When Does A Joke Go Too Far?

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Gwazi Magnum

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Basically when you do guys personally find when humour crosses the line, and when it's appropriate.
Do you think humour is growing to be too offensive, or that it's becoming too politically correct?
For you personally are there any kinds of offensive/dark humour you love, or some kinds you don't react well to?
Are there any specific examples you can think of when humour goes too far, or when offensive humour is used expertly?

Now remember, this is a Discussion thread, not a debate thread.
If people start attacking one another, or shaming other people's perspectives with comments like "I don't like this! This is stupid! It makes me sick!" I won't hesitate to ask the Staff to close the thread.
 
When someone publicly mock someone else about being a pussy for crying over their parents who just passed away.
 
I have quite a dark humour...at least in my opinion I do.

I mean, I don't really get offended that easily, so there's really no boundaries for me at least. Sure I may go like "WOOOOW RUDE!" or "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST" when I hear some Nazi jokes or shit like that, but at the end of the day, I still end up laughing involuntarily when I hear something like:

"What's the difference between a boy scout and a Jew?"
"The boy scout made it back from their camp."

Soooo...yeah I'm a pretty shitty human being as you can see (nervous laughter)
 
"What's the difference between a boy scout and a Jew?"
"The boy scout made it back from their camp."
Oh Jew!
I did Nazi that coming.
Now watch as people get Furherous.
 
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I have quite a dark humour...at least in my opinion I do.

I mean, I don't really get offended that easily, so there's really no boundaries for me at least. Sure I may go like "WOOOOW RUDE!" or "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST" when I hear some Nazi jokes or shit like that, but at the end of the day, I still end up laughing involuntarily when I hear something like:

"What's the difference between a boy scout and a Jew?"
"The boy scout made it back from their camp."

Soooo...yeah I'm a pretty shitty human being as you can see (nervous laughter)
I like you for that joke!

Oh Jew!
I did Nazi that coming.
Now watch as people get Furherous.
and those two are my puns I use on Nationstates.. I stole them first!
 
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I don't get offended easily and I love to laugh. I am a sucker for dark comedy and satire. I also think it's good to let go and not take yourself too seriously.

That said, I just can't stand it when a "joke" depends solely on shock value to "work". It's not clever, it's just mindless and stupid. If anything, I'm offended that you expect me to laugh at this crap lol

Anyways, nobody's perfect but consideration can be a nice thing in certain situations, like when making fun of the way a stranger died in the presence of a relative or loved one (especially if it happened recently). Other than that, those who look to be offended need to stop making it all about them and just appreciate a good joke for what it is.
 
A joke goes too far when you are careless and don't know your audience or the right moment. o__o Like Izu said, you don't wanna crack dead parents jokes with someone whose parents just died. You wouldn't do abortion jokes around someone who just had a miscarriage. Don't crack jokes that you KNOW are going to offend your friends, cause that's a dick move. And you don't wanna crack offensive jokes around a bunch of strangers that don't know you, because they aren't going to know if you're joking or if you're serious. (I can't even count how many times people here on Iwaku have gotten shit reputations because they're idiots when it comes to knowing your audience!)



I for one love most offensive jokes. x___x The only time I have ever been offended by one is usually when it was poorly timed or on that rare occasion it hit a button. ...or when I don't know the person, and can't tell if they're making a joke or being serious. c____c I have been in lots of situations where people were cracking super racist jokes and had me wondering if maybe those weren't actually jokes. o____o
 
I love dark humor, self deprecating humor from time to time. And, as I'm not easily offended (and don't get offended for other people's sake), offensive jokes can be pretty hilarious if done right. You're not hurting anybody with dumb jokes.
 
The joke goes too far when you are purposely trying to offend someone or you know it will bother someone and you say the joke anyways. I have a very dark humor but even I know when not to make certain jokes with certain people or groups.
 
I'd say the only time a joke goes too far is when it becomes a personal attack rather than an attempt at actual humor. No topic is off limits for joking, as far as I'm concerned, but if you get to the point where you're just being cruel to someone for your own amusement then you've gone too far. This doesn't mean stop saying jokes as soon as someone gets offended, because if that were the case then you'd never be able to tell a damned joke in the first place because somebody will be offended by fucking anything. Intent is extremely important here. A person making fat jokes to amuse their friends in the same room as someone who is struggling with body image issues is okay, a person making fat jokes directly to that person who's going through some shit because they're a dick and want the person to feel bad is not okay.

That said, it's also important to take responsibility for your joking. If you make jokes that people take offense to, don't just brush it off and say it was just a joke so it doesn't matter. It's really not your problem if some over-sensitive shit gets upset about a joke, but you should be aware of how people may react to such jokes. Don't go throwing racist or sexist or so on jokes out there if you aren't prepared to deal with the angst that may come with it, because your only defense is going to be "whatever, I think it's funny," and that won't stop people from trying to give you shit about it. Go ahead and joke about whatever the fuck you want, just don't be surprised if it makes people think you're an asshole. If you aren't prepared to deal with that, then maybe you shouldn't be telling jokes about abortion and whatnot.
 
I don't think there really is a limit. Take racist jokes for example, there are a few that make even me cringe, but then i'll see a bunch of black people laughing their asses off and i'm like "Huh... If the target of that joke finds it hilarious, then I have no place to say anything now do I? Looks like i'm overreacting >.<"

Some will say when it becomes more of a personal attack, but is it truly a joke at that point? XP
 
It's only offensive if it's bad.

Lol, I mean I like jokes. Racists jokes are some of my favorites because I don't mean them and the people I'm joking around with don't mean theirs either although...I feel if a white person said some of the things I've said, they'd get into a lot of shit because of who they are which sucks.

A lot of people don't get darkhumor, especially if it involves death, terrorism or sickness of a child. They feel it's too much but to me...I'd rather be laughing then sad all the time and as long as it's not meant to be in a way that truly hurts someone, then let it be and laughď
 
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A joke has gone too far when:

  1. A rule or law is broken
  2. A person is hurt by
    1. Physical injury
    2. A personal attack in the joke
    3. Dismissal or defamation of a subject of close relation or deep importance to them
I think it's important go note that going too far does not necessarily mean deep injury or malicious intent. It can happen by accident like:

Person: "I wanna tell you a dimentia joke, but I forgot the punchline"
Me: dude, too far. My Oma had dimentia; it's a lot more than just forgetfulness, we can't keep trivializing if we want it cured.

This isn't to say that going too far is unavoidable it always forgivable, either. One should always try to make sure that one isn't going to hurt someone with their joke whenever possible. In the above example, the person could have asked if I was okay with jokes about mental illness first, or even - more generally - if I had any 'lines' for offensive humour that they should be wary of crossing.

You don't need to conduct an interview or ask permission every time to know if something is appropriate, either.
  1. Read the room; is everyone in the right mood/headspace to appreciate the comedy? Is it good timing? Have any recent events skewed perspective?
  2. Know the audience: is anyone around who has sufficient personal connection to your joke that they may not find it suitable for comedy?
  3. Accept that you may need to keep it to yourself. If someone says they aren't okay with jokes around a certain topic, don't keep pushing to tell yours by watering it down or claiming it's only "kind of" in that category.
Remember: the object of a joke is to entertain, not to injure!


I personally love offensive humour, but disapprove of jokes that
  • Trivialize rape
  • Defame or trivialize Feminism
  • Trivialize mental illness
  • Involve babies in a non-cute way
  • Reinforce a "catty wife, bumbling husband" stereotype
 
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So the popular belief so far seems to be it's fine as long as no one specific is being targeted.

I'm going to now show a video to you guys, one that doesn't attack individuals (other than Obama) but rather a topic.


What do you all think?
Is it funny? Is it insensitive?
Do you think it's serious? Do you think it's a Parody? If it's a Parody then of which side?
 
So the popular belief so far seems to be it's fine as long as no one specific is being targeted.

I'm going to now show a video to you guys, one that doesn't attack individuals (other than Obama) but rather a topic.


What do you all think?
Is it funny? Is it insensitive?
Do you think it's serious? Do you think it's a Parody? If it's a Parody then of which side?
That's not even a joke, it's a crude political statement. They aren't intending humor, they're intending to make people outraged about abortion.

I suppose some people could find that funny, but those sorts of people just make me roll my eyes rather than laugh. Insensitive? That's sort of the point of their little act, to be very blunt and insensitive about the topic. I'd say it's serious in that they are certainly trying to make a political statement, and they are parodying Obama and pro-choice people in general.
 
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I chuckled at the terrible acting but I didn't take it as they were making it to be funny. It wasn't a joke but a statement and if it was intended to be a joke, they are really terrible at it.
 
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Interesting.

I had shown this same video to some friends of mine while visiting one of them at their farm.
Their reactions were along the lines of "The acting is funny. But it's so extreme I can't tell if they're serious or if they're parodying/teasing Pro-Life extremists. But either way it looks like they chose to have fun with it".

And in all honesty my perspective is along the same lines, not even 100% sure if it's serious or not.
If it is serious, then obviously there's a political message there, but they seemed to try to deliver it in a funny manner at least rather than your typical sign picketing or clinic bombing stunts.
If it's making fun of them, then clearly it's a joke, it's an outright Parody.
 
I thought it was a satire of some pro-life people view Obama, the tax system, and pro-choice people because of how oversimplified politics is portrayed in this video.

Like no one actually believes that Obama is some truly evil entity who just goes up to people and demands taxes because he likes abortions = aka murdering babies? Who actually enjoys having abortions anyway? Nobody, right? I'd doubt if got pregnant and wanted/needed (depending on how you see it) an abortion (could be that I was too careless, was too young, or was raped) that the abortion would be a happy occasion...

Also, do they really think doctors will happily murder full-grown babies with a knife? It's so absurd that I feel there's some dark humor poking fun of stereotypical pro-life beliefs.

Personally, I didn't think it was laugh-out-loud funny but it was... interesting? Their portrayals were mostly cringy so the most it got from me was a nervous laugh.
 
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(it) doesn't attack individuals (other than Obama) but rather a topic.

Not directly, but that's kinda like saying "I'm not attacking Christians, just Christianity!" Christians are still probably going to feel hurt and offended by the attack, since they are strongly attached to the target. It's the same with pro-choice in this video. Saying "here is how pro-choice looks" is pretty well the same as saying "this is what people who support pro-choice are like" in turns of being offensive or hurting people in this instance.
 
Alright. Let's try something else then.
After all multiple examples would give a clearer perspective.

 
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