To what extent is something not funny?

[Harlow]

I consider myself to have a pretty broad sense of humor. Even the darkest most f'ed up things can crack me up and I'm hardly offended by stuff and I hardly go "not cool" to black humor.

 

But when is something considered or should be considered "not funny"? I know that strong topic jokes aren't for those who had a bad experience with said strong topic, but otherwise. I don't get why make a big fuzz.

 

For example, The Onion was forced to apologize last Oscars over a lot of people that felt "offended" but it's never aluded how bad the victim felt. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/25/the-onion-tweets-that-quvenzhan-wallis-is-a-cunt.html

Various comedians and Youtubers such as Shane Dawson come to mind too.

 

Why do people feel bothered over some things that should be trivial? Should all offensive jokes come with a "WARNING: OFFENSIVE" pre-emptive strike?

 

P.S: If someone can teach me how to impose links in a fragment of text, thanks.

[Jeroscope]

Most cases of humor are usually a risk as it is. You have to know the audience youre dealing with before taking a jab at em, and then of course there's delivery and timing.

 

To me, joking about death and absolute suffering isn't okay. I hate Holocaust jokes, 9/11 jokes, Pearl Harbor jokes, and stuff like that. But when it comes to the death of individuals, a joke can be made to remember them by. You joke about what they did in life as opposed to their death directly, and it makes people remember the good times.

 

It's still very unclear just how comedy being delivered hits at home. For instance, I thought a Nigahiga parody of Emo people was funny until a friend of mine was offended at the "FINISH YOURSELF" part because a friend of his actually committed suicide. That made me realize that those kind of jokes can be sensitive to people who have experienced those feelings and that I should at least respect it by realizing why it isn't funny to them. Does this mean NIgahiga is a horrible person? No. Does this mean my friend is too sensitive? No. What it means is that there is a line being drawn that hasn't been finished. By experience, we know where its drawn at some places but we may never get the full picture.

[Redeemer]

Okay first of all I have to squee LOOK HOW CUTE SHE IS OMG SHE'S SO ADORABLE LOOK AT HER  AND HER HAIR IS SO PRETTY AND OMG SHE HAS A PUPPY SHAPED HANDBAG OMG ;___;

 

Seriously though, Quvenzhané Wallis is only 10 and to make her the butt of such a tasteless joke was really out of order. I don't think The Onion were funny there at all. These are the kind of things that stick, especially since she's so young - she might not understand the concept of satire and actually think she's getting picked on. That's not cool, at all.

To answer your question though - when is something not funny? Personally I think context is the key. Context, and who you're joking to/about.

 

You wouldn't make a dead baby joke to a new mother, and you wouldn't make a suicide joke to a family with an experience as such. Matters with concern, at the present time, really shouldn't be joked over - the term "too soon" comes to mind.

 

For example, let's look at Billy Connolly's mishap in 2004. He was performing one evening and made a joke about a man called Ken Bigley, who was a hostage in Iraq. Mr Bigley was kidnapped with two other men, who were beheaded. Connolly joked, as though calling the kidnapper's bluff, saying "When are they just going to kill him? They've been threatening to long enough". He was booed off stage and called to apologise, but he never did. Sadly, Ken Bigley was also beheaded later on.

 

This is when things just are not funny, to me at least.

[Snys93]

   While humor can be taken the wrong way, there is the fact that these people who called "celebrities" are the ones who put themselves out there and whine about receiving criticism and in this case can't take a joke no matter the context. Jokes are like invisible bullets: you can dodge them, you can take them but ultimately you can't get hurt by them. I have yet to see someone die from a joke, unless its from Monty Python.

 

   Another thing is that people not only take jokes as offensive, but also think that you should be offended because they are. For example, I'm Greek and I was told a Greek joke the other day.

 

   A friend of mine told this joke the other day: "A Greek boy went to his Greek father and asked, "Dad, can I borrow 50 bucks?" His father replied, "40 bucks? What do you need with 30 bucks?"

 

   I laughed hysterically, not only because I understood the joke and thought it was funny, but took it like a man despite the racial context. Some lady overheard him say it and got angry. Just some fat bible-thumper who goes to church and the supermarket in her pajamas. She was beyond reason, to infinity and beyond so we left.

 

   I've found that if you laugh at something, it shows that it doesn't bother you and it done. But if you feel the urge to take offense and blast it into the face of the joker then you are only gonna make matters worse, by taking something that was meant to be a joke and not a bombing run on your delicate sovereignty.

 

   True, there are things you would need to talk out. Some subjects deserve a measure of light, But just remember the next you're told a joke, if its funny or not, offensive or cruel, remember words can't hurt but only if you let them.

[Drasiana]

Jokes lose their humor when it's a person in power using humor to shit all over people without the advantage--whether they're victims of bigotry or general abuse. Some people might find these jokes funny, but they tend to be, y'know, the ones that aren't being shit all over--which makes it really no more than glorified schoolyard bullying.

 

People like to get on people's asses for being "too sensitive" but y'know, most of the time people have a reason to be sensitive, and disregarding that FOR THE LOLS makes you less of a comedian and more of an asshole.

[Scourge]

My mother once said to me:

 

Scourgema:

"You are the only person you can ever make fun of and get away with it"

 

 

Now, I'm all for self-depracating humour, but this cant be every joke a person ever makes ever. Ergo, you can really only make fun of people you're friends with and who know you're the kind of person to joke about them, and even then you have to be careful what you say.

 

 

When people start freaking out at jokes you make about them, back out, apologize, and dont do it again. Not apologizing just makes you look like an ass.

[Jeroscope]

I would personally joke about stuff that may seem like shit but isnt life threatening.

For instance, a friend of mine and I were stress testing his computer in Skyrim by spawning cheese wheels. We spawned 675 and his computer bluescreened.

TOO MUCH CHEESE.

Its just a harmless joke about mild misfortune.

[Harlow]

I know the joke about the kid was tasteless, but it's THE ONION we're talking about, that's their basic MO and I'm sure they did worse.

Believe it or not, that joke has their dephts: Since she's now a Oscar-nominated actress, is she going to be as bratty and demanding as the stereotypical supercelebrities?

Not defending them, but should they be scolded for doing what they usually do?

 

Other point, if the butt of the joke it's ok with that, does that make the joke alright? Nobody should be offended of the main victim doesn't care.

[Scourge]

 

Other point, if the butt of the joke it's ok with that, does that make the joke alright? Nobody should be offended of the main victim doesn't care.

 

Typically, if both parties are ok with the joke, popular perception is that the joke is then also ok.

 

Unless a group that gets overly butthurt about  that kinda thing gets involved.

[Drasiana]

I know the joke about the kid was tasteless, but it's THE ONION we're talking about, that's their basic MO and I'm sure they did worse.

 

The Onion is satire. Satire is humor with social commentary. The joke they made about her was completely devoid of social commentary and just came off as a mean-spirited jab at a little kid.

 

 

 

Believe it or not, that joke has their dephts: Since she's now a Oscar-nominated actress, is she going to be as bratty and demanding as the stereotypical supercelebrities?

 

So it's okay to call a 10-year-old a c*nt because of something that could theoretically happen in the future (and hasn't actually happened, at all)?

 

The fact that it isn't what The Onion normally does is why it even got taken down--they recognized it was a mean joke that victimized a kid and had no merit.

 

 

 

Other point, if the butt of the joke it's ok with that, does that make the joke alright? Nobody should be offended of the main victim doesn't care.

 

The point is that you shouldn't just assume that the victim won't care to begin with.

[Snys93]

People like to get on people's asses for being "too sensitive" but y'know, most of the time people have a reason to be sensitive, and disregarding that FOR THE LOLS makes you less of a comedian and more of an asshole.

 

Valid point. No one should just disregard someones sensitivity. But you have to agree that there are some people who are out to be offended or to find offense in something out of spite. There are those people and I'm sure we've come across them a time or two. But you're right, there should be shrewdness on the part of the joker.

[Harlow]

The Onion is satire. Satire is humor with social commentary. The joke they made about her was completely devoid of social commentary and just came off as a mean-spirited jab at a little kid.

 

So it's okay to call a 10-year-old a c*nt because of something that could theoretically happen in the future (and hasn't actually happened, at all)?

 

The fact that it isn't what The Onion normally does is why it even got taken down--they recognized it was a mean joke that victimized a kid and had no merit.

 

The punchline is that she's obviously not one being a piece of sugar at the ceremony and in overall life. Per se it's not ok, but look at the guys who made it. The same guys who made 9/11 jokes just two weeks after the thing. And not everything they type is inmersed in social commentary: just check one-liners like "Special Olympics T-Ball Stand Pitches Perfect Game"

 

It's cool that they apologized and told her it's not in mean spirits, but people should really check the source before pressuring it. Comedians like Gottfried are a good example. He got fired from Aflac over jokes of the Japanese Tsunami. Do these companies know who are they hiring first? Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Tosh have also been affected by the pressure. (The same can be said over stuff like the Duck Dynasty thing)

 

Not insulting people's sensitivity, but more than once the most sensible people just like to throw themselves to the wolves' pit to start ruckus.

[unoservix]

so if i were to make a joke that you're only spinning so hard right now as preemptive cover for all your future tasteless cruel jokes, because you'd rather continue to make tasteless cruel jokes than think about what it is you're joking about, that would be okay?

 

a company that hires you to be its spokesman should probably be aware that your thing is being a douchebag who makes tasteless cruel jokes, but that is not an excuse for being a douchebag who makes tasteless cruel jokes.

[Layeyes]

there should be a class for all this, because I seriously would take it just because, I am quite terrible when it come to finding things funny or not and thinking on about the effects. to be honest I feel that most people don't just get up and start being ass hole, some (like me) just like have no idea of what effects they have or think about others reading or really never take things seriously enough.

 

I tend to just not go there, or try to avoid talking lightly on sensitive topics now so.  that would be some sweet edgeyma-cation.

[Dr. Orange]

After I read the Onion's post, yeah it felt out of line. 

 

First, I laugh at everything. Shitty knock-knock jokes to the cruelest, racist, sexist 9/11 joke there it. Why? Because most the jokes told are clever. I feel that's a determining factor in this is that one could take events or situations and mold them using creativeness and punch out a really clever joke about something that may be on the lines as offensive. You want examples? Go to your local internet hate machine. 

 

Now I read the joke the Onion put out, and I get where they're going but it's not clever. It's just punching a name with a title and saying laugh. Sure anyone can call anyone a name and shit but you need to add some context or something to make sure what you're calling someone makes, at least, some sense on why you would. 

 

With that, some jokes can be more personal and sensitive to others too. I wan't in the towers and I didn't live through segregation. Great, now I'll miss the personal side of these jokes. Yet, in the end, everyone had a different standard on what they find funny. Not everyone laughs at everything.