Limits of humor

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That’s good to hear. I’m all for allowing all groups, with exceptions of disability and illness and similar things, to be the butt of humor. The problem I would have is if, say, Christians are the only ones who could be mocked while other religions were off limits. It’s probably why Don Rickles is my favorite comedian. He would joke about everybody.
 
We watch Seinfeld at home. But I told my son, it is not okay to have such philosophy in real life. Hence, it is not okay for a good catholic man to comment or make jokes that objectifying women, for example. This is particularly important, because we are created in the image of God, therefore the things we say have power to build/ destroy. Hence it opens doors.
 
You’ve got that right!!

I once watched a documentary about the making of AITF.
Norman Lear admitted that much of what they did was not scripted solely because he knew it wouldn’t fly.
He said it was much easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
 
I don’t know what CAF is. (I live in the Czech Republic :czech_republic:, so maybe that’s why?)
 
And Rickles could NEVER have made a career in today’s politically correct climate.
 
As a person derived from Polish ancestry, I was somewhat put-out by the jokes I heard as a youngster. So, I have a personal limit on that. In fact, I had a friend who was baffled that I didn’t think they were funny. “You know, that’s my mother you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, but it’s funny! Don’t you get it?”
The good news is, I don’t think my kids have any idea at all that such ethnic jokes existed.
 
CAF = Catholic Answers Forums.
😉

Honest question: Is it ‘the’ Czech Republic, or Czech Republic? I’m never sure how to say it.
 
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It’s “The Czech Republic”

Or, it was. They changed the official English name to Czechia a few years ago, but it haven’t really cought on.
 
Family Guy and South Park, definitely out. The Simpsons has nihilist elements, like Bart. Don Rickles was on the edge of good taste and he knew it. He was an intelligent man and a keen observer. “Jerry Seinfeld came to my house once. It was like being in a room by yourself.”
 
That view is unexamined and speculative. First of all, art is not anything. Art does not get a free pass as far as any standard being applied to it. Standards must exist and be applied. A world of “anything goes” would be anarchist and undesirable.
 
It’s not OK for a Catholic or anyone else to watch any late-night talk shows, but the reason is they are no longer funny. If you must, watch the Carson reruns instead, in which there was real humor.

I do believe there should be certain limits on humor. If you’ve ever looked at some of the jokes in “Truly Tasteless Jokes,” you’ll know what I mean. At the same time, however, I believe that humor is being held hostage today by both the Far Left and the Far Right, for different reasons of course. Funny how extremists and ideologues eventually converge, inadvertently, in unreasonably limiting people’s freedom of speech. As a result, we live today in a largely humorless society in which people take themselves and their beliefs way too seriously.
 
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I find it easy to ignore politics, especially in the present. I understand it but I have zero political affiliation. As far as “humor,” it has been thrown off the cliff. It can stay at the bottom as long as those who decide what humor is care to keep it there.

I find it easy to not take anything too seriously. A balanced approach to life is always best. Always was.
 
Needless to say, you’re entitled to watch and like whichever show you choose. I’m just comparing what I believe the quality of today’s late-night shows is to those of the past. I prefer the oldies. Then again, I’m partial to the past in many other respects as well.
 
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The past had standards that were agreeable to most people. It had reasonable limits which grated against those wanting to push a mythical envelope. In all honesty, what they wanted was more profanity, more anger and more anarchy. The so-called comedians of the last 30 years are the only examples anyone needs. Current so-called comics are trying to go beyond the edge but they’ve reached a limit. They know it but they keep trying to find something shocking. They are going nowhere but hey, that’s on them. I avoid all of it because good taste still exists, mostly in the past.
 
It’s not only the hosts who are better but the guests also. The Dick Cavett reruns on cable is proof of this.
 
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