When did we lose our sense of humor?
 

Ok, so I partook of a Politics thread that IMHO was fun and allowed one to be silly.

In the meantime, people got insulted, would read way too much into it and just couldn't pass the thread up. Instead they had to inject how it was harmful and hurtful to others.

That thread is very much a sign of the times.

People, in the U.S. (I can't speak for other places), have somewhere down the road lost sense of letting lose, having fun, taking things not so literally but just seeing them as they are..... mindless fun for others.

There were some that just could not see that. That in their views "freedom of speech" in this area was just wrong. They couldn't let go and just skip the thread all together, or maybe add something positive.... they had to see it as hurtful, mean, attacking and thus needed to be gone.

While in the meantime, there were many using it to just have fun, blow off steam in a WAY TOO SERIOUS Forum. There were people that probably enjoyed it and may have been thinking about actually having some interesting political discussion, and started to feel comfortable again in that forum.

But of course there were those that refused to allow this.... in their minds every funny post, every little thing said was an attack.

This thread had people remind me of Ted Knight in Caddyshack, John Lithgow in Footloose, Major Burns in M*A*S*H, the principal in Welcome Back Kotter, and so on. People who were so into their own lives and dictating to others what was funny, how to think, how to live life that they became charactures in a bad way.

When did we, go from letting loose and tolerating others senses of humor to taking everything so personally?

When did we have to watch what we say, where we say it, how we say it, and if someone gets offended (and more often than not someone WILL get offended), we have to explain that we it was just our, personal sense of humor.

Now yes, there are people that use humor to truly hurt others. I understand that and usually, they are easy for all to see but I let it go and move on. I, personally, have NEVER in my life done anything in humor to hurt another, intentionally, having been the butt of many of the harmful jokes, I can't. I am however, very self-defacing in my humor at times and will use myself as the butt of my own jokes.

Adding humor to life and to serious and non serious aspects in life keeps people young, healthy and sane.

I know, there was a point not long ago where I was going through a nasty divorce, had friends turn on me for their own gains, was hurting financially, my health was in question and I wasn't happy in life. I took things too seriously, couldn't laugh and had to share my misery with others.

Maybe that is the problem we, in society are facing today. Maybe, somewhere down the line life in the US has become so stressful and negativity so much a part of our lives that we can't just let loose anymore for fear something bad will happen, or we will lower our guard and allow others to hurt us or get one up on us or whatever.

But, I have also come to this conclusion in my life..... I need humor, I need to laugh today and I may have a warped sense of humor but it is never in a harmful way to others.

Sad thing is though.... there are so many in life miserable, self righteous and locked in their own world that no matter what anyone says or does.... it is an attack. So the people with a sense of humor end up drawing back and fearful of saying anything. Thus the laughter dies and people get more stressed and so on.

It's time to laugh people, because if you cannot laugh in hard times, thus making them better, times will always seem worse than what they are and you may find that even in good times you lost the ability to just laugh and enjoy silliness.

And if you can't laugh.... why make it so hard for others. It's time we need to just lighten up and if someone injects humor in a forum and you find it inappropriate...... then ignore it, move on and let others enjoy it without having you try to ruin that small escape for them.

I couldn't get through the day without some humor, even if I'm the butt of the joke.
Find joy in the moment, because you never know what life will throw at you. Live for the day and don't take things so serious!

Well, the thing with humor is that it is a matter of taste. It's also a matter of timing and context. Just because you think something is funny doesn't mean that everyone who doesn't agree with you needs to lighten up.

Just because you think something is not funny, doesn't mean that everyone who doesn't agree with you needs to sober up.

I think his point is more that "You should all be ashamed of yourselves." type comments don't serve any particularly useful function and can damage the activity level of a community.

But when you have people enjoying themselves and having fun...... why post how disgraceful it is and how you deem this as an attack. When truly, I didn't see it as one. I suppose if I really looked hard and dug deep I could have.... but I looked at each post as what I believed it to be.... just humor and people having fun.

And even IF you believe it is an attack to be hurtful and mean to you personally or someone else... you truly had to dig long deep and hard. You can still just walk away and not post anything.

Having been the butt of jokes almost my entire life, I was paranoid for a long time every time someone laughed..... but then I realized. The more I worry the more it seems I am attacked. If I just move along, see the humor for what it is and not try to find something hurtful in it.... I may actually find it was funny and not hurtful in any way.

Don't like it, feel offended, whatever? Skip the post, PM the person you think is making fun of you and ask them..... whatever. But don't come out and cry how everyone is making fun of you and that it is ALL so harmful and hurtful and spiteful and unless you see it then you are part of the problem.

I find it funny that people in Politics who supposedly are so caring about others rights, are the ones so wanting to read into things, censor what people can do and lack a sense of humor, in which they can laugh at themselves and let people just have fun.

Like I said.... I know I was there. The thread helped not just by my laughing and making silly, but in reminding me how seriously and how bitter and looking for attacks I was.

Exactly.... and those that say "You should all be ashamed of yourselves." end up truly missing out on the fun, because they don't allow themselves to. They have to set an example to "what truly is funny and acceptable".

I blame it on the politically correct but intolerant liberal/left. The worst one can do, in their eyes, is to offend the favored group of the moment. We have become a nation of victims and whiners. Many people think they have a right not to be offended. If that is so, say goodbye to free speech.

because some people arent *happy* unless they try to make others miserable?

I agree.

Another thing was the ones complaining never once showed which post was "hurtful, harmful and meanspirited" no, it was just the whole board, every comedic silly post was out of line, out of place and an attack......

wow..... I guess a whoopee cushion at work is call for being given a written warning or seeing someone dancing and singing down a store aisle because that person is enjoying life and doesn't care what others think......is call for them needing a shrink.

BTW I have done and I do both, regularly. Because it's fun and hurts noone except those looking to be hurt.

BTW the post in question.....

2 days 2 hours...... 840+ views 85 posts.....granted some were the complainers but Hey Zeus Freaking Crispies...... I haven't seen a post move that fast and have at least 75% of the posts and posters laughing, sharing and enjoying themselves in ALL OF TFP..... for a very very very long time.

But humor and people just letting loose and having fun has no business in TFP unless it's in a forum that the complainers feel it is appropriate and can't hurt anyone.

Amazing, 840+ hits in 50 hours and yet it was such a mean post. The only other post in recent memory to move that fast was .... "What has happened to TFP" and guess what one shows exactly the answer to the other's question and very much needed to be seen.

Now, if we understand and people truly open their eyes and not be so pseudo offended..... we may make progress in all aspects here.

I don't think tht we...did. There has always been that one kid, that didn't get the joke.

But...if we need to look for a boogeyman...then I blame the mainstream media. Sure, why not? We're conditioned to look for, and subsequently see, evil and danger around every tree, under every rock, behind every door.
It's there, you know. And it's gonna get you, and those that you love.

I'm only half kidding, y'know. If I were in charge of any major network, the very end of every news broadcast would be reserved for an uplifting story. Just one piece of "good" news. Something to hold onto and take into the next day.

Without that...I point and laugh.

I read the other thread for the first time this morning and decided not to post in it because it's a waste of time. I peruse "Politics" because those are the topics that interest me most. I have a sense of humor, and I hope it shows in my posts, but there is place for everything, and the other thread doesn't belong in "Politics". It's not even funny.

You don't play practical jokes at the White House, in church, at the graveyard or in court. Personally, I find that thread sophomoric at best but that just means that I'm going to ignore it. There's no reason for it to even exist. That's not to say that humor doesn't belong in "Politics" or politics in general, but it needs to be somewhat related. If you want to make jokes about Bob Dole helping Clinton with samples of Viagra (for example), I'll laugh out loud, but don't expect me to do anything more than shake my head and walk away from something about graham crackers that the average 7th grader finds old and busted.

Just because I don't find you funny doesn't mean that 1) I don't have a sense of humor or 2) that you've said anything humorous to begin with.

This thread will turn into another example of lack of sense of humor.


10 dolla I called it

Man, most of you know that I can hardly post "Howdy" on here without adding something silly. It just screams to get out.

Lately, I don't post anything without thinking who on the board will immediately call me on the carpet on it. (Yes, I have a list of people I would rather not irritate here). So, I just don't post much.

I found Moes the other day, hadn't looked at it in the months that it has been up, and thought how much trouble can I possibly get in by posting in such an obviously silly and meaningless thread.

Well? I found out.

Ever since the government and the media started bending to the squeky wheels and minority whiners, and I don't mean a minority race, the majority have had to comply, and in the US we are a country supposedly ran by the majority. Humor is tolerated less and less and has actually become a tool by which a minority of people can coherce a majority of people. Some of you on here do it to the rest of us.

If no one jumps me for this post, I'll be amazed!

Perhaps the answer can be found in American Humour's shift towards observational and ironic self reference, and away from wit. I would guess this trend began to take root in the 80's, with the mainstreaming of standup comedy on Evening at the Improv and the irreverence of The Simpsons.

These modes of comedy depend entirely on a shared experience and the ability to relate to the comic or character. Maybe this trend is a factor in the political polarization of America; myth or not.

A witty turn of phrase or pun can be funny to anyone, but a bit such as "What's the deal with SUV's?" is bound to shut out someone.

We're conditioning ourselves to prejudge humour by topic. Now we have niche comedy just like we have niche politicians.

Ahhh...but just because someone who finds it funny doesn't have to sober up because of those who are serious not finding funny because the person telling the joke can't see that the person who might be offended can't blow off some steam so that the OP can join in the fun with everyone who might be offended because they can't read anything without taking personally a thinly veiled attack which may or may not support a Zionist/Hezbollian mandate, doesn't mean that I should have to find it funtacular. To sum up, I am forgainst it.

See, now that's funny. Graham crackers, not so much, but this post is funny.

Aberkok, let me know where you got your law degree. Good legal help is so hard to find, and clearly you have the gift.

I never said anyone needed to sober up. I don't think anyone should be ashamed of themselves. But if people are offended they have every right to say so and somehow claiming that they shouldn't express their dismay will also damage the activity level of a community.

Who was trying to censor anybody?

Why couldn't you have just taken your own advice and laughed off the criticism instead of starting a thread about it? Probably because you see the value in expressing yourself when you have been let down.

Well, in the spirit of this thread: How dare you? How dare you try to censor those with whom you disagree?

Why does it make any sense to start a thread with the apparent aim of shaming people who shamed you for shaming?

Powerclown's post in that thread made me literally lol. My brother laughed, too, when I explained it to him. (No offense, host, but it was funny.)

it's really mysterious what folk find funny.

for example, once upon a time, gallagher had a career.
the center of this career, as i imagine you remember, was that he would hit a watermelon with a sledge hammer.
people would laugh and laugh.
"he hit that watermelon with a sledge hammer," they would say, wiping away tears.

once i remember gallagher was on hollywood squares.
he had his own square and no-one wanted to select him because they knew that if they did, he would hit a watermelon with a sledge hammer.
"he is going to hit a watermelon with a sledge hammer if either contestant picks him," viewers said.

so he sat there, being gallagher----and because he was gallagher and nothing other than gallagher, no-one picked him.

some think this was a turning point.

eventually, gallagher became an object of nostalgia, but he wasnt invited to many nostalgia shows because...well....he was still gallagher and nothing other than gallagher and you know how cheap those nostalgia shows are.

in the meantime, adam sandler had developed a movie career.

and so the mysteries piled higher and higher.


i wouldn't worry, pan.

Quite right. I don't owe anyone anything for any reason unless I, personally, have wronged them. No, you can't have my change just because, no, you won't get prefrential treatment just because, and no, I won't play favorites just because. I'm definitely not an asshole but there's no such thing as a free lunch.


That being said, you just KNOW all those nay-sayers will die of early age from stress-related causes. And then we'll all laugh!

I think it happened about the time we all started worrying about how things affect self-esteem. You can't say anything that can offend someone because it would be wrong to hurt that person's feelings, only it spiraled out of control to a point where people felt that they were owed the right not to be offended by anything at all. This also resulted in people feeling like the world revolves around them. With some people, if they aren't the center of attention, they feel that the world will collapse. And I see more people like that around every day.

If you don't find something funny, don't laugh, but don't stomp out everyone else's fun because it's not your type of humor. Too many people take themselves too seriously. Sometimes you just need to sit back, relax, and have some fun just being silly. It does wonders for you.

I didn't think it was funny, so I didn't post. You know what is funny?
O RLY?

It never gets old....

And Will that is why I have ultimate respect for you. You didn't go in complaining, "how dare you put humor in politics. how dare the mods allow such a thread with such thinly veiled attacks. ETC."

You saw the humor wasn't to your taste and said "Gee, I have nothing to post...... next thread."

You didn't go out of your way to try to ruin the fun and you opted to basically ignore it because to you it wasn't funny.

It's like the thread you posted.... to me, it's not funny.

But humor is much like everything else, up to the individual taste. Some people love Brit comedy like Benny Hill, Monty Python and Dave Allen.... others don't get it but love Robin Williams, Bill Engvall, Larry "the Cable Guy", Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison and a few like the 3 Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello and Martin and Lewis . And some find humor in all, like me.

There were some posts I didn't think were funny, some of mine included (seemed funny at the time, but once typed and posted they weren't as funny as I imagined). But everyone that posted something silly took the time to add their own "flavor" to the board and had fun doing so.

I tip my hat to you Will. You have class and respect. :thumbsup:

Dismay over a humor thread, expressed over and over again, without showing one thread that was meant in a hurtful manner.

I have dismay over a lot in poltics these days. I just choose not to post in those threads.

Every person that claimed the post was hurtful, had no place in politics and bitched because "they" didn't see humor in it, "they" saw it as hurtful, hateful and aggressive.

I simply asked a question..... I wasn't let down, in fact as I pointed out in that thread, there are some people who just have to post in EVERY SINGLE politic thread.... even if it is to complain about the thread. Which again, noone forced ANYONE to read or participate in.

This thread came to being because I want to know why people just can't let others have fun without playing some superior morality card and trying to make everyone else feel guilty.

Where did I censor or try to censor anyone in this thread or the other thread. My point is simple..... don't like a thread skip it... you do not need to post in every thread, but that was proven to be impossible for some.... they HAVE to post in every thread, and IMHO it is because they feel they own that part of the forum and what they say and do goes. If they don't agree with a post instead of ignoring it, they work hard to try to ruin it, flame, troll and basically make it known to all they do not approve of it.

I asked a simple question and made an opinion. I even added my own personal experience..... what you derived out of it is your own ideas of what I meant.... NOT necessarily what I was saying.

To me, it sounds like you have some guilt and pent up anger and refuse to see what is being truly said..... but that is just my take and may not be at all true.

BTW 873 hits 85 posts in roughly 69 hours..... and the only people that complained were the people who post in every or almost single one (I'll be generous 95%) of the political threads.

Pan6467, you're having a hard time letting this go, almost like you don't have a sense of humour about it (I know statements like that and "calm down" tend to have the opposite of the intended effect).

Your proposed "sense of humour" seems unforgiving to me, like you require everyone to laugh at everything. Accept that the Graham Cracker thread wasn't funny to everyone. There certainly was a great deal of passive-aggression there and while I posted my dissapointment on that thread, I only said most people were doing it. A lot of the rest of the jokers in there, I didn't find funny because they sounded like when my mom tries to tell jokes.

Try and have a sense of humour about my friendly diss.

By the way, WillRavel.... YA RLY!

Perhaps, just tired of people with this self righteous "I don't think that's funny so I'm going to ruin everyone else's fun" attitude. Noone forces these other people to participate.... they can see others are just having fun not hurting anyone and walk away, instead, they must make sure to throw a wet rag and end the fun.

Why?

And you posted your disdain for what reason? Because YOU believed there were some that were trying to be mean. So if we believe your statement that not all were meant to be mean, that means some were having fun.... but you felt the need to complain about the part that were passive-agressive, and screw the people having fun. They were laughing over stupid jokes.

And were these people overtly passive aggressive to the point everyone saw it, or just "the enlightened" who found this thread unfunny.

What you posted above Aber..... was one of the funniest posts I have ever read in TFP. :lol: I thoroughly enjoyed it.

See there ya go, you and Will have this YA RLY! thing going.... since I don't get it, it must be a swipe at me? Right?

(I know but I'm showing, how easily, how fast, someone can take what you find entertaining and humorous and turn it into meaning something it totally doesn't.

this is all very strange
but wait
helpful sort that i am
here is a way to see the plot of the story


the theater: why do folk find one thing funny and not another?
the prompt: there should be objectively humorous situations
the problem: that is not true
the explanation: the zeitgeist
the response: this is what i find to be funny this is objectively funny i found it to be funny why is it that not everyone is laughing?

interpretation: welcome to the inner world of every bombing standup comedian

the response (part 2): my material is fucking great why are these assholes just sitting there?

rationalization: it must be that something Bad is happening in the world
"liberals" suck the fun out of everything
if the evil jokevampire liberals would just shut up
the objective funniness of my material would be obvious
i would not be bombing
the crowd would not be assholes
they would be appreciative
they would agree with me
so could not be assholes
it would be as it should be
for the duration of the agreement
humor itself depends on it
my material is fucking great
only assholes are not laughing

you, over there..in the back....you are not laughing
get with the program

and you....in the balcony...you are not laughing
fucking snob
holier than thou humorless liberal snob
why didnt you just stay home
tape your mouth shut so you dont ruin other peoples' Great Time?
killjoy
buzzkill
get with the program

now where was i?

HUGE difference between

just not laughing because you don't share that humor (nothing wrong with that, again humor is subjective and very individualized....)

and complaining, whining about where the humor is, and trying to make everyone feel guilty because YOU found it offensive. When again YOU didn't have to participate..... but you couldn't resist making sure others knew you held contempt, felt slighted, felt it was inappropriate and found it beneath you.

Again, why didn't you just walk away and allow others to have their fun? Because YOU judged it was not in the right place, it was not funny and YOU deemed it hurtful.

it is strange, pan, that you seem to be so tone deaf to attempts to inject humor into a thread that you started to complain about people being tone deaf to attempts to inject humor in a thread.

go figure.

but have fun.
like you say, i can go somewhere else.

If they wish to express their dismay or outrage they should go find the appropriate subforum for that type of thing (if the board has one) and start their own thread on the subject casting the issue with their preferred level of sobriety. Don't hijack the other thread with tales of how everyone who has participated in the irreverence is going to hell... start your own. Link back to the original thread if you need context.

Not that a lil' bit of "you made that burger from my sacred cow" type clashing isn't highly entertaining at times, but that shit has a tendency to go from lighthearted fun poking at an idea to something a little meanspirited and personal when someone says "You offend me." Keep it seperated and there is greater harmony for all.

:love: I wish I had put it as nicely as you. I am emotional and while that may have been exactly what I meant my frustration and passion could not allow me to find that tone or those words.

You sir, understand and see the whole picture. :thumbsup: