unacceptable jokes...

[isca]

I recently had a joke about Jeremy Beadles hand banned by the administrator.No complaints,its their website but why is it unnacceptable to jokes about this or lady di or 9/11 when it is acceptable to do jokes about the second world war-total loss of life over 11 million?

[JustSia]

You kidding me right...

It is totally the prerogative of this site's administrators, to do what ever they feel is right. And I am sure if any joke overstepped its mark they would delete it no matter what its theme was.

It is not a humour site so I wouldn't get too wound up about it, if you want people to appreciate your sense of humour you should post on the appropriate sites, where pretty much anything is acceptable.

S.

[isca]

read the question mate.

I clearly state no complaints about the removal of the joke and im not offended or upset that it was removed, i was simply trying to start a debate about why certain jokes are acceptable and others aren't. Not specifically about this site but within society in general.

cheers

[dot.hawkes]

I don't like jokes about deformity death or terrorism, where on here is there a joke about the total loss of life in WW11, was it not irony rather than a type of stand up gag? Can you post a link please?

[isca]

Right. I can see that the original question wasnt worded very well, my apologies. As ive just said i wanted to start a debate about what is an acceptable topic for humour and what isnt. Theres no point in pretending that people dont tell each other sick jokes, they do. i was just interested in where various people think the line is, thats all.

[dot.hawkes]

My own personal line is not to tell sick jokes that cause anyone to think I am a nasty person who would laugh at other's heartache or misfortune.

[isca]

Fair enough dot, im not trying to judge anyone or be judged myself. Clearly though some people think different to you cause as soon as there a disaster/death/etc there are usually jokes doing the rounds within 24 hours and they dont just appear out of thin air, somebody is making them up. These jokes are laughed at by some and frowned upon by others. Yet british comedians have been telling jokes about the second world war for years, and not just in private but very often on mainstream fanily entertainment. This strikes me deeply hypocritical given the huge loss of life involved and i just wondered what the difference is?

ps i'm not some ar*e who just wants to offend people, im genuinely interested.

[JustSia]

I don't know where you heard that jokes about Lady Di, 991 etc are not acceptable. People have different types of humour and don't understand or refuse to understand some jokes, so some will always complain about it. Just the same way that people will always complain about gangster rap or heavy metal.

And just to show you how acceptable some jokes are, Joan Rivers is famous for her jokes on 9/11.

S.

[isca]

Justsia. i completely agree with you but just look at this thread, dot thinks that all jokes along these lines are unacceptable ( and thats her/his perogative) so clearly there is a big difference of opionon out there.

cheers

[dot.hawkes]

I said I didn't tell jokes like that and I don't always like hearing them. I wasn't as universally condemning as you suggest. If a comic like Joan Rivers wants to make a living she has to be controversal I guess, she'd sure not get a gig based on her looks!

[isca]

No offence intended dot.

out of interest you say tha you dont always like hearing them, implying that sometimes you do. So wheres the line?

[dot.hawkes]

Good question, I get alot of emails with attachments on line that are sometimes a bit too much for me, (no offence to Plamfy meant by that his are always funny) and if I open them I am sometimes left sighing and upset that someone would think I would have found it funny. But I am an oldie so I might be a little less tolerant than some.

[JustSia]

Of course there is a big difference of opinion out there. And I wouldn't have it otherwise as it would jeopardize out freedom of speech and expression.

You can't please everyone. I really dislike Jim Carreys comedies, and find some of really poor tastes, yet I love Mel Brooks especially Blazing Saddles and Producers and Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Life of Brian was banned in one of the cities cinemas in the UK up until about 1997 I think. Weird, ha. Still you can't tell people what they can or can't like. And it doesn't mean you have to shove it down their throats just to prove the point. Just take it as a difference of opinions/tastes and walk away.

S.

[dot.hawkes]

THis has all got me thinking abit about how my attitude to comedy material has changed over the decades. I grew up watching Morcambe and Wise and not finding them funny, but I used to love the one man stand up acts like Billy Connelly and Jasper Carrott, even Tom O'Connor was brilliant in the mid 70s and his albums sold loads. Monty Python never appealed to me but I did have a couple of their albums too. The 80s brought a more sophisticated comedy that really i think began with MASH in the late 70s which I loved. I remember too a big fuss about Derek and Clive and I heard just a part of one sketch on vinyl and thought it was pointless. What makes me laugh now is essentially the same though, a good script, like Friends and Will and Grace. I can laugh hysterically at Chubby Brown though to my shame, but can't stand Little Britain. And I can laugh at Morcambe and Wise now, that's my age I think.

[joko]

just so you know, isca, it was my question the joke was posted on and i certainly did NOT report you. i didn't find it at all offensive. some people just get up in arms at the slightest thing.

i'll bet JB has heard them all before and laughs and probably even makes up a few of his own.

[isca]

no problem joko. i certainly wasnt accusing you of anything, it just got me thinking about whats acceptable and what isnt. I reckon theres probably a really good thesis in this for a english degree student etc...

[isca]

ps up in arms he,he,he

[snoopydizzle]

dot, when isca said that's your prerogative, he/she meant that it is your opinion, not that you were "universally condemning". He was proving a point to JustSia that he agrees people can have very different ideas of humour. JustSia, you say there is a big difference of opinion and "I wouldn't have it otherwise as it would jeopardize our freedom of speech and expression" - surely isca having his joke removed is a violation of his right to free speech? there may be extremes of opinion on what is acceptable humour, yet why should someone at one end of the spectrum suffer so another of the opposite opinion does not need to be offended?

isca, on your question, i agree it can be in poor taste to assume that jokes about WWII are acceptable yet 9/11 etc are not. My own belief is that because 9/11 is still a very recent world event, the number of people directly affected by it will be far greater than those still directly affected by losses from WWII. Just to cover myself on this point, I do not by ANY means intend to offend anyone who suffered losses from WWII, i simply mean that "general opinion" dictates that someone affected by 9/11 has now had 5 years to grieve, as opposed to 60 years for someone affected by WWII.

Equally, isca, as you say, "there's no point in pretending people don't tell sick jokes, they do" - sometimes i can't BELIEVE the alacrity with which jokes are doing the rounds after such events! purely from a logistical point of view!! i take no offence, but equally i don't find such jokes that funny, however i can appreciate that some people DO find them funny, which i have no problem with (and dot, i am no oldie!).

[snoopydizzle]

As you say, isca, where is the line?! As far as i'm concerned, there is no line. People will do, as they always have done, exactly as they wish. Everyone is brought up differently, to believe or not to believe certain things, and our childhoods mould us into the adults we become. Some people might not find jokes like this offensive at all, but be completely up in arms over something "inoffensive" like a smoking ban.... :)

The whole POINT of humour is that it's different strokes for different folks; where would we be if EVERYONE love eddie izzard (for instance)??? (apart from very packed theatres...) as it is i know of some people who wouldn't go and see "that transvestite" - as if it's his choice of clothes that makes him unfunny to that person! it is a deep-rooted fear (i believe) of the unknown that drives people towards a certain brand of humour, a humour they can cope with and find amusing on their own terms. Simultaneously driving them AWAY from other types of humour which seem alien and incomprehensible.

On another note, i also begrudge the fact that isca has to defend himself by saying "i'm not some ar*e who just wants to offend people, i'm genuinely interested". It's your question, isca! Although i do appreciate when people take offence you might need to take some damage control to stop yourself getting removed again!

ps. I love eddie izzard

pps. i can't believe this has got me going so much! mission achieved, isca, at least one person still debating the "humour line"...

[isca]

Result! Thanks snoopy!

A debate is what i was after and thats what i got. Im really not offended if people think i was offensive, im a decent bloke (at least thats what my mum says!) and i wouldnt want to cause upset to anyone unecessarily but humour can be found in the blackest of situations, for example....my grandad died in 1997 right in the middle of the cricket between england and australia, the funeral director came round to make various arrangments and amongst other things asked what we felt about the ashes, to which i replied that i thought england had a good chance! My gran, mum and sis collapsed laughing and if he was there so would my grandad but the funeral director sat there with a face like a bulldog licking p*ss of a nettle. Now correct me if im wrong but it was my relative that died not his! crazy situation but absolutely true....

Im way past my student days but if i wasnt id consider studying english just to have a go at writing a thesis on this subject, i think its absolutely fascinating.

Cheers for showing an interest.....

[snoopydizzle]

no problem isca! i find things like this fascinating too, and i'm not past my student days! very believable situation you had there though - completely my point, some people try to make the best of a bad situation, others want it to stay a bad situation. your grandad, your right to have a joke he would have enjoyed.

by the way, in showing an interest i wrote all of what i put before in one go.... and then AB tells me i can't write 3756 words!! (you can only post 2000 - mad) so then i find i can't just copy and paste everything (evil AB i presume, trying to ensure anyone who writes way too much, like myself, will be punished and lose heart in writing so much, thereby cutting down and posting a limited response to a thought-provoking debate... but i digress) so i actually took the time and effort to write... it... all... out... again. i cared THAT much. you should be proud, isca.