about humour

[Itoero]

Jokes are to make people laugh, they don't need to be morally correct. If you don't think it's funny, you just don't laugh with it....don't go reacting because you think it's morally incorrect.  Something that's morally correct in your opinion can be offensive for someone else.  It's imo necessary to make jokes about serious stuff, it's a property of a healthy/modern society. It's all about freedom of speech. A forum of course doesn't have freedom of speech.

Take for example Rowan Atkinson's sketch about immigration. He says that all immigrants are black and some of them can do some jobs almost as well as white people...This is morally not correct but what does that matter? It's to make people laugh...nothing else.

What do you think of this?

[dimreepr]

 

[Strange]

1 hour ago, Itoero said:

 It's to make people laugh...nothing else.

I suspect it was intended to do more than make people laugh. It is satirising those viewpoints. 

[CharonY]

6 minutes ago, Strange said:

I suspect it was intended to do more than make people laugh. It is satirising those viewpoints. 

I think that is the whole point. After all if it wasn't that, why would it be funny to begin with? A good joke often relies to some degree on a surprising change of perception on something that the audience is familiar with. Being offensive just alone is not terribly funny, even if one adds that it was just a joke. Setting up the offensive bit as the punchline (i.e. contextualize it in a manner) can be.

[Area54]

2 hours ago, Itoero said:

Take for example Rowan Atkinson's sketch about immigration. He says that all immigrants are black and some of them can do some jobs almost as well as white people...This is morally not correct but what does that matter? It's to make people laugh...nothing else

You have got this so wrong, that even though CharonY and Strange have already corrected you I think the point needs to be stated even more strongly.

This powerful piece is moral from top to bottom. It is a brilliant and scathing indictment of the mind set, policies and beliefs of significant portions of the Conservative party in the early 1980s. It is intended to make people laugh, true, but its fundamental purpose is to remind the public of the thinking that lurked behind the public utterances. The strategy is well conceived and flawlessly executed. Lure the audience in with the promise of laughter, then make the outrageous comments wearing the face of the "enemy" and let loose with both barrels.

[koti]

The funniest jokes or standup routines consist of all the controversy and offensiveness you can think of. The line is not as thin as many people suggest, if something is to be funny, it needs some wittiness and subtlety and then you can get away with loads of controversy - like the best comedians do. 

Edited March 22, 2018 by koti

[CharonY]

4 minutes ago, koti said:

The funniest jokes or standup routines consist of all the controversy and offensiveness you can think of.

They can be, but they require a skillful buildup. Just launching into controversies is rarely funny for its own sake. As you said, it requires quite a bit of work.

[Strange]

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

Being offensive just alone is not terribly funny

I agree completely with your post. But I'm sure there are quite a few people who would find offensive comments, with no deeper purpose other than to be offensive, very funny.

[zapatos]

1 minute ago, Strange said:

I agree completely with your post. But I'm sure there are quite a few people who would find offensive comments, with no deeper purpose other than to be offensive, very funny.

I used to laugh at those types of jokes all the time. Then I had my 11th birthday...

[CharonY]

13 minutes ago, Strange said:

I agree completely with your post. But I'm sure there are quite a few people who would find offensive comments, with no deeper purpose other than to be offensive, very funny.

Fair enough. I mean, some folks find clowns funny.

 

Edit: typically, the reason why folks do find it funny rather than offensive is the presumption of the fact that the comedian is actually making fun of something and are not just simply being offensive. With the current context some jokes from Louis CK and Bill Cosby just somehow don't work well anymore...

Edited March 22, 2018 by CharonY

[Raider5678]

Reminds me of the most offensive joke in history.

It's about one of the worst times in human history.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Raider5678

[koti]

39 minutes ago, Strange said:

...I'm sure there are quite a few people who would find offensive comments, with no deeper purpose other than to be offensive, very funny.

Thats not funny.

36 minutes ago, zapatos said:

I used to laugh at those types of jokes all the time. Then I had my 11th birthday...

Thats funny. 

[tuco]

Perhaps more research in this area is needed.

More Than “Just a Joke”: The Prejudice-Releasing Function of Sexist Humor - http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167207310022

Personally, I'd like to think that politically and ethically incorrect jokes, which do make me giggle, do not make me view ethically problematic issues more favorably, but what do I know, right? So I think I will sit on fence for the time being, giggling at what makes me giggle. 

Edited March 22, 2018 by tuco

[koti]

4 hours ago, Itoero said:

Take for example Rowan Atkinson's sketch about immigration. He says that all immigrants are black and some of them can do some jobs almost as well as white people...This is morally not correct but what does that matter? It's to make people laugh...nothing else.

What do you think of this?

Mr Bean (or even Rowan Atkinson) is taking a political stance with this sketch. One that is strictly against UK 80’s right wing racism and xenophobia. Its actually funny how he makes fun of racists in this sketch. I guess you could laugh at the words coming out of his mouth without understanding the context nor the meaning of the jokes but that would be pathetic. 

[Strange]

2 hours ago, CharonY said:

Edit: typically, the reason why folks do find it funny rather than offensive is the presumption of the fact that the comedian is actually making fun of something and are not just simply being offensive.

I'm not sure. I think some people (who hold the views being expressed) laugh because they enjoy insulting or ridiculing the target of their prejudice. And there are some comedians (fewer nowadays, perhaps) whose humour consists solely of pandering to those prejudices. With zero irony or satire.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Strange

[koti]

6 minutes ago, Strange said:

I'm not sure. I think some people (who hold the views being expressed) laugh because they enjoy insulting or ridiculing the target of their prejudice. And there are some comedians (fewer nowadays, perhaps) whose humour consists solely of pandering to those prejudices. With zero irony or satire.

Since most people like to laugh at and ridicule what they hate, comedians take advantage of this. The good ones add irony, satire like you note. The best ones are able to swerve around controversial issues without commiting a faux-pas but constantly walk the line.

[CharonY]

18 minutes ago, Strange said:

I'm not sure. I think some people (who hold the views being expressed) laugh because they enjoy insulting or ridiculing the target of their prejudice. And there are some comedians (fewer nowadays, perhaps) whose humour consists solely of pandering to those prejudices. With zero irony or satire.

Hmm, possible. It is probably not what I would associate with "typical" comedy (I did have stand-up and sketches in mind). But now that I think beyond that I can see that some may enjoy e.g. plump stereotyping without contextualization or sense of irony.

[Area54]

5 hours ago, koti said:

Mr Bean (or even Rowan Atkinson) is taking a political stance with this sketch. One that is strictly against UK 80’s right wing racism and xenophobia. Its actually funny how he makes fun of racists in this sketch. I guess you could laugh at the words coming out of his mouth without understanding the context nor the meaning of the jokes but that would be pathetic. 

Didn't I just say that? It must be this new echo chamber.

[Bender]

I think it must be this new echo chamber. 

[dimreepr]

10 hours ago, Strange said:

I'm not sure. I think some people (who hold the views being expressed) laugh because they enjoy insulting or ridiculing the target of their prejudice. And there are some comedians (fewer nowadays, perhaps) whose humour consists solely of pandering to those prejudices. With zero irony or satire.

Ah yes, the70's.

[Phi for All]

On 3/22/2018 at 10:10 AM, Itoero said:

What do you think of this?

I think it's funny, but not for the reasons you listed in your OP. I don't agree with any of that. Saying something that will make a person laugh doesn't make it a joke.

[koti]

22 hours ago, Area54 said:

Didn't I just say that? It must be this new echo chamber.

I did have to use some emotions to come up with it but we seem to share a similar view so thats a good thing in this case isn’t it?

[Area54]

38 minutes ago, koti said:

I did have to use some emotions to come up with it but we seem to share a similar view so thats a good thing in this case isn’t it?

Well it's a good thing in that our similar opinions provide validation of our personal worldviews. If our personal worldviews are wrong and being a xenophobic, isolationist retard is actually positive, then we're screwed!

[koti]

31 minutes ago, Area54 said:

Well it's a good thing in that our similar opinions provide validation of our personal worldviews. If our personal worldviews are wrong and being a xenophobic, isolationist retard is actually positive, then we're screwed!

Gosh, I hope were not.

[Ten oz]

Comedy is a from of Art. Different forms of Art move people different ways. I personally like self deprecating humor where one satirically looks at their own life. I generally do not like comedians who mock or are sarcastic towards external things. As an Art form I do not believe humor deserves any special leeway. The author of a joke is as accountable for the content of their material  as are painters, songwriters, novelists, and etc. I think we have all seen humor used to help heal emotion wounds and used to cause emotional words. On play grounds all over the world kids get laughs making fun up their peers with disabilities or those who are different. The laughter created doesn't change the cruelty involved. Likewise their are clowns visiting children's hospitals all over the world putting smiles on sick children's faces.