what is humour and what is not

[purplehaze]

What is humour and what is not humour?

Is sarcastic humour, humour?
Is dark humour, humour?
Can we poke fun at ourselves and our own illness even if others suffer from the same thing?

Have we gone so pc that ba ba black sheep is now "ba ba wooly sheep" and "black board is now white board"

If you say someone is fat then you are fatist but in reality they are fatist
seems we put an "ist" on anything we disagree with

Yes I know there are many on this site who are vulnerable and can easily take offense but there are many who do have a humour that does not involve "knock knock whos there"


so whats your take on this


kev


ps I may had ...not humour that hurts people

[Ross]

You have summed it up nicely yourself. Humour varies from person to person.

I personally believe that if you have no intention of hurting someone with a flippant jocular remark, but that remark does hurt them, then the fault lies with both parties.

Sometimes my friend, we can do no right.

I have a very open mind, and I have had to apologise for a misplaced joke on many occasions. But, life is too short to wallow.

Just be you. A minority might not like it, but there are always going to be people who do!

[ladybird64]

What is humour and what is not humour?

Is sarcastic humour, humour?
Is dark humour, humour?
Can we poke fun at ourselves and our own illness even if others suffer from the same thing?

Have we gone so pc that ba ba black sheep is now "ba ba wooly sheep" and "black board is now white board"

If you say someone is fat then you are fatist but in reality they are fatist
seems we put an "ist" on anything we disagree with

Yes I know there are many on this site who are vulnerable and can easily take offense but there are many who do have a humour that does not involve "knock knock whos there"


so whats your take on this


kev


ps I may had ...not humour that hurts people

It's impossible to answer the first part of your question Kev as there is no accounting for individual tastes.
I'm not the most politically correct person in the world (life's too short ) but I don't think this is about political correctness, it's about common sense.
Yes, I can poke fun at myself and any conditions I may have but what gives anyone else the right to poke fun at me?
I love a joke and have no objections to light-hearted teasing when engaging in conversation..as some in the chatroom may testify.
However, I have got a BIG problem with people that get their kicks from taking the piss out of others with the knowledge that someone is going to be hurt by crass remarks.
Take for instance your sentence about "fatist"..I have a daughter who suffers from a genetic condition that makes her extremely obese, this condition could also shorten her life span. Am I offended by your comment? Nope, because the chances of you knowing this info are zero.
But what I would ask myself is why would you need to target someone's physical appearance for a joke anyway?
We had a thread on here recently (can't remember where exactly) which was hilarious. Full of jokes about airhead blondes, daft men, daft women etc.
No-one is going to be upset by this (I don't think) for the simple reason that we know that they are untrue stereotypes..it's all very generalised stuff.
We know that so many of us here are very sensitive, the vast majority with good reason. I may be feeling good one day and find a joke very humerous, another day I may be in despair and see same joke and wonder how anyone could be so hurtful.

So to sum up cos I have gone off at a tangent as usual..

This forum has many sensitive people using it, that is it's very nature. Jokes that may be found extremely funny eslewhere might not go down so well here..so if in doubt, don't post them.

My take on it.

[honeybee3939]

Hi

I feel humour as changed in a big way. We seem to have to watch what we say these days incase we offend others. I was only talking about this the other day to a friend. when i was young we used to watch BennyHill, Dick Emery, Love thy Neighbour etc and found them funny but todays society wouldnt accept it .

I find it quite sad really.

love

Andrea
xxxx

[purplehaze]

Lady bird very true and I think we need to laugh at things that effect us because at times we all live in such a dark place with our mental health. I felt using the "fatist" idea as the least offencive and meant no offence by it.

Honeybee
yeah we now live in a world where we need to watch everything we say

Sure no one wants to hear racist jokes or jokes that we know will offend others but we also know there are people who would complain about any joke

Humour is something we should embrace and laugh more because it makes us all feel better

[Jaco45er]

Did you hear about the Scotsman who died on the "pay as you leave bus?"

[i hate panicking]

Hiya purplehaze,

This is a difficult one but personally I am me and yes I have a sense of humour(I think) and sometimes I might laugh or use my humour at the wrong time but to me It is'nt poking fun at people it's trying to make light of the situation no matter how bad it is, but anyone who knows me they know that that's the way I am but people who don't know me might not see it that way and take offence.

x

[Nechtan]

We live in what must be one of the most restrictive times ever. Well maybe not ever but for a long long time. You cannot say anything without the possibility that it will offend someone. And the problem is that there are too many of the PC brigade ready to all jump on the bandwagon to annihilate anyone at the slightest thing. You look at what happened to Ross and Brand. They were wrong but a bandwagon soon started with lots of people getting on it to make themselves feel goo at being so PC. Look at Jade Goody. How many people couldn't wait to reduce her to a nervous wreck en masse. OK her comments were wrong but I think there were alot of people who took satisfaction out of seeing her break down so they could feel self righteous. In the UK we are supposed to pride ourselves on freedom of speech but that is probably the biggest joke of all.

What annoys me most is that some people are allowed to say some things but not others. They are allowed to tell jokes about themselves but no one else is. There is a bias towards what is acceptable and what is not which is not fair in all categories.

Ultimately though anything you say could offend someone and there are alot of people I feel just looking to be offended so they can jump on their soapbox. And it is a shame because there are a lot of funny jokes out there not getting told as a result. Who wants the hassle?

Nechtan

[purplehaze]

Jaco..now being scottish thats cool lol

[eeyorelover]

I don't have either a sense of humor or sense of direction so I'm always lost and p1ssed off!!!
BAHAHA

Seriously tho I think that the way to look at is if it could offend then what is the point?
Of course humor is in the same league as beauty in that it is in the eye of the beholder.
You may think that Monty Python was funny. I personally never 'got it'!
But making a joke at the expense of any one group of individuals is not humor - it's bias!
And in my opinion - WRONG!

Not that anyone on here would ever do that I'm just giving that as an example.

xxx
Sandy