*sigh. Ok, then

I still disagree with the premise that runa and the pink dog had, that words hurt us so much that they should be illegal or at the very least are deplorable. I mean, how can you let the opinion of someone who means nothing to you affect you that much? You'll never meet any of these people, but yet their words tear you apart. I don't get it, I guess because I think that the real tragedies in life are much worse than some comic talking shit .
For example:
-getting a positive hiv test
-getting addicted to anything
- idd people( formerly called retarded) that live their lives in some house and can't make their own decisions, will never have any challenges and little hope for a wife or husband of their own
-homelessness
-poverty
-being crippled after an accident or incident
-dealing with mental illness
etc.


These are the real tragedies and that's why liberals can seem really shallow, it's like they just care about being politically correct, when there are more important things that we aren't taking care of in America.

These are the real tragedies and that's why liberals can seem really shallow, it's like they just care about being politically correct, when there are more important things that we aren't taking care of in America.

I hadn't read the rest of the thread when I responded to him. 

Yeah, these are the words of someone either too ignorant to know better or too heartless to care. Basic empathy can't be taught, sadly. 

Nothing in this world exists outside of context. Jokes, if they normalize bigotry, can absolutely be damaging. That's why it's so important to distinguish between actual comedy and bigotry masquerading as comedy. 

Do you think it would be appropriate if I told some joke that included a bunch of hard Rs or called people retards or made light of gay people in a way that insinuated they were all pedos or groomers? Because people make those jokes and it's treated in some communities like it's normal, like it's acceptable, like queer folk are deviants, where the 'joke' lies in how absurd it is that these people are allowed to exist in the spaces of others. 

People absolutely make jokes that are harmful. And if they're offensive, they need to be equally poignant or at least equally funny. If it's just an excuse to treat it as a valve to release and speak racism or sexism that you can't share openly...then it's damaging. 

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Without context sure, 'jokes' shouldn't have limits. but we don't live in a world where that's possible. We have centuries of historical context that paint those jokes in a certain light. 

IT's like these people who like to pretend we 'fixed' racism because OF the civil rights movement. And 'fixed' sexism because of suffrage. Like, on the books black people and women are legally people but that doesn't erase decades - nay, centuries - of history wherein that was NOT the case. You can't just flip a switch and then shoot finger guns at someone and say 'we good'. History is a factor. That's true in life and in comedy. So while devoid of context comedy has no bounds, GOOD comedy absolutely does and GOOD comedians understand the difference between just shouting obscenities and bigotry vs making offensive material with a point behind it. 

I genuinely don't trust anyone who prefers to strip any situation of its context, nuance, and depth. IT reeks of someone who either doesn't understand the circumstances surrounding the topics they discuss or they don't care and just want to stop hearing about it. 

Because you're missing the critical point that ideas people have, affect how other people get treated.

Most of the tragedies in your list were and are still to this day made worse by people having poor ideas.

HIV affected the wrong group, and society collectively decided not to do anything about it. 

People to this day are still struggling to get help with their mental health, because of poor ideas.

Homeless people/people in poverty get ostracized and blamed for their own misfortune.

If enough people think black people should be brought into slavery, that's not good (to put it lightly).

If enough people think that Jews should be exterminated, that's not good (to put it lightly).

Historically and to this day, billions of people have been mistreated or actively murdered because of ideas that other people put into their heads. 

How do those horrific ideas get propagated? Through propaganda, through news media, through comedians, through governments, through social media. All kinds of different avenues.

It's why conservatives seem really shallow. Because they do not understand how ideas shape society. 

Because you're missing the critical point that ideas people have, affect how other people get treated.

Most of the tragedies in your list were and are still to this day made worse by people having poor ideas.

HIV affected the wrong group, and society collectively decided not to do anything about it. 

People to this day are still struggling to get help with their mental health, because of poor ideas.

Homeless people/people in poverty get ostracized and blamed for their own misfortune.

If enough people think black people should be brought into slavery, that's not good (to put it lightly).

If enough people think that Jews should be exterminated, that's not good (to put it lightly).

Historically and to this day, billions of people have been mistreated or actively murdered because of ideas that other people put into their heads. 

How do those horrific ideas get propagated? Through propaganda, through news media, through comedians, through governments, through social media. All kinds of different avenues.

It's why conservatives seem really shallow. Because they do not understand how ideas shape society. 

Nothing in this world exists outside of context. Jokes, if they normalize bigotry, can absolutely be damaging. That's why it's so important to distinguish between actual comedy and bigotry masquerading as comedy. 

Do you think it would be appropriate if I told some joke that included a bunch of hard Rs or called people retards or made light of gay people in a way that insinuated they were all pedos or groomers? Because people make those jokes and it's treated in some communities like it's normal, like it's acceptable, like queer folk are deviants, where the 'joke' lies in how absurd it is that these people are allowed to exist in the spaces of others. 

People absolutely make jokes that are harmful. And if they're offensive, they need to be equally poignant or at least equally funny. If it's just an excuse to treat it as a valve to release and speak racism or sexism that you can't share openly...then it's damaging. 

Nothing exists in a vacuum. Without context sure, 'jokes' shouldn't have limits. but we don't live in a world where that's possible. We have centuries of historical context that paint those jokes in a certain light. 

IT's like these people who like to pretend we 'fixed' racism because OF the civil rights movement. And 'fixed' sexism because of suffrage. Like, on the books black people and women are legally people but that doesn't erase decades - nay, centuries - of history wherein that was NOT the case. You can't just flip a switch and then shoot finger guns at someone and say 'we good'. History is a factor. That's true in life and in comedy. So while devoid of context comedy has no bounds, GOOD comedy absolutely does and GOOD comedians understand the difference between just shouting obscenities and bigotry vs making offensive material with a point behind it. 

I genuinely don't trust anyone who prefers to strip any situation of its context, nuance, and depth. IT reeks of someone who either doesn't understand the circumstances surrounding the topics they discuss or they don't care and just want to stop hearing about it. 

But here's the thing - if an idea is awful or holds no water, it will NEVER gain enough popularity to gain much traction or shape society in the first place. Or if the rare time it does, it will not last long and the pendulum will swing back to sanity and truth, overwhelming it. The truth always wins out in the end.

If this is the case - if they ARE in fact so false and unpopular, why worry about them, or the effect they'll have? At the end of the day isn't this just another form of "Democracy"?

You can’t say you weren’t talking about comedy in a previous post and then come back and say that you are.

I don’t buy your arguments at all, South Park spent over 25 years joking about all those subjects.

Comedy and hate speech are not the same thing.

Hitler stood up and spoke before a crowd. Hitler was a clown. But that is not stand-up comedy. I think you should learn the difference between the two.

Sure, some of these jokes made by South Park may encourage some credulous twat to be more antisemitic, but that’s a small minority at best, and not the fault or general result of comedy… it’s because of inbreeding.