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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:58 pm 
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darth_vedder wrote:
I guess, but it does bother me. Why is it, after any type of disaster (tsunami, hurricane, bomb explosions, air plane crashes, whatever) do the jokes start rolling out? I find it mean spirited.

I love humor, and based on your post over the years, it looks like me and you actually have similar taste (tv shows, movies, music, etc...), I just don't get this particular type of humor. Someone goes to a movie, gets their head blown off, and it's funny?



It's just how I prefer to deal with things. Letting myself get upset about things I can't control doesn't do me any good. But getting a good laugh out of something does. I don't root for these things to happen. I don't want them to happen... but when they do, i have never seen a point to getting super upset about it. A good joke at a funeral has always been uplifting to me.


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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:00 pm 
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$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
I never thought making light of people dying was funny. In fact it kind of pisses me off. The first one I ever heard was after the Challenger blew up...people were saying they found so and so's head n' shoulders. I don't remember the details, but I remember wanting to punch the asshole who told the joke. The one skitch posted is not funny at all to me. I never will understand why some must make humor out of stuff like that. It's just disrespectful to those who died. If y'all find it funny, that's your opinion, I don't find it funny in the least.


Humor is just the way some of us deal with crap situations. A couple years ago, I had a shirt with a bp logo that said, "We're bringing oil to American shores." The shirt was clearly mocking bp, and some people thought it was funny, but some simply saw it as making light of a terrible situation.

I tend to think if people lighten up a little, we'd all be happier. People don't make jokes about terrible things because they think those things are OK or unimportant.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should tell a rape joke in mixed company.


I understand what you are saying, and the BP shirt you have is funny. I get that. However, I don't get what is funny about someone being shot.

I don't know, I'm normally "Mr. I Don't Give A Shit"...when things have gone wrong, I also tell jokes to lighten the vibe. I also say out there shit all the time, and my friends have described me as pretty unfiltered. So I don't consider myself a stiff by any means, I just don't like jokes when something like this happens.


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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:01 pm 
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Darth, have you ever seen the Mel Brooks movie "The Producers"?

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:06 pm 
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darth_vedder wrote:
$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
I never thought making light of people dying was funny. In fact it kind of pisses me off. The first one I ever heard was after the Challenger blew up...people were saying they found so and so's head n' shoulders. I don't remember the details, but I remember wanting to punch the asshole who told the joke. The one skitch posted is not funny at all to me. I never will understand why some must make humor out of stuff like that. It's just disrespectful to those who died. If y'all find it funny, that's your opinion, I don't find it funny in the least.


Humor is just the way some of us deal with crap situations. A couple years ago, I had a shirt with a bp logo that said, "We're bringing oil to American shores." The shirt was clearly mocking bp, and some people thought it was funny, but some simply saw it as making light of a terrible situation.

I tend to think if people lighten up a little, we'd all be happier. People don't make jokes about terrible things because they think those things are OK or unimportant.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should tell a rape joke in mixed company.


I understand what you are saying, and the BP shirt you have is funny. I get that. However, I don't get what is funny about someone being shot.

I don't know, I'm normally "Mr. I Don't Give A Shit"...when things have gone wrong, I also tell jokes to lighten the vibe. I also say out there shit all the time, and my friends have described me as pretty unfiltered. So I don't consider myself a stiff by any means, I just don't like jokes when something like this happens.


Nobody is saying it's funny that someone got shot. Just like the shirt I have wasn't saying that the oil spill was funny.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:06 pm 
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Being able to laugh in those kinds of circumstances isn't any more of an indication of one's appropriateness barometer or emotional health than is not being able to laugh at a Mitch Hedberg or George Carlin routine.

Humans are complex beings. There is no right or wrong way to process tragedy.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:11 pm 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
Darth, have you ever seen the Mel Brooks movie "The Producers"?


I saw the remake, didn't like it. I really don't remember much about it, other than they were trying to make an awful play about Hitler.


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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:13 pm 
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thodoks wrote:
Being able to laugh in those kinds of circumstances isn't any more of an indication of one's appropriateness barometer or emotional health than is not being able to laugh at a Mitch Hedberg or George Carlin routine.

Humans are complex beings. There is no right or wrong way to process tragedy.



But a benny hill parody is funny no matter what.


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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:15 pm 
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Skitch Patterson wrote:
thodoks wrote:
Being able to laugh in those kinds of circumstances isn't any more of an indication of one's appropriateness barometer or emotional health than is not being able to laugh at a Mitch Hedberg or George Carlin routine.

Humans are complex beings. There is no right or wrong way to process tragedy.



But a benny hill parody is funny no matter what.

louis ck sucks and you know it

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:15 pm 
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$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
I never thought making light of people dying was funny. In fact it kind of pisses me off. The first one I ever heard was after the Challenger blew up...people were saying they found so and so's head n' shoulders. I don't remember the details, but I remember wanting to punch the asshole who told the joke. The one skitch posted is not funny at all to me. I never will understand why some must make humor out of stuff like that. It's just disrespectful to those who died. If y'all find it funny, that's your opinion, I don't find it funny in the least.


Humor is just the way some of us deal with crap situations. A couple years ago, I had a shirt with a bp logo that said, "We're bringing oil to American shores." The shirt was clearly mocking bp, and some people thought it was funny, but some simply saw it as making light of a terrible situation.

I tend to think if people lighten up a little, we'd all be happier. People don't make jokes about terrible things because they think those things are OK or unimportant.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should tell a rape joke in mixed company.


I understand what you are saying, and the BP shirt you have is funny. I get that. However, I don't get what is funny about someone being shot.

I don't know, I'm normally "Mr. I Don't Give A Shit"...when things have gone wrong, I also tell jokes to lighten the vibe. I also say out there shit all the time, and my friends have described me as pretty unfiltered. So I don't consider myself a stiff by any means, I just don't like jokes when something like this happens.


Nobody is saying it's funny that someone got shot. Just like the shirt I have wasn't saying that the oil spill was funny.


Maybe I should have just simply said "too soon"?

I don't know, I don't want y'all thinking I'm some PC nut who gets his panties in a wad over everything. I really don't. I grew up on comedy...from Redd Foxx, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Rodney Dangerfield. I love them all. I guess I'm thinking back to my childhood when I heard Challenger jokes right after it exploded. It just pissed me off then, and from that moment on, I've never been big on humor like that.


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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:16 pm 
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Skitch Patterson wrote:
thodoks wrote:
Being able to laugh in those kinds of circumstances isn't any more of an indication of one's appropriateness barometer or emotional health than is not being able to laugh at a Mitch Hedberg or George Carlin routine.

Humans are complex beings. There is no right or wrong way to process tragedy.



But a benny hill parody is funny no matter what.


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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:17 pm 
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darth_vedder wrote:
$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
I never thought making light of people dying was funny. In fact it kind of pisses me off. The first one I ever heard was after the Challenger blew up...people were saying they found so and so's head n' shoulders. I don't remember the details, but I remember wanting to punch the asshole who told the joke. The one skitch posted is not funny at all to me. I never will understand why some must make humor out of stuff like that. It's just disrespectful to those who died. If y'all find it funny, that's your opinion, I don't find it funny in the least.


Humor is just the way some of us deal with crap situations. A couple years ago, I had a shirt with a bp logo that said, "We're bringing oil to American shores." The shirt was clearly mocking bp, and some people thought it was funny, but some simply saw it as making light of a terrible situation.

I tend to think if people lighten up a little, we'd all be happier. People don't make jokes about terrible things because they think those things are OK or unimportant.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should tell a rape joke in mixed company.


I understand what you are saying, and the BP shirt you have is funny. I get that. However, I don't get what is funny about someone being shot.

I don't know, I'm normally "Mr. I Don't Give A Shit"...when things have gone wrong, I also tell jokes to lighten the vibe. I also say out there shit all the time, and my friends have described me as pretty unfiltered. So I don't consider myself a stiff by any means, I just don't like jokes when something like this happens.


Nobody is saying it's funny that someone got shot. Just like the shirt I have wasn't saying that the oil spill was funny.


Maybe I should have just simply said "too soon"?

I don't know, I don't want y'all thinking I'm some PC nut who gets his panties in a wad over everything. I really don't. I grew up on comedy...from Redd Foxx, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Rodney Dangerfield. I love them all. I guess I'm thinking back to my childhood when I heard Challenger jokes right after it exploded. It just pissed me off then, and from that moment on, I've never been big on humor like that.

Yeah, those early Challenger really crashed and burned before really taking off.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:29 pm 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
$úñ_DëV|L wrote:
darth_vedder wrote:
I never thought making light of people dying was funny. In fact it kind of pisses me off. The first one I ever heard was after the Challenger blew up...people were saying they found so and so's head n' shoulders. I don't remember the details, but I remember wanting to punch the asshole who told the joke. The one skitch posted is not funny at all to me. I never will understand why some must make humor out of stuff like that. It's just disrespectful to those who died. If y'all find it funny, that's your opinion, I don't find it funny in the least.


Humor is just the way some of us deal with crap situations. A couple years ago, I had a shirt with a bp logo that said, "We're bringing oil to American shores." The shirt was clearly mocking bp, and some people thought it was funny, but some simply saw it as making light of a terrible situation.

I tend to think if people lighten up a little, we'd all be happier. People don't make jokes about terrible things because they think those things are OK or unimportant.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should tell a rape joke in mixed company.


I understand what you are saying, and the BP shirt you have is funny. I get that. However, I don't get what is funny about someone being shot.

I don't know, I'm normally "Mr. I Don't Give A Shit"...when things have gone wrong, I also tell jokes to lighten the vibe. I also say out there shit all the time, and my friends have described me as pretty unfiltered. So I don't consider myself a stiff by any means, I just don't like jokes when something like this happens.


Nobody is saying it's funny that someone got shot. Just like the shirt I have wasn't saying that the oil spill was funny.


Maybe I should have just simply said "too soon"?

I don't know, I don't want y'all thinking I'm some PC nut who gets his panties in a wad over everything. I really don't. I grew up on comedy...from Redd Foxx, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Rodney Dangerfield. I love them all. I guess I'm thinking back to my childhood when I heard Challenger jokes right after it exploded. It just pissed me off then, and from that moment on, I've never been big on humor like that.

Yeah, those early Challenger really crashed and burned before really taking off.


Oh Chud, you 'ol devil.


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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:38 pm 
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Once you realize that you're a completely insignificant pile of carbon in a remote corner of an inconceivably vast universe, it doesn't really matter, does it?

Laugh at tragedy, don't laugh, who really cares?

It is all meaningless, unfortunately.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:13 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:43 pm 
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I really, really have a hard time buying into this sort of thing as some kind of coping mechanism. I understand that humor is a phenomenal tool for diffusing tense situations, but some of you people make it sound like crass internet memes are the only things that prevent some people from going utterly to pieces in times of national tragedy. That strikes me as a little dramatic. Do you really think that Daniel Tosh's rape joke, for instance, was simply his way of "processing" the horror and tragedy that is rape? That deep down, he's just another delicate soul who's haunted by the evils of our world, and this joke was his way of making sense of it all? Or was it just an insensitive comment by an idiot?

Ultimately, you can't hold someone accountable for what they innately find funny; most of the time, what makes us laugh is largely beyond our control. But in the same way I think people are responsible for being considerate enough not to walk into a movie theater and open fire on a bunch of innocent civilians, I also think people should be mindful of the power that they might not realize their words possess. Again, in Tosh's case, what's to say that girl's sensitivity to his rape joke didn't come from the fact that she'd been raped the night before and was a trainwreck of emotions over how to proceed? Tosh's comments may have had a much more damaging effect on that girl than merely causing her offense. I realize you can't live your life in a constant state of worry over how your comments might offend someone based on some hypothetical set of circumstances, but use common sense. To some extent, yeah, someone attending a stand-up performance would probably be well-served to check their sensitivities at the door. But I also don't think basic tenets of human decency disappear just because you're in a comedy club, or on the internet, or wherever.

I guess ultimately I'm with Stip. If offensive on-the-square humor helps you process something tragic, fine enough. But if your publicly processing something in a crass, unorthodox manner is going to cause a setback to someone else trying to deal with the same thing, be an adult about it and back down. I suspect if I was the father of that six year-old child in Colorado who'd just been gunned down by that lunatic, knowing that there were a bunch of assholes on the internet having a laugh at the expense of my brutally murdered child would probably hurt me in ways I couldn't imagine. To me, those are the people who matter, not these internetfolk who just, woe is me, won't be able to cope unless they have their jokes and memes to see them through the horror.

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Last edited by Kevin Davis on Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:44 pm 
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No girl gets raped one night and then goes to see Daniel Tosh do standup the very next day.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:49 pm 
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I don't disagree with that really. What Tosh said wasn't funny because it wasn't a joke. He might of thought it one, but it wasn't. It was just an off the cuff, incredibly offensive statement.

The only thing I take issue with is when people say "X is never funny" or "It's always wrong to make a joke involving X". Because in some situation, with the right execution, and the right audience, any subject can be turned into a joke and it'd be ok to laugh.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:58 pm 
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i think we as a society are far closer to being unable to joke about anything at the risk of offending someone than we are joking too much and actually being offensive. or maybe the more extreme jokes are a reaction to the pollitically correct times we live in. in any case, modern communication is global and easy enough that its all amplified.

Personally, I believe that to be offensive one has to mean offense. But most think intent is irrelevent. I dont get offended if someone says something rude or tasteless if they meant nothing personal by it, but if they do, things will get very ugly.

i dont know what this Tosh thing is. i'll have to look it up.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:06 pm 
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cutuphalfdead wrote:
No girl gets raped one night and then goes to see Daniel Tosh do standup the very next day.


Eh, you don't know that. Having worked for DCFS for a spell, I can very confidently say that there's really no consistent pattern of behavior exhibited by people who've just experienced traumatic events, rape especially. It's not like they all just follow protocol and go running to the police the next day. In the (admittedly unlikely) event that that girl had been raped the night before, she may have responded to a friend who unknowingly asked how her day was by saying, "You know, actually, I've had a pretty bad couple of days, but I really don't want to go into it." To which he might have replied: "Oh, well I've got tickets to see this comedian tonight, come along, it might cheer you up." You just never know.

Hell, maybe it wasn't even the previous night--maybe it was a 1-2 year old occurrence. A somewhat more likely circumstance, and still pretty understandable that she might be sensitive to it.

cutuphalfdead wrote:
The only thing I take issue with is when people say "X is never funny" or "It's always wrong to make a joke involving X". Because in some situation, with the right execution, and the right audience, any subject can be turned into a joke and it'd be ok to laugh.


I agree with this mostly. But in the same way the it's wrong to say "x is never funny," I think it's equally wrong to put the entire burden of responsibility on an audience for being offended, as though uptight oversensitivity is the only possible explanation for why a comment might cause offense.

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 Post subject: Re: The Limits of Humor
PostPosted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:09 pm 
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Kevin Davis wrote:
cutuphalfdead wrote:
No girl gets raped one night and then goes to see Daniel Tosh do standup the very next day.


Eh, you don't know that. Having worked for DCFS for a spell, I can very confidently say that there's really no consistent pattern of behavior exhibited by people who've just experienced traumatic events, rape especially. It's not like they all just follow protocol and go running to the police the next day. In the (admittedly unlikely) event that that girl had been raped the night before, she may have responded to a friend who unknowingly asked how her day was by saying, "You know, actually, I've had a pretty bad couple of days, but I really don't want to go into it." To which he might have replied: "Oh, well I've got tickets to see this comedian tonight, come along, it might cheer you up." You just never know.

Hell, maybe it wasn't even the previous night--maybe it was a 1-2 year old occurrence. A somewhat more likely circumstance, and still pretty understandable that she might be sensitive to it.



Yeah, that wasn't an entirely serious comment.

Kevin Davis wrote:

cutuphalfdead wrote:
The only thing I take issue with is when people say "X is never funny" or "It's always wrong to make a joke involving X". Because in some situation, with the right execution, and the right audience, any subject can be turned into a joke and it'd be ok to laugh.


I agree with this mostly. But in the same way the it's wrong to say "x is never funny," I think it's equally wrong to put the entire burden of responsibility on an audience for being offended, as though uptight oversensitivity is the only possible explanation for why a comment might cause offense.

Sure, if there's a degree of backlash for an insensitive joke you probably weren't telling it at the right place and time to begin with.

I mean, this is what RM is for, right?

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