amadeus
Serenity now
Two-cent thought: nobody ever takes offense at the audience. If they laugh at the joke, what does that mean?
When does humour become offensive?
- Thread starter sherbz
- Start date
- Status
RobAnybody
Emperor
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2009
- Messages
- 1,945
Amy Schumer told a story, & I'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the exact wording, about why she's not religious. When she was young, like 13 or 14, her parents put this big wooden cross above her headboard, on the wall. It wasn't held on very well, & it was pretty heavy. So, inevitably, one night it fell off the wall & made a huge bloody gash in the back of her father's head.
To @amadeus's point, if you chuckled at that, are you a bad person?
To @amadeus's point, if you chuckled at that, are you a bad person?
amadeus
Serenity now
If I chuckle at Amy Schumer? Yes, then I am.
mitsho
Deity
I didn't laugh until he mentioned the Jehovah's Witnesses. Because they were unexpected there and didn't quite fit into the rest of the list. And then the rest is just easy absurd humour, bringing Jehovah's witnesses and Nazi guards together.
I however didn't even understand, that "positives" was supposed to be a punchline. And that to me is an important distinction: if a joke ain't funny, it better not be offensive. Because unfunny jokes (where the punchline involves a person or group or belief) are just insults. So if you wanna go there, better be funny. Or as in this case, embed it in a context like here, where it's used to explain how a joke may work.
I disagree, I don't think the joke is funny, but that's me, personally. I do also agree with the "don't punch down", but that doesn't apply here and is more apt when talking about Sarcasm and Irony rather than humour in general.
I however didn't even understand, that "positives" was supposed to be a punchline. And that to me is an important distinction: if a joke ain't funny, it better not be offensive. Because unfunny jokes (where the punchline involves a person or group or belief) are just insults. So if you wanna go there, better be funny. Or as in this case, embed it in a context like here, where it's used to explain how a joke may work.
I disagree, I don't think the joke is funny, but that's me, personally. I do also agree with the "don't punch down", but that doesn't apply here and is more apt when talking about Sarcasm and Irony rather than humour in general.
Tbh, if that wasn't obvious as a punchline, I doubt it was due to an excess of philanthropy
As I said, the joke was too edgy and not good, but it obviously rested on the audience being prone to get that it was a joke. If instead it was uttered in a room full of racists, you'd rather see nodding heads
I heard this joke if Mama Cass had given her ham sandwich to Karen Carpenter they’d both be alive today.
I suppose people would find the eating disorder joke the most offensive but also Mama Cass didn’t actually die from choking on a sandwich like people said.
I suppose people would find the eating disorder joke the most offensive but also Mama Cass didn’t actually die from choking on a sandwich like people said.
Berzerker
Deity
one source says she died of a heart attack from being overweight, another said her crash dieting (speed?) weakened her heart
Unbelievable.
IT'S NOT AN ACADEMIC DISCUSSION TO THE VICTIMS.
If you really don't understand, please remedy that.
If you're just being disingenuous, we have nothing more to say, ever.
Side comment: Not sure which time frame you're referring to, but Rome did conquer Egypt (Battle of Actium in 30 BCE; Octavian vs. Antony & Cleopatra; Octavian won).
Takes offense the audience in general, or at the audience's reaction?
Ziggy Stardust
Absolutely Sane
You mean like asking in a thread about the subject why we shouldn't be making rape jokes?Unbelievable.
IT'S NOT AN ACADEMIC DISCUSSION TO THE VICTIMS.
If you really don't understand, please remedy that.
That's a good idea, I should try that.
Would you have less issue if the proposal was "nobody can make rape jokes"? I'm not saying you'd have no issue, I'm just trying to gauge where the problem sits. Whether it's on the "men can't" or "no rape jokes", primarily.
People are saying "no rape jokes" but not giving any reason. Without a reason why people think they should not be allowed it is hard to say why they should be.
As I said above, I have never heard a rape joke I thought was appropriate, and I could say that society have not accepted the gender imbalance at the core of rape so is not "grown up" enough to deal with rape jokes. I am not going to say they should be banned, and I suspect some here have their own reasons. If they tell us what they are we could probably have a grown up discussion about them.
I mean, there's a separate tangent about people objecting to others expressing a preference (that people shouldn't make rape jokes) but that's a bit meta.
Sometimes it's hard to explain something that is felt to be self-evident. And it's hard to discern intent and good faith at times. So I'm trying to pare down the point of objection, because my (personal) reasoning (as a guy, not to be confused with Valka's or Mary's arguments in the slightest - I'm not speaking for them here) is contextual in either case.
Ziggy Stardust
Absolutely Sane
Ok, here's a thought.
Do you think people should play the game Civilization?
I mean .... there's nukes in the game, mass murder, slavery. Those are also bad, right?
Do you think people should play the game Civilization?
I mean .... there's nukes in the game, mass murder, slavery. Those are also bad, right?
Akka
Moody old mage.
No, it's a discussion about humor. If we can make jokes about genocide, I'd say pretty much nothing is off the table.Unbelievable.
IT'S NOT AN ACADEMIC DISCUSSION TO THE VICTIMS.
Also, it's not about walking to a rape victim and making a rape joke, it's about making rape (or whatever sensitive topic is subject to the point) jokes in general. I'm pretty sure nobody here has suggested people were morally allowed to specifically joke to one person about this person misery against their wishes.
This is true, and I feel in such cases it is well worth trying as you may find your feelings of self-evidentiary do not hold up to scrutiny. As a great man once said, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
You play the role of a vengfull god who will kill a large proportion of their followers (Civ 4 whipping is the most powerful mechanic) and usually aims to genocide every other nationallity on earth (Conquest/Domination are the most common wins). There are few games with a more offensive premise.
I do remember a prominent barrister, later famous for defending the rich and infamous in libel trials, telling a rape joke outside court. It was both a disgusting joke and spectacle.
Can't think of a much better example of punching down than a man telling a rape joke.
If you can't understand why you shouldn't tell or laugh at rape jokes, then you seriously need to do some deep reflection on what type of person you are.
@Samson it is offensive at times to be asked to explain something as basic as this. It's not necessary to do so, and anyone demanding such an explanation is either so extremely disconnected from their humanity that they'll never understand, or are arguing in bad faith. In either case they are not worth responding to.
@Samson it is offensive at times to be asked to explain something as basic as this. It's not necessary to do so, and anyone demanding such an explanation is either so extremely disconnected from their humanity that they'll never understand, or are arguing in bad faith. In either case they are not worth responding to.
Akka
Moody old mage.
Stellaris' purifiers are asking me to hold their beer.
Also, Crusader Kings is memetically famous (I know, that's redundant) for providing endless offensive hilarity with thread titles that looks completely gross and sick out of context, but are actually genuine gameplay-related questions.
Last edited:
I certainly can sympathise with this. There are some topics that I stay away from because they upset me too much and it is better for me to not engage with. I do not expect to change anyones mind about them though, as I am not engaging with them.
I can certainly understand that some specific jokes are very much unacceptable, an example being one that is reported to have been told by the police (content warning, completely unacceptable jokes). However I can see that other jokes would not be so, the Jimmy Carr joke linked above for example is about racism, but the target of the joke is racists not underrepresented demographics. A similar joke about rape that targeted the rapist or the enablers in power (which, as I keep saying, I have never heard) could be acceptable in my view.
- Status
Similar threads
