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Well if you say it in a non-ironic sense then you're kind of just dicking on a whole group of people which is just ignorant. But if you're only pretending to do that, but some people are so oversensitive they get offended, that's hilarious.
It's a fine line and hard to explain in words really.
So it's fine to dick on say, victims of sexual abuse or the poor, but not other groups?
I know what you're trying to do. Comedy is comedy. I expect most people don't find ignorant jokes amusing (comparing africans to monkeys, for example), but in certain contexts where the joke is actually intended to épater le bourgeois it can be very funny.
Racism and homophobia however are a far more signinficant problem with regard to how ingrained they still are in the collective social fabric of most countries, and while the majority of people are not racist or homophobic, there is a visible minority who are. Furthermore there have been are still are many cases of racist and homophobic discrimination, abuse, assaults and to a lesser degree killings. By telling homophobic and racist jokes people are helping perpetuate the prejudice some people have against ethnic minorities or gays. However telling jokes about paedophilia will have exactly zero effect on future cases of child abuse, because of the nature of paedophiles..
So I assume as class warfare is still endemic within parts of the British pysche and has killed ten of millions that jokes about Paris Hilton are also off the menu?
It seems to be we try to rationalise why we shouldn't be offended, whilst still defending our right to offend others.
I made a complaint to BBC saying that Ross and Brand shouldn't have been sacked
I like humour to push the boat out, as long as it isn't like Michael Richards.
But that's not to say you can't be racist or sexist or whatever. Example: someone who is very 'vocal' about her gender etc. you might act deliberately sexist towards to antagonise them, as their reaction is the funny bit.
Obviously, making sure you don't overstep the line and actually become hurtful - but making fun of people and people's ideas and everything is an integral part of comedy which imo is an integral part of being human. eventually the people normally cotton on that the jokes on them and stop reacting, but until then there are a good many laughs to be had.
Although I think that's a different situation than if for example there were three guys and you met a girl and started joking amongst yourselves about her in a very derogatory and even intimidating way.
Hard to describe really, but there is a definite distinction and it's probably about how well you know the people and how well you can think what is too far and what isn't.
Jokes about individuals are slightly different to jokes about a subject or ethnic group I reckon.
Yep, it is not very consistent, but the current general consensus (child abuse jokes = tasteless but ok, homophobic/racist jokes = tasteless and completely unnaceptable) still makes sense to me and actually seems fair.
The alternatives (either no jokes at all are allowed to ensure nobody ever is offended, or absolutely everything is fair game and okay) might seem fairer and simpler on paper, but are in fact very wrong and should not be considered IMO.
Although in real life I think a double dose of caution is necessary when 'playing with fire' and you need to know when using sensitive subjects such as race or sex that the person won't be offended.
Interesting article:
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3631
And some further reading:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=omZdbIiz8M8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA289&ots=ylfBF4Guy8&sig=R6w08GvbNTS36E9ikZmMuvouLdM
edit: one example of 'good' humour imo was implying a kenyan friend was secretly having sexual relations with a camel. Of course, she was annoyed, but saw it as ribbing rather than malice. One 'bad' example are these jokes about 'pakis' that you do hear in Leicester particularly, something about the solution being sending them all to the moon.
Maybe in that case it just comes down to who the audience is. If you have a laugh at 'group' at their expense without them being included, that's bad, but if you have a laugh at 'person of group' and they're included in the humour it's ok, because its a two way thing. I'm not a sociologist
Why was she annoyed? They don't have camels in Kenya
That just makes it better :thumb:
That's human nature, we have a huge hypocritical streak running through everyone of us. Spike Lee brought up a great example of this when talking about his film 'Do The Right Thing'. There is a very powerful scene where various characters of different ethnicities face the camera and insult another ethnic group. During a preview screening Lee noticed that people in the audience laughed until it came to their own ethnic group.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tNXsRJgOTmk&feature=related