Christmas Carols for the disturbed

@Jennifer:

@Janus1:

didnt find them offensive, just plain not funny. <shrug>. a joke to me is only offensive if it is intended to be, if you catch my meaning. now, other people are certainly different, but if you make, say, an italian joke about me (im italian) that is done jovially and intended simply as a joke, i may or may not find it funny, but i wont take offense. if someone who hates italian people makes an italian joke to be derrogatory and insulting, it may be the same joke, but then i will take offense (and that will generally mean i will form a negative impression of that person, i probably wont do anything unless it is continuous). i think people need to lighten up. understand the source and intent of the  joke, and if its not meant to be inflammatory or derrogatory, dont take it as such. jokes are jokes.</shrug>

See, this I can understand.  Why anyone would be offended - especially if they don’t have the disorders - is beyond me.  However, just not appreciating the joke because you don’t find it humorous is fine.  Not everyone has the same sense humor, ya know.

Its just like i said.  A joke about a cripple or cancer patient can be funny to a certain type of person.  As someone who treats people with cancer and psychiatric conditions, i find these jokes in exceedingly bad taste.

@Jennifer:

Perhaps some of you are just a little to PR conscious?  Sometimes you just need to read things with some humor.  Heck, I laugh at stupid rooskie jokes.  /shrug.

its not that i was offended, i have ADHD and OCD (i think everyone has OCD to some level, i just call them pet pives) i can laugh about it and most other things that can go wrong with a human, im the heartless bastard that will laugh at a car crash. so no ofence taken, its just not that funny.

@Janus1:

if its meant to be a joke, then if someone is offended, they are too sensitive IMO.

Why is the receiving side “too sensitive”? Why isn’t the “joking” side too insensitive?

What about this joke:
“My uncle died on 9-11 in the two towers ….
I hope he finished his prayers before he steered the plane into the building.”

… too sensitive?

(BTW: this is the adaption of a german “joke”: “my granddad died in the concentration camps … he was drunk and fell of a guardian tower” which i find is as un-funny as the above. It is just to make the point about “sensitivities”)

@Jennifer:

Personally I don’t think either of those are funny - but I’m not going to call you a Nazi or a Terrorist because you printed them.  I’m not hyper sensitive like that.

gosh.
Now … read again what i wrote after the “BTW:”… then read again your reply here. Then start to think.
Next time i would prefer that you (a) read my entire post, then (b) start to think about it before you © decide wether and more importantly what to reply.

Falk:

1. did you read what i said in my last post, regarding a joke about cancer patients? the same applies to your example. I still dont think there is such a thing as an offensive joke (if its derragatory or inflammatory, the characteristics that make it offensive, IMO, i dont consider it a joke). there is such a thing as tact, and it might not be prudent to make a 9/11 joke around someone who was affected by 9/11, or who is sensitive about such things, but the joke would not be offensive, just a bad idea.
2. i find both jokes you mentioned funny. my roommate is an irish/italian catholic arab from Mass, he tells the 9/11 joke all the time. if you dont find it funny, thats fine, but i dont care if you think im heartless or horrible or anything because of that, because i think you are overly sensitive. a joke is a joke. if its meant to be funny and not derragatory, than either laugh or dont laugh, dont cry foul.

The thing is, Janus, that these “jokes” are meant to make fun of people with a given condition.  I have seen people who are EXTREMELY (caps used for a reason) debilitated by these conditions.  Making jokes of this - regardless of intent - is offensive, as it makes fun of these people, not simply a nebulous condition.

Or perhaps you do not believe that poking fun at another person’s expense is “offensive” in which case we have a different range in which this term falls.

@Janus1:

1. … I still dont think there is such a thing as an offensive joke … there is such a thing as tact, …

I think tactlessness and offensiveness are much closer than you put them.
Especially “jokes” are very well suited to camouflage hatred, jealousy, racism, sexism, nationalism etc. Yet, they still deliver exactly these things and the sentiments.  Look, EJ made lots of “jokes” on dying frenchmen. “Haha … funny… i will laugh when the images of dying USamericans remind me of his jokes” ?(that was not serious, but another way to deliver the same sentiments in a “harmless” or even “objective” way)

let me put it this way. i have numerous friends who are black, gay, and jewish (not all three at once). these three minorities are the subject of a lot of hatred, racism, and bigotry. but all of my friends who are of these minorities will not be offended by, and will often laugh at so-called “racist jokes” like the difference between a black man and a pizza, a jew and a pizza, etc. if i tell a black, gay, or jewish joke, i mean it as a joke, nothing more. my friends understand this, and either laugh or not, whether they find it funny. if im in a room full of strangers, who happen to be black, jewish, or gay, im not going to start telling “racist jokes” because i dont know the crowd, and its possible someone will be offended, which i dont want to happen. thats tact. but i think for someone to be offended by it is oversensitivity. in this situation, i forgive this, and hold my tongue, because i dont know them and they dont know me, so for all they know, i could be a racist trying to be inflammatory. my tone should clearly give me away as just a joker, but you cant rely on that. so here, i look past what i consider over-sensitivity because of the situation. same thing with one of my friends, who happens to be black, and has a mother who died from cancer. a black joke wont bother him, nor a gay joke (most of us suspect, but dont know for sure that he is gay), but a cancer joke will. so i dont tell cancer jokes. i look past this “over-sensitivity” because i think its less that he is offended but that it reminds him of his mother, which upsets him, and as a friend, i dont want to upset him.

but jokes are jokes people. how come a black comic can go up and tell racist jokes, but if a white comic does it, its “edgy” or “taboo”? some of the jokes some black comedians like chris rock tell, if a white boy said them, hed be called racist. come one. its racist if whitey says it, but not a black guy? a joke is a joke. this is what i mean when i talk about offensive, and overly sensitive.

CC: i dont consider the jokes offensive. i didnt find them funny, and clearly neither do you. to you, they are in bad taste because you see the condition every day, or often at least. but i dont find it offensive. time and place, certainly, and you need to know your audience before you make a potentially controversial joke, but a joke is not racism, bigotry, hatred, or anything else if it is told with good intent.

Wow Jen…what a can of worms you opened here.

I personally did not find them offensive, some even made me chuckle.  For all those who were offended, do you also have a problem with the show “Monk”?  Most people find it humorous and Tony Shalhoub has won the emmy for the last 3 years.

dont be offended who ever is.  the question is who is the bigger ass, the person who didnt mean to offend but inadvertantly does, or the person who goes out of their way to tell someone “hey, i dont like that, and i’m offended”    why should the other person even care if you are offended or not.  i wouldnt, i would say they chose to be offended, so let them be.  and let them sniffle too.

i thought they were good jen.

so,  did you know hitler didnt drink vodka.  He said it made him mean.        :wink:

Making fun of people who cannot defend themselves is not funny. It is cowardly.

http://getbehindjesus.net/

here is something inspired. If you thought the holy tortilla was a sign of god or the holy bean burrito or the holy toast, or the holy fruit, or the holy whatever. this is the greatest sign that god exists.

dog bless you.

this may help too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZMKWJ36ABQ

@M36:

Making fun of people who cannot defend themselves is not funny. It is cowardly.

ahhhh M36 - it looks like the the stars have alligned themselves once again into a house where we agree on something. 
I guess some people think its amusing still, to make fun of people with mental disorders.  Just so long as these people do not reproduce.

@Jennifer:

My view?  If you don’t like it, fine.  If you do like it, fine.  But to discuss how horrible a person is because he or she thinks of it makes you even worse, now you are biggotted and infringing on that persons freedom of expression.

how is it bigotted to say that it is not nice to make fun of people who have painful and often crippling mental disorders?  Also how does it infringe on one’s freedom of expression for me to express myself to advocate for the suffering.  Some might even say that this is my job - as a physician and a relatively conscientious human being.  Trying to shame me into not advocating for the suffering is something i would not expect to find in a “civilized society”.  Still, i suppose that those who would make fun of those who suffer may also be the kind of person to try to prevent advocacy on behalf of those people.

there was no personal insult, someone had to go out of their way, make a scene, just because they didnt like a joke.  people are offended by many things, and so what.  if another enjoys it, more benefeit to them.

the question is why be offended if the person didnt mean to offend you.  let it slide.

@balungaloaf:

there was no personal insult, someone had to go out of their way, make a scene, just because they didnt like a joke.  people are offended by many things, and so what.  if another enjoys it, more benefeit to them.

the question is why be offended if the person didnt mean to offend you.  let it slide.

Let’s say that you, or someone you love, suffers from depression - so much so, that it is significantly interfering in their/your quality of life.  Now some idiot comes along and makes fun of you/your loved one.  You may not feel offended, but if you are a feeling individual, then i would suggest that you would not be happy to “let it slide”. 
having trouble relating?  How about if someone makes fun of conservatives, gun owners, military personel, your mother?  I"m not about to make fun of these people, and to be honest, i would consider it in bad taste to single them out for ridicule (except for Bush, but i’m sure the most powerful person in the world can handle himself). 
My point is that although i am not personally offended, at the same time, i do feel that it is appropriate to stick up for people who can’t or are not here to.  Just like M36 - making fun of these people is cowardly. 
Now i am not going to take it on myself to be offended, but please forgive me for pointing out why these kinds of jokes are “in bad taste”.  Still - you don’t know if i suffer from bipolar, ADHD, depression, schizophrenia etc. . . .

if he makes fun of you personally to your face is of course different.  but if he makes fun of canadian doctors, let it slide.

friends can make fun of each others moms, and let it slide.

i dont care if someone disses conservatives or guns or something.  i just laugh at the stupidity.  there’s not much that can be said to get mad at.

Why does what one person says affect you? ? ?    i dont comprehend.