For sure. These places might seem to have very few people because of how little people post, but they actually have a tremendous amount of lurkers as well. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were actually quite influential on whichever particular side they represent. A lot of the conversations and comments made here are repeated on social media platforms -- and vice versa.
I understand what you're saying in regards to humor; we can still have jokes and make fun of things without being the joke. Of course humor is a go to mechanism people use when coping with difficult times, but it's important that the messages within aren't lost at its expense.
I think overall the community has demonstrated that humor is concomitant to who we are, but we're also very much more, too.