Don’t hear that much anymore, do you?
You can thank the political correctness movement. The PC police – you know, the killjoys who
want to ensure that no one, nowhere is offended by anything. Especially a
joke.
Because jokes can hurt. It’s not right to repeat, much less
laugh at, jokes that might hurt. You never know when you risk offending someone.
So, no jokes allowed.
Unless, of course, you’re mocking Trump, Melania,
Christians, Pence, Republicans, white people, conservatives, or anyone with a
religious belief. Then anything goes; it’s fine – and funny.
There are other rules, however. They also depend on who you are.
Today if you’re black you can make fun of anyone, even other
blacks, except gay blacks – that’s not allowed. Gay people can mock any
straight people, but straight people of any race can’t make jokes about anybody
who might be LGBTQIAPK (that covers a lot of ground, look it up).
Gay conservatives – and there are some – are stuck in the
same rut as white conservatives and can’t make fun of anybody. That would be
offensive.
Just thought I’d lay out the new rules as I see them. But you already knew them, right? We’re all tiptoeing around subjects to stay politically
correct. We live in fear of telling a joke in a crowd that goes over like a
fart at a funeral.
That’s too bad. I’ve
always loved a good joke. Most of us still
do. Yet everyone’s too afraid these days to tell a great joke, or even laugh at
something that’s clearly funny.
Humor is about incongruity, the things in life that
make no sense, and also about making fun of stereotypical situations – in short,
about the things that make us all fallible humans. Especially when it’s about
ourselves and our everyday lives; self-deprecating humor is often the
funniest.
Humor is also about stripping away pretensions. Humbling the haughty. Poking fun at the powerful. But most of all,
knocking the arrogant and self-righteous off their high horse.
Ridicule, sarcasm, and the well-timed joke are valuable
weapons in bringing the mighty down to earth and leveling the playing field. Humor has always been an equal opportunity
offender and a healthier way to vent frustration than physical violence.
It’s been that way since the dawn of time in every culture,
every society, and every nation. Archeologists
constantly find written or visual jokes dating back thousands of years. Some
are quite crude bathroom humor, and quite graphic. Others deal with sexual preferences or
performance. Some impugn the character of politicians, other ethnic groups, and
other religions. Some even make fun of particular gods and myths.
And I’ll bet in their day these were all considered
hilarious. In bad taste at times, I’m
sure, but probably had their audiences laughing their ancient asses off.
There’s nothing wrong with humor. Even when it’s at someone else’s
expense. And it’s perfectly okay to
laugh at whatever you find funny. Doubt
that?
Tell me honestly that seeing some arrogant jerk take a pratfall
isn’t funny. Or that the famous pix of
Chris Christie in the beach chair isn’t hilarious. Or Clint Eastwood’s joke in the movie Gran Torino about “a Mexican, a Jew and
a colored guy walk into a bar …” wasn’t, either. Tell me you’ve never laughed
at Robin Williams doing standup. Or Chris Rock doing standup, or in his video “How
to avoid getting your ass kicked by the police.” Or Mel Brook’s Blazing Saddles. Or a website I really miss called Regretsy ("Where DIY meets WTF") that mocked silly "handmade" items people were trying to sell on Etsy.
Or whatever is often
obviously in bad taste but still obviously funny to you.
You’re forgiven for being human and having a sense of humor.
It’s okay.
It’s the people who have no sense of humor that should worry
us.
They need to get a life instead of trying to ruin ours.
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