(For clarity: 'multitude' is defined as the vast array of people the author of this column believes actually read it. In reality, the number ends up being much, much smaller.)
Recent examples include jokes about Penn State and some recent deaths of famous people. A sampling:
-The whole Penn State mess makes me so uncomfortable, I need a long, hot shower.
-(about the Conrad Murray trial) I'm glad Michael Jackson isn't alive to see this.
-I hate eating too much turkey. It always makes me want to rape Indians, then take a nap.
As you can see, sometimes bad taste is a borderline call, while other times it is a clear line crossed. Either way, the areas of sensitive / edgy / offensive humor are often tested by people who lack compunction, as well as by those with a sense of humor that is best defined as 'ribald'. Defining when something is funny is a bit more subjective...
It is safe to say that humor relating to things like the Holocaust or homosexuality are guaranteed to offend the vast majority of any audience. It is also accurate to take shots at those who put themselves in the line of fire (Kardashian X, Mitt Romney, etc.) is non-offensive, as it has context. What about that middle ground?
No one who has ever been a victim of sexual abuse is going to find jokes about Penn State funny, nor those who believe that the former coach involved is mentally ill. To the rest of society, the laugh of the guilty is a common thing to witness. For those who are directly affected by a story or source of humor like that, there will never be a time where this is OK. Common decency says that no one should laugh at things that offend others, as it is indecent and cruel.
Which it is, and when one feels life being cruel...sometimes that's an OK thing to experience.
Acting on any type of 'joke' like that, or even repeating it is still not excusable, but a laugh in private has to be acknowledged. If one man makes a joke about the size of another man's...er, manhood, it can be interpreted as homophobic, spiteful or just unnecessary. It can also be interpreted as a commentary on why that guy bought a 1986 Corvette and painted it cherry red.
No one has the right to be critical of what makes another laugh.
This statement is prefaced by the obvious: anyone who uses this kind of humor to demean or belittle is out of line, and anyone who seeks out a specific subject matter in a joke (race, religion, etc) is exposing themselves and the bigotry. But in the course of life, what harm does the statement "Adolf Hitler gave lousy moustache rides" do to anyone?
7DB wrestles with this concept, as those aforementioned 'guilty laughs' have often come during times of stress, where anything that was not related to that source of stress could be seen as a type of release. Laughter heals achy souls, with the content of little consequence at the time.
It is also important to recognize your surroundings when this type of humor is found. A room full of women who work and pay their own way in life is probably not the place for a joke about the similarities between a woman and a bag of chips. (Punchline: They both better come with a damned sandwich) Those women would be insulted (and rightfully so) by such statements, but the intent is not to harm. It does do harm, however, leading to the 'guilty laughs'.
Most who indulge in this kind of rhetoric don't wish any harm, but need to be a little less politically correct to release their own tensions. This is not a defense, but an acknowledgement. 7DB would never dare tell a joke of that nature around Mrs. 7DB, and not solely for fear of retribution, but as a matter of respect. With that said, there is a humorous aspect to the statement, if only in knowing its source or historical context.
Allow a dalliance into that specific joke for a moment... there was a time in the last few decades where that kind of misogyny was commonplace, and men were shamed if they didn't participate in that kind of demeaning joking. At home, very few (if any) of those men would have ever addressed the mother of their children in such a manner. Out with the boys at a Stag party? Altogether different social mores.
To close this section of the column out, consider the topics that are still acceptable to make fun of:
-Foibles of politicians (including infidelity and digital photos being transmitted)
-White men dancing
-People's jobs that involve wearing a uniform (military or other noble, selfless professions excepted)
-Sexual proclivities of celebrities and athletes
-Drug use of recovering celebrities and athletes
-Male obsession with female body parts
-Male obsession with male body parts (their own)
-Intelligence of house pets
-Adult humor purported to come from a child's mouth in an innocent fashion
-Clergy members sexuality and proclivities
We are a society that enjoys tearing down the heroes we build, and part of that process is allowing Jay Leno to go on TV and read jokes that someone else wrote for him. (See the veiled dig?) We, the people, no longer publicly see the humor in making light of those who are not at the top of the heap... and this is a good thing overall. Just don't be too quick to judge those who find a well-crafted joke funny, despite their better senses about its topic matter. We're not quite done evolving yet.
(Oh yeah, and cavemen.)
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Many of those tidbits referenced above came off of various Twitter feeds. Some comedians and actors have taken to this format to tell the jokes they cannot tell on their national sit-com gigs, and this satisfies their extended fan base. That base consists of people who will not turn something off solely because that person is on it, not the people who will pay to see those same people on a regular basis. (That base for 7DB: Tim Allen, 75% of SportsCenter anchors, either Gumbel brother, every Baldwin not named Alec and all people who have acted in John Grisham movies)
Even then, the content is being thrown by the sender, not requested by the recipient. Moral of this story: Guilt following a laugh is true on both counts. You should feel bad, but it's still funny. Don't misunderstand, there is plenty of very funny stuff that is in the safe zone, but each person's safe zone is different and specific to their experiences. You may know someone who was beaten into a snowbank with a wiffle ball bat, while extremely intoxicated and wearing a Raggedy Andy costume. They may not appreciate the humor in a joke about....well, the words just written. It doesn't make it less funny, but since that is too specific an example, that joke can slide right on by the censors.
The current king of this kind of humor, due in large part to his appearance on the Roast of Charlie Sheen on Comedy Central, is Anthony Jeselnik. He is as offensive as it gets, and it uses very little profanity to do so. To quote him feels like a copyright violation, but his level of darkness makes most of the offensive comics out there have to scrap their material and start fresh. Dude is dark.
His latest Tweet: Now that police have eliminated Robert Wagner as a suspect in Natalie Wood's death, they've narrowed it down to Water.
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The towns of America have names long and short, symbolic and silly, but none of them matters a whit, unless one can find a way to be offended by them.
Case in point: There is a small town in Texas, less than 500 citizens, named Turkey. Turkey, Texas. About the only time of the year anyone more than 20 miles away acknowledges the place is during Thanksgiving. (One would assume, of course)
Now, the mentally-stunted folks at PETA have decided to stop telling people to eat their family dog for Thanksgiving, and re-focused their efforts on getting the small burg to change their name. From Turkey.
(simmering) (breathing) (contemplating) (simmering) (boiling) (STEAMING)
A list of problems:
-How does an organization that lives with an acronym that sounds like the marriage of the words 'pet' and 'eater', pronounced with a New England accent, muster the grapes to question what someone else names themselves?
-Would anyone outside of the 806 area code even know about this place if these human remnants didn't bring inane issues like this to light? (Look it up. You know you want to.)
-Why is it OK for these folks to offend and obfuscate, while the jokesters I referenced above are seen as insensitive? If this were a comedy bit and not 'ripped from the headlines', many would be enjoying some guilty laughs as we speak. Could anyone really make up this kind of... (editing self) (editing word choices that would have been OK in 1988) (editing topic matter as to not offend groups with hyphenated descriptions) ...hog wash?
Damnit. Now 7DB has gone and offend pig farmers...
Burn in Hades, PETA. And soon.
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For Turkey Day festivities, Young Seven and Mr. and Mrs. 7DB will join friends at a large gathering, involving some 20 or so people. As guests, the Family is preparing a delicious stuffing, with the tasty and sweet King's Hawaiian bread as its base.
After assembling a list, the trip to the grocery store became eventful when having to acquire enough of that delightful baked good to fulfill the recipe, after multiplied out to serve 20. The looks and statements of amazement and disbelief brought this columnist to wonder openly about anything ever at a grocery store, not involving a violent crime, that has ever distracted from the process of gathering food.
Not sure about the readership, but food is item one through seventy-eight on the list generated at Casa du 7DB on Grocery Day. Other people's shopping habits? Never made the list...
Do they talk about the guy that bought 600 King's Hawaiian rolls when they get home? "Honey, you're never gonna believe what I saw at Grocery Mart today! This guy...he had more rolls than I've ever seen!" Maybe if the person grew up in Eastern Europe in the '40s it would be comprehensible, but hearing seven or eight people openly gawk at a barely-substantial acquisition of baked goods at the place where such things are designed to happen left this columnist flummoxed. Just imagine being at the car dealership: "Look! Over there! That lady is test driving her third car! What, does she think she's Jay Leno or something?" (Yes, two Leno digs in one column. Not a fan.) Or better yet, the doctor's office: "Bobby, it's not nice to stare at the man's goiter. It is a big one though, huh?" Just unnerving. Makes a piece of legislation mandating cable for the masses seem like a better idea every time the thought crosses...
(For the record, the rolls are really small. Needed that many for the recipe, not just to fill the chef's large belly. Promise.)
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Lastly, baseball. Somehow, the most stable and financially solid of the major sports (those words fill people with anxiety) negotiated a decade-long Collective Bargaining Agreement with their player's union. When some pile of schmucks like MLB owners can make David Stern (NBA commissioner) look like a loser, you know the sport is in a bad way. Stern, kick Billy Hunter and Derek Fisher in the ***, get them back to the bargaining table and get the deal done. We are all slowly forgetting what the acronym you represent stands for...
Baseball writers also did something they are not known for doing consistently, in picking Detroit Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander as the American League Most Valuable Player.
The significance in this is pitchers rarely win the award, as the Cy Young Award is dedicated to pitchers. The MVP has not gone to a pitcher since 1992, and not a starting pitcher since HGH user / felon / hothead Roger Clemens won it before steroids took over his entire existence, back in 1986. It is even more rare that it is the right choice instead of the popular one.
Verlander put up excellent statistics, but the one that stands out is the team's record when he started a game. Verlander starts: 25 wins, 9 losses. Others on team start: 70 wins, 58 losses.
The team was barely above average without him, and a significant favorite with him. Winner. Congrats to him, and happy tryptophan comas to all of you.
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The next one of you to read this column will be the 1,000th visitor! Applaud loudly for yourself, then go buy yourself a drink and pretend it's on me. :)
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