BFTP: What humor is appropriate?
Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 09:13AM Why do we laugh at such terrible things? Because comedy is often the sarcastic realization of inescapable tragedy. Bryant H. McGill
The above graphic is made the rounds a couple years ago - one of the more "sarcastic" responses to the proposition that armed teachers would make for safer schools in the wake of the Florida shooting.
I am embarrassed to say it, but I found it very funny. I am embarrassed because I am well aware of the grief and terror mass shootings have caused in this country and that the parent of a child murdered in them would find nothing amusing in the chart above.
Most if not all humor has an element of pain or discomfort at its heart. From a person slipping on a banana peel to the ribaldry of Lysistrata to latest grotesque of Trump in current editorial cartoons, harm or embarrassment or discomfort are essential components to finding something funny.
The question for me is where do we draw the line? I do not believe we should encourage or create or distribute humor that is racist or homophobic. But how about jokes that emphasize the difference between men and women (75% of all humor?) Can this be labeled sexist? Are we denigrating religion if Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha is in a comedic sketch? Can I poke fun of my own Scandinavian heritage by telling an Ole and Lena joke?
I am not trying to make any point here except to say that knowing what is appropriately funny seems to be getting more difficult each day. That I suspect there is no comedic effort that does not offend someone, somewhere.
What yardstick do you, dear readers, use when determining whether to share a joke, a story, a cartoon? Or is humor simply something too risky anymore?
******************
The latest "funny" making the rounds after the attack on the US Capitol last week:
Reader Comments (3)
I sometimes begin with "Would it be funny if..." or "I heard someone say..."
Usually my sarcasm overrides any logic anyway, so I might be the wrong person to ask
Hi Kenn,
My sense is that you are far more sensitive and tasteful than I am. Which perhaps is being damned by faint praise.
Doug
Normally, when I make dark humor jokes it's around people I'm comfortable with and who know my sense of humor. If I don't know the crowd, or individual person and I get a bad vibe I'll keep quiet. The last update you did I laughed at it because to me it is funny, also the dogs are adorable and adorable things make me laugh.