This (Destiny)

by Robot Chickens, Friday, August 21, 2015, 16:40 (3479 days ago) @ Kermit

Seinfeld was right.

I don't disagree with Seinfeld (for the record I'm far beyond college-aged). Offense isn't something we should shield ourselves from. However, there is a difference between the punchline of a joke being, "Cody is a homo" where calling him a homo is the insult, versus playing on stereotypes of the LGBTQ community and making a funny comparison. Audience also matters. For instance, in a white community, its probably not okay to say "Cody is a jew/nigger." I don't think I have to explain why. Seinfeld tends to be much more nuanced and his jokes tend to get at everyday assumptions that we take for granted. I've never heard his jokes go in such a simplistic manner. In fact, some of the funniest comics I've seen go straight for the topics that are going to be offensive. It isn't about avoiding offence, it is about demanding more from the joke-makers.

What we laugh about tends to reveal a lot about our root assumptions of the world. Examining why we laugh at something gives us insight into these assumptions. At that point we can decide if it really is something we want to find funny or not. Just a thought.