What is innapropriate to laugh at?

[Angel7]

Are certain jokes innapropraite to laugh at?
Certain events?
Does it depend on the person? (if he or she was or was not embarresed)

One specific example. If someone’s pants fell down. would it be innapropriate to laugh?

 

[HauntedJame]

Maybe it would be inappropriate to laugh, but it is sort of like breaking wind: sometimes it slips out.

Like when someone falls over and is clearly not hurt…many people enjoy slapstick and laugh at it. And just sometimes we point…

 

[Rascalking]

Your going to get 10,000 different answers for this one. I have a dark sense of humor, and my friends understand and get it. My rule of thumb- don’t laugh at people when they’re embrassed unless you really, really know them.

Even so,this is a subjective topic…there is not a black or white answer.

 

[Alexander_Smith]

Laughing at crude things is not sinful as far as I understand, but laughing at impure jokes or situations can be. I know sometimes things are funny even if they shouldn’t be, but sense of humor can be cultivated, so just because you find something funny, doesn’t mean it’s okay to laugh at it.

 

[Newbie2]

Your going to get 10,000 different answers for this one. I have a dark sense of humor, and my friends understand and get it. My rule of thumb- don’t laugh at people when they’re embrassed unless you really, really know them.

Even so,this is a subjective topic…there is not a black or white answer.

Exactly.

Blatently racist, sexist or crude jokes and the like would seem to be off limits, but even there some latitude exists i.e. blonde jokes, unless someone actually thinks that the color of one’s hair is indicative of their intelligence.

A good friend of mine and I were cutting up a metal I-beam and a bit of molten slag dropped down his sock. He’s about 6-5 and 340 or so but was jumping around pretty well for a big man. I nearly wet myself laughing; he wasn’t seriously injured and we both laugh about it today. If it were a stranger, it still would have been funny in a slapstick sort of way, but I would not have laughed out loud, not knowing how they would take it.

I also gave a smile when I saw a referee at a lacrosse game rolling around on the ground and screaming…I thought he was playing around until someone said he took an errant shot to the side of the head. Yikes. Fortunately, he didn’t get a concussion and was OK.

I’m of the opinion that it’s a “guy thing” to find a certain amount of pain in the right circumstances mildly to wildly humerous. Look at all the “groin shot” videos that end up on America’s funniest videos and other shows. The key, methinks, is to be able to recognize the difference between momentary pain and injury. Injury is never funny.

As well, there are times when things just strike one as funny. Several years ago in mass, there were two identical twins…maybe 35-40 years old (I’m a lousy judge of age) and they sat in the second row, next to each other and about 5 rows in front of us. They were identically dressed, suit, vest, tie and wore the same style of glasses. They looked like mirror images of each other.

They were also at least 6-11 or seven feet tall. No exaggeration. We have chairs that hook together and they had to unhook them and move them apart to be able to sit next to each other.

We saw none of the mass, and those who sat in the rows just behind them saw this wall of grey cloth; twin towers of well-tailored suits.

It was surreal, and we couldn’t help but have to stifle a giggle throughout mass.

Sometimes one cannot help what strikes one as funny.

 

[PatriceA]

Your going to get 10,000 different answers for this one. I have a dark sense of humor, and my friends understand and get it. My rule of thumb- don’t laugh at people when they’re embrassed unless you really, really know them.

Even so,this is a subjective topic…there is not a black or white answer.

Yep, exactly. You have to know the crowd you are with and if they would have a similar sense of humor. But its better to err on the side of kindness when in doubt and not laugh at someone else’s situation until you know they would find it just as humorous.

 

[KCT]

This brings to mind the show America’s Funniest Home Videos.

My husband thinks it’s hysterical. I can’t stand it. I dislike seeing people embarrassed or possibly injured.

 

[edwest2]

It would be inappropriate to laugh at or with many of the comedians today. I’m talking about those who fill their ‘act’ with profanity, graphic descriptions of sex acts and the cheapening of male-female relationships. Getting you to laugh is just one more way the moral relativists can help you believe: Oh hey. What’s the big deal?

And it’s interesting how some “comedians” can pause in the middle of their sex and profanity tirades to put in a good word for a few special issues:

“Yeah. I believe in gay marriage. Gay marriage is cool.” Uh huh. That’s “comedy” today. The real term is ‘issue advocacy.’

God bless,
Ed

 

[colmcille1]

Some years back, I bought a book that detailed the findings of an international conference on humour. Some great stuff in it.
But the bit that really caught my eye was the world chart in which every country had its national or regional butt of the joke identified.
Like, New Yorkers crack jokes about people from New Jersey, Canadians laugh at Newfies, Americans laugh at Canadians…
I suppose humour is local and universal.

 

[Ponyguy]

Are certain jokes innapropraite to laugh at?
Certain events?
Does it depend on the person? (if he or she was or was not embarresed)

One specific example. If someone’s pants fell down. would it be innapropriate to laugh?

Ya know, it really depends upon the person and the gender…

If a man’s britches fell down, it’s be riotously funny… even to the “butt” of the joke (pun intended).

But if it happened to a woman, it’d be embarrassing to no end… and not quite so punny.

 

[Newbie2]

It would be inappropriate to laugh at or with many of the comedians today. I’m talking about those who fill their ‘act’ with profanity, graphic descriptions of sex acts and the cheapening of male-female relationships. Getting you to laugh is just one more way the moral relativists can help you believe: Oh hey. What’s the big deal?

And it’s interesting how some “comedians” can pause in the middle of their sex and profanity tirades to put in a good word for a few special issues:

“Yeah. I believe in gay marriage. Gay marriage is cool.” Uh huh. That’s “comedy” today. The real term is ‘issue advocacy.’

God bless,
Ed

This may be a little off topic, but yeah, comedians who use their act as a political schill turn me off. Same with other sorts of musical acts and actors.

Same thing with the profanity and sexual tirades. I think it’s overall lack of talent and laziness. If you can get a laugh by stringing together F-bombs in a mildly humerous setting, you’re a hit. I don’t get it.

I look back at the Stooges, Red Skelton, even Bill Cosby (who let go a rare profanity every now and them). Talented. Funny. Why can’t modern comedians come up with good acts without relying on sex and profanity?

I was listening to Robin Williams, who I used to like; he was doing his bit about Scotsmen and the invention of golf. It was a funny bit, but he dropped F-bombs every other word. He didn’t NEED to put those in there, the bit was hilarious without them. Since then I’m a former Robin Williams fan.

 

[Rascalking]

This may be a little off topic, but yeah, comedians who use their act as a political schill turn me off. Same with other sorts of musical acts and actors.

Same thing with the profanity and sexual tirades. I think it’s overall lack of talent and laziness. If you can get a laugh by stringing together F-bombs in a mildly humorous setting, you’re a hit. I don’t get it.

I look back at the Stooges, Red Skelton, even Bill Cosby (who let go a rare profanity every now and them). Talented. Funny. Why can’t modern comedians come up with good acts without relying on sex and profanity?

I was listening to Robin Williams, who I used to like; he was doing his bit about Scotsmen and the invention of golf. It was a funny bit, but he dropped F-bombs every other word. He didn’t NEED to put those in there, the bit was hilarious without them. Since then I’m a former Robin Williams fan.

I think the use of profanity to an extreme is the sign of a, well, stupid comedian. It appeals to the lowest common denominator, it doesn’t require much thought or creativity.

There are exceptions, of course-and there is a huge difference between using profanity a few times and then every other word. I think Cosby is a genius, if he uses profanity every little bit, It doesn’t change my opinion of him.

And if a comedian gets political-even if you disagree with it- of course you can still laugh at them. Have a sense of humor and lighten up. I mean jeez, I know some great Catholic jokes!

 

[Adam1986]

Are certain jokes innapropraite to laugh at?
Certain events?
Does it depend on the person? (if he or she was or was not embarresed)

One specific example. If someone’s pants fell down. would it be innapropriate to laugh?

Plain and simple it’s innapropraite to laugh at something that hurts someone or someone’s pain. Physical, emotional, mental, whatever.

Also I would say it’s innapropriate to laugh at any really bad religious jokes. I don’t have a problem with the WORST of sex jokes, but when people start making jokes about God, Jesus, the Blessed Mother, etc. it just offends me. As do gay jokes, duh, lol.

 

[nickybr38]

I would think this is a cultural thing… What is or is not appropriate depends on the social norms.

I do believe, from a Catholic standpoint, that laughing at sexually charged, racist or cruel jokes would not be appropriate.

That said I have had someone’s pants fall off in front of me and I laughed so hard I could hardly breathe. I couldn’t stop it. Everytime he walked by me I’d start giggling again and lapse into fits of laughter. He took it really well and actually came back the next day and introduced himself to me (no, I didn’t know him prior to this pants falling event). To this day when he walks by I smile and he always smiles back.

It was totally accidental, btw, just really quite funny.

 

[Newbie2]

And if a comedian gets political-even if you disagree with it- of course you can still laugh at them. Have a sense of humor and lighten up. I mean jeez, I know some great Catholic jokes!

Well, yeah, we need to make a distinction between political humor and a comedian interjecting his or her political opinion into a comic routine. Examples would be someone like Stephen Colbert or the Capital Steps and (can’t think of who did this…), who said “F- Bush” sometime in the middle of his act.

 

[colmcille1]

I think it’s vital to have a sense of humour. If you can laugh at yourself (that good ol’ self-deprecatory humour), then it’s pretty much guaranteed that you could see the funny side of a joke that pokes fun at something you value.

 

[edwest2]

Plain and simple it’s innapropraite to laugh at something that hurts someone or someone’s pain. Physical, emotional, mental, whatever.

Also I would say it’s innapropriate to laugh at any really bad religious jokes. I don’t have a problem with the WORST of sex jokes, but when people start making jokes about God, Jesus, the Blessed Mother, etc. it just offends me. As do gay jokes, duh, lol.

worst sex jokes? No problem? Whenever I hear about how women control men as a sex joke, I cringe. The Dignity of the Human Person, male and female, means NO sex jokes.

God bless,
Ed