I do not know if I believe this is all circumstances, but someone once told me that, "There is no such thing as joke. Behind every joke is a kernal of the truth for what the joke teller believes. "
A person choses to remember and relate any particular joke because they found it humerous themselves. If they find it funny, that speaks to their internal paradigm. If one can choose a joke that makes fun of a group, denegrates select individuals, then chances are that person feels superior to that group. Being superior, you see no hesitation in denegrating them. That's examples of racism, sexism, or misogyny, ethnocentrism, etc.
As a child, I grew up with Polish jokes. I didn't even know what a Pole was. There were none living in my neighborhood. But as an adult, I know better. I have grown up and now understand the implications of my actions.
The people that most complain about "political correctness (pc), are usually the ones most guilty of abusing. They complain because they hate being accountable.
However, I haven't totally learned my lesson. I still tell jokes about present day Trumpublicans.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.So does this mean you never laugh?
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Jan 8, 2019
0
there is always only one person who doesn't laugh at someone slipping on a banana peel, and that's the slippee.
g
@genessa oh, no, I find potentially painful physical comedy absolutely repellent!
@AnneWimsey you know what kind of humor, apart from racism crap and all that, irks me? humor that relies solely on embarrassment. i don't watch sitcoms much (i adore murphy brown, though). sometimes i couldn't even watch i love lucy. it was so often "will ricky find out?" the best episodes of the latter bypassed that chestnut and focused on something else: the harpo episode, the grape-stomping, the vita veeta veggie thing, and of course the chocolate factory. once in a while a rare sitcom i like falls back on embarrassment and guess how i feel? embarrassed!
g
@genessa I like to tell slightly exaggerated stories from my own experience, as real life is Hilarious and so much richer than anything I could invent!
@AnneWimsey oh no all jokes are fictional! all good jokes are at least partly true, if apocryphal. meanwhile, hyperbole is one of my hobbies.
g
Just the opposite. I laugh all the time, I just try not to laugh at others ecpense if I can help it. Im not perfect and lsugh occasionally at inappropriate times.
Yes, I really do believe that chicken crossed the road.
Zippypinhead57
Level 5
Jan 8, 2019
0
But did he make it, ayy there's the rub.
Most jokes are about the release of tension. A threat is set up and then knocked down, for example.
- The observational joke works because we realize that we have faced the threat many times before and survived.
- The silly joke works because we realize that the threat was illogical, and therefore harmless.
- The racist sexist etc. joke works because we realize that the threat was directed at someone who we want to suffer or be humiliated. Therefore if you use those jokes, it tells the world a lot about you.
Fernapple
Level 9
Jan 8, 2019
2
Agreed, thanks for the additional clarification.
that is why i don't buy the "i was only joking!" thing when someone tells an offensive joke. jokes don't innoculate against offense, and i'm not talking about just being super-sensitive -- i'm talking about jokes that are designed to put down a portion of the population that doesn't deserve to be put down (so that means trumpublicans are fair game!)
in addition, jokes aren't funny unless there IS some shred of truth there. that's why the one about the pope kicking [insert politician of choice] off a balcony just isn't funny. i've seen it with obama as the pol, and with trump as the pol, and it isn't funny because you can substitute anyone and it just depends on whether or not you like the person and cheer at his/her demise. there is one joke i read that was awful, just awful, because it was backwards, and it wasn't backwards because it reversed obama and trump. it was awful because they were NOT interchangeable in the reality of the joke.
here is the joke, and pardon me for repeating it, but you won't know what i mean unless i do:
i'll say burt and ernie and you can guess who is who.
burt and ernie find each other together at the same time in a barber shop. they greet each other curtly, and their respective barbers give them the required service. at the end of the ministrations, burt's barber asks him if he would like some aftershave. burt declines, saying, "i don't want to go home to my wife smelling like a whorehouse." ernie's barber asks ernie if he would like some aftershave. ernie says, "sure. my wife wouldn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like."
now... when i read it, burt was obama and ernie was trump. but melania is the one who has posed nude, and trump is the one who sleeps with porn stars. reversed, it would've been funny, because it had that kernel of truth in it. the way i read it, it was just maddening, not funny at all.
context, context, context!
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genessa
Level 8
Jan 8, 2019
1
I actually tell all my old jokes but remove the labeling from them.
3 ladies were at at OBGYN
the first one says "I'm gonna have a boy because I was on top"
The second one says "I'm gonna have a girl because we did it missionary"
The third one starts crying and crying
The other two console her "whats wrong dear?"
To which she replies " I'm having puppies"
Me and two of my best friends went on a trip to the Baja desert when our car broke down. It was gonna be a 2 day trek back to civilization. So my friend suggests we all carry something to help us survive.
My first friend grabs the 5 gallon jug of water, and says this will help keep us hydrated in the desert.
My other friend grabs the cooler full of snacks and says this will keep us from going hungry.
I grab the car door.
The other two pause and look at me. Why?
In case we get hot we can roll down the window...
Biosteelman
Level 7
Jan 8, 2019
1
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