, that is) to be real. And the fact that stereotypes exist and the forms they take are all part of a social reality, whether or not they are actually correct.
To put it simply, if thousands of people in a country say 'the government sucks', that covers a social reality. Either the reality that the government of that country actually sucks, or the reality that many people think that their government sucks (something causes them to believe so.)
My point is: 'social' jokes are one of the wittiest forms of social criticism and they are worthy of being considered a form of art, because they express public concern, fears, wishes, ideas about different categories of people, regimes, and so on.
To be continued...