In response to lightningandsnow (AND ON EDIT ALL THE REPLIES IN THAT THREAD) (Better context now Captain Hilts?)
Please, let's stop using mental illness as a perjorative.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6712611What people find offensive and why is a question that does not have a simple answer. One person’s joke is another person’s rude comment. What makes one person laugh makes another person blush in embarrassment. What some people consider subtle wit is nothing but an insult to someone else. Some feel humor encourages stereotypes. Some feel it breaks them down. Let’s look at some of the factors that account for some of these differences.
1. Conditioning By Society. We are programmed by our culture, family and other social influences to think that certain things are funny, and that other things are offensive. This isn’t necessarily good or bad. It just is. Although it starts to be bad when the offensive humor begins to ruin relationships and eat away at a group’s self-esteem. Humor based on a stereotype, even if it’s accurate, can have a negative impact on society. On the other hand, humor can disarm a stereotype. The power that the humor has depends on the reader or the listener. Creating effective humor based on stereotypes is not easy.
2. Self Esteem. An interesting thing is that attack and put-down humor is often created by people who are trying to boost their own self esteem. In other words, this type of humor is created by those who lack self esteem in the first place. It’s a negative self worth directed at lowering the self worth of others. I’ve noticed that people who are emotionally healthy and balanced are less likely to use attack and put down humor than those who have self-worth issues.
3. Playing Police Officer. Some people find material offensive not because it offends THEM, but because they are afraid that it will offend someone else. Their self-appointed role is the protector of society and they censor material which feel may cause discomfort to others.
4. The Two Percent. It’s said that two percent of people will be offended by anything you say or do. There is truth to that. Almost every joke in our Gender Contest will probably be found offensive to someone. If your goal is to not offend a single person…don’t speak or write to anyone. A better goal is to find that proper line which divides the humor of good and bad taste and learn not to cross it. And accept the fact that some people will be offended no matter what you do.
5. Perspective. A humor line can be offensive to men for one reason and to women for another reason. In our contest, we had a line: Pants are feminine because in most homes it’s the women who wear them. This can be offensive to women feeling it’s a putdown of assertive women, professional women, women who work outside the home. It can also be offensive to men who feel it’s an attack on their masculinity and that women are superior to them. In either case it doesn’t matter what the attitude or intent of the writer was. To offend or not offend was solely based on the perspective of the reader.
6. Internalized Put Down. Some groups have lived with such a history of oppression that they’ve become conditioned to see a negative put-downs in places where none was intended. Being offended becomes an automatic, knee-jerk reaction. You would think that ultra sensitive reactions to humor would be easy to understand. But that’s not the case…you haven’t lived someone else’s life. You see things only through your own filters. A good personal approach is: Habitually reacting to something in an ultra-sensitive fashion is probably not a productive way to live.
more....
http://www.humorpower.com/blog/2006/07/humor-skills-what-people-find-offensive/
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