Tasteless Humor

[phrenzy]

Do you engage in / enjoy tasteless humor?

I find myself, with close friends saying the most racist, sexist and homophobic things to EACH OTHER out of irony. It's clear that nobody is serious, but we say it anyway, because I think we get very childish laughs out of it.

Basically, we say HORRIBLY offensive things kind of in a mocking way - the joke is that 'there are really people who would say this stuff' and those people are the tragic joke.

I've also noticed that people I get along with most are the people who have very dark, irreverent and tasteless senses of humor.

Anyway, I hate to be a hypocrite because on one hand, I realize the severity of what Imus did, but on the other hand, I've said and heard things much much worse among friends (of all races)

[Neshanic]

1. Realizing that you are a bigot is the first step. Good for you. All jokes are at the

expense of another group or society.

[uppityperson]

2. well...

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks, "How many zeros are there in a brazillion?

[SayWhatYo]

41. lol... I actually laughed out loud with that...

[SayWhatYo]

43. still laughing... easily amused - I am...

[Cleita]

3. I kind of enjoy gallows humor but the problem with tasteless

humor is that it's usually not that funny. I will laugh at anything that is genuinely funny even if I don't agree with the the target idea. I seldom have found racial humor funny.

Speaking of tasteless humor, South Park is on right now and I do enjoy a lot that they do and cringe at other things they do as well. It's a sort of mixed bag for me.

[phrenzy]

6. Cringe...

Yah, I think the humor I am referring to is very 'cringe' worthy. It's like we have a bad case of Tourette's or something.

[Neshanic]

7. There are no mixed bags in being PC. It's at the expense of another group.

[NormanYorkstein]

4. Imus has sparked the most interesting discussions

on DU and elsewhere that I've read in a long time.

[Dervill Crow]

52. Today my office mate was reading about Imus and said he looks just plain evil.

She is the one who likes Laura Bush and says Dick Cheney looks like a sweet old grandpa. :wtf:

[Lint Head]

5. There are so many other absurdities in the world.

I just can't comprehend why people find mocking and demeaning others is funny. Most people want to laugh but don't want to have to think about the joke. Self deprecating humor is good and funny. But when some makes a joke at the expense of someone else they must pay for that expense.:dem:

[SayWhatYo]

44. Depends on the target, no?

I usually do not mind if my friends, or even people who are no my friends make me a butt of their joke, so long as it's kind of funny. Obviously if people are just being dicks, then that is different. Although I typically wouldn't let dicks bother me. I'm more likely to play along if that happens. I did type what I would have done had I been on the basketball team that Imus insulted, but I figured that would probably end up pissing some people off.... Anyways, that's actually besides the point. I really do think it depends on who it is directed at and on the situation. To say that it's always wrong to give someone a hard time seems a bit ridiculous to me.

[Rosemary2205]

53. I do think target matters.

There's this undefined, somewhat arbitrary line of what's funny and what's cruel. The rules are unwritten and yet somehow, most people instinctively know what the rules are and where the lines are. Well, except bullies.......

[stillcool]

8. How can I compare...

a tasteless joke heard in a barroom to an offensive phrase uttered by someone who is being paid oodles of money to say such a thing on a cable-news-station?

[TransitJohn]

9. I do the same thing all the time.

But not in mixed company....it's a judgment thing. That was Imus' mistake IMHO.

[phrenzy]

10. Exactly - But I also dread the day...

That somebody overhears some of the shit I say and actually thinks I MEAN it!

[Neshanic]

12. If you say it, you mean it, no matter who hears you.

[phrenzy]

16. WTF? Is that like "He who smelt it delt it"?

If you say it you mean it? Wow, that's going to come as a shock to anybody who's ever used sarcasm, irony, or dark humor. jeeze. I'll make sure I get another copy of that memo.

[Neshanic]

25. If you utter the sexist, or gay joke, you are a bigot. Sorry, PC rules.

[SayWhatYo]

46. Oh, you're being funny, right?

I'm just guessing by the way you said " Sorry, PC rules" that just reeks of sarcasm. :D

[Raine]

24. so EVERY single

thing that is said is meant??? :wow:

[Neshanic]

26. Of course. If you utter a racial slur, did it not come out of your mouth? Joking is

no excuse for bigotry.

[frankenforpres]

37. oh please,

ive lived with plenty of different races/ethnicities when i was in college and we would always try to out offensive the other guy


im white, and ive had colombian, isreaeli, kenyan, and indian guys as roomates. We didnt have a TV show, that is what is different.

[SayWhatYo]

45. How about no? I often times told my parents I hated them... I don't and never did hate them...

I also sometimes mock the ultra rightwing nut jobs. Are you saying that my mocktizations(tm) means that I mean what I said?

[TransitJohn]

14. Yeah.

It's happened to me once....I can be graceful when the situation requires and I was *almost* too drunk to defuse it, but I convinced the fellows that it was meant in a black humor sort of way...bought a round of beers for them..and skedaddled on out of there. Saw them a couple weeks later much more sober, and they were cool....told me not to worry, because they were inebriated too. Not sure what that has to do with the current media frenzy, but that was my one experience being called on crassness for crassness' sake.

[Neshanic]

28. Inebriation is alos no defense of hate speech.

[TransitJohn]

31. LOL

Don't recall asking for your approval senor buttinski....but tallyho!

[Neshanic]

32. PCism makes us look out for others innappropriate remarks.

"T******" may be a violation.

[frankenforpres]

38. i know women in tallahassee

and your comments are vile. they are not tally HOs

[DaveJ]

11. This is about the NBC and CBS brands, not Imus

If Imus wants to start his own network he can say whatever he wants. Good luck with that.

[Neshanic]

13. No he can't. Hate speech will not be tolerated anymore.

[DaveJ]

20. I guess he could start some right wing website partnered with Hannity

I would just expect better from a megamillionaire supported by the public's advertising dollars.

[Duncan Grant]

15. Imus wasn't 'mocking' racism, sexism or homophobia.

It sounds to me that you and your friends are mocking bigots; you're all in on the joke. That wasn't the situation with Imus.

The mocking thing sometimes masks aspects of the more 'negative' side of our personality, imho. You may or may not care about that. If you do, notice what happens the next time everyone goes off on a tear...

[phrenzy]

19. There is something to that...

Although, when listening to the tone of Imus' remarks (on THIS occasion anyway) I think he was trying to be 'funny' by repeating something that a rapper might say (or that he heard them say). Or at least, I think that's what I think he thought his cover was.

[DaveJ]

23. I could do that

Of course I have no radio host talent and I'd expect to get fired as a result.

[SayWhatYo]

47. I think it would depend on the show...

Howard Stern and others like him can do it too. However, from what I seen(I never saw much, I thought he looked too weird to watch), his show seems to have been more serious.

Here's the problem I'm having with this though. I don't listen to talk radio much, so I cannot give any names here. Anyways, let's assume a popular black talk show host said something about a blue eyed devils when referring to predominately white basketball team. My first reaction would be "waaaaah get over it. People are allowed to have opinions, no matter how stupid". However, I find that my first reaction is different in this case. I know that's wrong... I also would feel more comfortable saying "boohoo" had it been the other way around. However, in this case, I feel as if that is not the right reaction. This is odd for me because I often times call people out if I feel they are being hypocritical, yet I am being hypocritical myself. I know I am, but I don't know why.

Then again, I probably just over analyze shit.

[alcibiades_mystery]

49. Oh bullshit

There was no mention of "rappers" (an utterly coded term, in any case) until somebody clutched wildly at that straw for purposes of apologetics.

"When I get mad
I put it down on a pad
Give ya somethin' thatcha never had"
-Chuck D, "Rapper"

[bigwillq]

17. Could you give me an example

of some of the things you have said and if you can give me a brief description of yourself and some of your friends?

Are they white, black, asian, etc...gay, bi, women, men?

My friends and I kid around with each other too but the "most" part in this statement


"most racist, sexist and homophobic things to EACH OTHER out of irony"

seems like it could be a bit extreme.

[phrenzy]

22. I couldn't give an example without getting banned from the board...

Seriously - it gets pretty over the top. But that is kind of the point, to be as over the top as possible. So over the top that it is ludicrous.

[bigwillq]

27. You could always PM me.

[MedleyMisty]

18. It sounds like you're satirizing ignorant racist people

And I'm cool with that. Do you mean something sort of like Borat, or am I off?

But I don't think that straight up prejudice is funny. If you want to use Borat as an example again - the character's ridiculous brand of anti-Semitism was funny, especially knowing that the actor himself is Jewish. Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rant was definitely not funny.

Essentially - making fun of prejudice is funny. Prejudice itself is not funny.

[phrenzy]

21. Exactly like that...

Yeah - you hit it on the head. Basically, the 'character' we become is like those frat boys from Borat. The most horrible, ignorant and hateful characters you can imagine. It's like - the whole joke is - "People ARE actually like this somewhere" - Borat was a good example of how scary it is when you encounter the REAL THING.

[aikoaiko]

29. A lot of people don't understand that the ridiculousness of some bigoted jokes makes them funny.

But I get it.

[Canuckistanian]

30. I ADORE tasteless humor

But that doesn't mean it has to be racist, sexist, xenophobic or homophobic.

That stuff is just juvenile.

[DaveJ]

33. No

I guess I take life too seriously, and believe toilet humor is a step backward, a waste of time. I unfortunately have too many steps I need to take forward in order to catch up with the spoiled brats around me everywhere.

But there is no reason why anyone has to avoid telling these tasteless jokes around me. I wouldn't condemn them for the jokes, it would just be a confirmation that they are mental losers, which is something that I would find out about them anyway sooner or later.

But I would not hold the fact that they are losers against them. People are imperfect by design.

[Spazito]

34. I've never found jokes that denigrate others at all funny

I have yet to have someone explain to me how putting others down, making fun of them is the least bit humorous. What do you find so humorous about doing that?

[phrenzy]

35. Do you laugh when the coyote in road runner falls off of a cliff?

Explain why.

[Spazito]

36. Actually, I didn't find those funny either

Slapstick comedy ala Chevy Chase, however, is funny to me. I suppose my funny bone leans toward those who make fun of themselves as opposed to those who make fun of others or use cruelty and violence as a humor device.

Edited to add: Am I to presume you equate racist, sexist, denigrating "jokes" to the wily coyote cartoons?

[WinkyDink]

39. Do you have a radio show?

[DaveJ]

40. I don't think you understand humor

It's a process that speech communication students study and understand much better than I do. I just know it's not about subject matter. If there is something about racist and bigoted topics that entice you that is another matter.

[Malikshah]

42. Why is everyone ignoring the context?

What folks do among themselves in quasi privacy is up to them. It's their karma.

Imus has consistently been this way on the PUBLIC AIRWAVES.

Are people willfully ignoring this glaring factor in their attempts to provide analogies?

[phrenzy]

50. Not trying to equate..

I understand the severity and context of what Imus did is much different and because of that the consequences are different.

[alcibiades_mystery]

48. Here's the difference

'there are really people who would say this stuff' and those people are the tragic joke.

Everyone I know engages in this. Unfortunately, it's not at all clear that Imus was doing the same. Rather, he was the tragic joke in question. :-)

[A-Schwarzenegger]

51. Wear a mask long enough & it becomes your face, whether you "mean it" or not.

[youthere]

54. I like fart jokes. That's pretty tasteless.