[Humour] Is any subject taboo when it comes to jokes?

[DavidinSouthampton]

I think “audiences wouldn’t stand for that now” was an excuse used by media executives in the 80s to ditch a lot of comics that they personally didn’t like and were embarrassed by but that the audience still found funny.

When the very un-PC Little Britain somehow slipped through the net much later, it found a large and appreciative audience, although I certainly wasn’t one of them. I think the reasoning given was that the black- and yellow-face, mocking of the disabled, and calling an East Asian boy Ching-Chong Chinaman as a punchline was somehow ironic and so ok.

Nowadays, the woke/PC Brigade/loony left/Guardian readers (call ‘em what you like) have decided that trans rights is the hill they’re dying on this year and would go ballistic at the “I’m a lady” sketches. Five years ago, they wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at them.

Why do people consistently lump Guardian Readers in with all sorts of other people in this sort of thing. I am a Guardian Reader and have been for a number of years - about 40. It happens to be one of the better informed and more objective of the Daily Newspapers we have around today and does not just take the views or its narrow-minded owner or proprietor as its editorial line. It is owned by an independent trust.

If you are taalking about the loony left, for example, as people who might have supported Corbyn, the Guardian was openly and repeatedly enormously critical of him long before he ever left the position as leader. If people who were critical of it sometimes were actually ro read it, they might be surprised. And no, I don't take everything I read in its pages as my pattern for life. I quite often read things in there which I would disagree with, but they would always be well-written and thought through, unlike the garbage that one reads in some other places.

And yes, I have read or looked at the likes of the Express, the Mail and the Sun.

 

[Goldstone1976]

...it is not the joke that is the problem but the person sending it.

The NRA would welcome you with open arms.

It's not the gun that is the problem but the person wielding it.

 

[RossyG]

Why do people consistently lump Guardian Readers in with all sorts of other people in this sort of thing.

Same reason Sun readers was lazy shorthand in the 80s and Daily Mail readers is now.

Mine was a tongue in cheek reference, not intended to be serious. Loony left and PC Brigade are pretty dated terms.

Trouble is, while we all know this type - overbearing middle class idiots who make worse the things they believe they’re improving - it’s hard to find an umbrella name for them. The best is woke in my opinion, but that will usually draw ire too.

 

[Curious Orange]

The NRA would welcome you with open arms.

It's not the gun that is the problem but the person wielding it.

I wouldn't want to join any club that would have me as a member.



... and there really isn't any parity in comparing jokes to guns - you are likely to survive a a joke to the head... unless it is a grand piano.

 

[beorhthelm]

Why do people consistently lump Guardian Readers in with all sorts of other people in this sort of thing. I am a Guardian Reader and have been for a number of years - about 40. It happens to be one of the better informed and more objective of the Daily Newspapers we have around today

a damning indictment of our press.

 

[Doonhamer7]

Was that the show when several people walked out

No that I’m aware of - I think it was the Reading show a couple of days earlier when parents of a child with Downs Syndrome walked out and it made the news

 

[A1X]

Personally I think a large part of the problem is not whether or not certain topics are taboo (as virtually none are, it's not like there's some kind of secret thought police running around). It's that when people do object it's whether their objection is taken seriously or not. Already on this thread we're seeing people who are not happy with a woman who was actually stalked being unhappy at a joke about stalking, that to me is not on. Oh sure, there are plenty of times when people complain a joke is offensive without actually being offended themselves (and they can be ignored), but when people have a legitimate reason to be offended they shouldn't be dismissed or turned on as seems to the case at the moment.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I get what you're saying but are you telling me you've never laughed at a controversial joke where the subject of the joke hasn't affected you personally? Many of us have if you've watched Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle, Ricky Gervais etc. They've all made jokes about sensitive subjects but the important thing is the victim is never the butt of the joke. Jokes should never be aimed at someone about a thing they can't help.

Sorry, but that's just nonsense. Comedy should never be shouted down by woke IMHO. Comedian says the thing, comedian takes the consequences. Everybody takes their own personal stance on, say, Frankie Boyle. That's all I'm saying...

...

 

[Gabbafella]

It's all about your audience.
For example, my step daughter lost her dad when she was a baby, I wouldn't dream of making a joke about it with her as a) she's very sensitive about it and b) she has no sense of humour, however, I've lost my mum, my mate has lost his dad and another mate his sister and we had a game of dead relative trump's and all found it amusing and on some level cathartic for us all too.
Some will find that highly distasteful whereas plenty will not, it's just one of those things.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Sorry, but that's just nonsense. Comedy should never be shouted down by woke IMHO. Comedian says the thing, comedian takes the consequences. Everybody takes their own personal stance on, say, Frankie Boyle. That's all I'm saying...

...

People choose to go and watch a comedian. The vast majority know what to expect.

Sending a card, which is persona, and arrives at your home uninvited, is completely different as I suspect most posters in this thread realise, but choose not to.

 

[Lenny Rider]

I would imagine most of the 'lads' WhatsApp chats on our phones would now be deemed in bad taste and off limits?

In fact what a great thread, post the last joke you were sent on WhatsApp.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

People choose to go and watch a comedian. The vast majority know what to expect.

Sending a card, which is persona, and arrives at your home uninvited, is completely different as I suspect most posters in this thread realise, but choose not to.

Um, sorry mate,, but I have to confess to having absolutely no idea what your post means

 

[schmunk]

Um, sorry mate,, but I have to confess to having absolutely no idea what your post means

Does correcting 'persona' to 'personal' help?

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

People choose to go and watch a comedian. The vast majority know what to expect.

Sending a card, which is persona, and arrives at your home uninvited, is completely different as I suspect most posters in this thread realise, but choose not to.

So if I were shy, and had liked Enid from the Post Office, from afar, but had gathered up the courage to ask her out on a date or send her a Valentine's Card I'm a pest?

 

[Guinness Boy]

One of my favourite shows has always been South Park because it unapologetically mocks EVERYTHING. So obviously I think no subject is taboo. I would be a little wary of any comedian who only targeted a sub section of people groups they do not belong to, and repeatedly . Nothing was safe from South Park.

However.

The best is woke in my opinion, but that will usually draw ire too.

Of course it will because it is even more frequently and badly used than gammon

 

[Greg Bobkin]

We are heading towards a very sterile vanilla society where you'll only communicate with those you know for fear of offending someone or worse. What a society we're blindly traipsing towards.

"These days..."

 

[hart's shirt]

So if I were shy, and had liked Enid from the Post Office, from afar, but had gathered up the courage to ask her out on a date or send her a Valentine's Card I'm a pest?

Admiring Enid would hardly be a Blyton society.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

One of my favourite shows has always been South Park because it unapologetically mocks EVERYTHING. So obviously I think no subject is taboo. I would be a little wary of any comedian who only targeted a sub section of people groups they do not belong to, and repeatedly . Nothing was safe from South Park.

However.



Of course it will because it is even more frequently and badly used than gammon

Surprised South Park hasn't already been PURGED from the approved list of Woke Sharia Law comedies. Mind you, would be a pretty thin list. Would probably only comprise Mrs Brown Boys, Miranda Hart falling over, and anything by national treasure by default 'Sir' Lenny Henry. Collectively about as funny as a tooth abscess

 

[Questions]

You never know what's going on in the lives of people you are with. A few years ago I was in a meeting and the pre-meeting chitchat included the vice-chair of the meeting talking about something going badly wrong at work and she said "I could have slit my wrists". The week before a cousin of mine had taken his own life, not by slitting his wrists but by jumping off a cliff. It didn't upset me enormously and I didn't say anything, but it made me at least see the person who said it in a slightly different light. She would have been horrified if I had reacted.

A friend made me jump at work once and laughed and said “ Haha you look like you’d sh.it yourself.

If only he knew David.... if only he knew. I kept quiet.

 

[SeagullinExile]

with Gervais, but its a fine line if something is funny or not, and context matters a lot. is stalking amusing in context of valentines, probably not. but then theres something a little stalky about valentines isnt there?

Indeed. It's definitely a bit creepy sending someone an unsigned card or an anonymous gift.