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humor with the intention of ridiculing something by using its own tropes to the point of absurdity to show the wrongness/badness of the thing is a well-establis

humor with the intention of ridiculing something by using its own tropes to the point of absurdity to show the wrongness/badness of the thing is a well-established form of satire and commentary. a satirist is emphatically NOT in concordance or agreement with that which they are satirizing. I find it unreasonable that you are arguing against this basic premise. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. I hope I am because If I am really understanding you correctly it seems to me like you are making something far worse than a fallacious argument, but really something that rises to the level of destructive of the meaning of words.

eropple 9y ago
You're assuming the people employing that black humor don't believe what they're saying. I, and I expect the person to whom you reply, don't adhere to that assumption. I think that "just a joke", in this context, is the exhibition of profound naivete. And even if the speaker realizes it's a joke--the listeners often don't. See the /pol/ commentary elsewhere in this thread; /pol/ was "just joking" until those jokes were taken as articles of faith and became the core of a literally fascist movement.
- Houshalter 9y ago
  Yes people employing black humor don't believe what they are saying. That's literally the whole point. I really doubt there are that many people that actually want to murder babies. Or do any of the insane things that come up in a good cards against humanity game. Maybe you could make a utilitarian argument against black humor. Maybe you could argue that such jokes encourage actual baby killers and the world would be better without them. I really doubt that's true, but even if it was, it's a very different argument. People want these kids expelled because they think they are actual monsters, which is probably false. Not because of theoretical arguments of the utility of banning black humor. Pols transition to conservatism has nothing to do with black humor, but how it's set up. It's a site that not only doesn't censor, but strongly encourages discussions on taboo topics. Of course it will attract people that believe taboo ideologies and are banned or ostracized elsewhere.
- ziggysak 9y ago
  This is simply incorrect. /pol/ has never attempted to be "ironically" fascist. Its memes have always been a true reflection of sincere fascism and racism. /r/dankmemes has similar subject matter but it's clear that it's ironic and it's black humor. They are two fundamentally different things. Nobody is being indoctrinated into being a fascist from the latter. The former is actively attempting indoctrination.

eropple 9y ago

You're assuming the people employing that black humor don't believe what they're saying. I, and I expect the person to whom you reply, don't adhere to that assumption. I think that "just a joke", in this context, is the exhibition of profound naivete. And even if the speaker realizes it's a joke--the listeners often don't. See the /pol/ commentary elsewhere in this thread; /pol/ was "just joking" until those jokes were taken as articles of faith and became the core of a literally fascist movement.

Houshalter 9y ago
Yes people employing black humor don't believe what they are saying. That's literally the whole point. I really doubt there are that many people that actually want to murder babies. Or do any of the insane things that come up in a good cards against humanity game. Maybe you could make a utilitarian argument against black humor. Maybe you could argue that such jokes encourage actual baby killers and the world would be better without them. I really doubt that's true, but even if it was, it's a very different argument. People want these kids expelled because they think they are actual monsters, which is probably false. Not because of theoretical arguments of the utility of banning black humor. Pols transition to conservatism has nothing to do with black humor, but how it's set up. It's a site that not only doesn't censor, but strongly encourages discussions on taboo topics. Of course it will attract people that believe taboo ideologies and are banned or ostracized elsewhere.
ziggysak 9y ago
This is simply incorrect. /pol/ has never attempted to be "ironically" fascist. Its memes have always been a true reflection of sincere fascism and racism. /r/dankmemes has similar subject matter but it's clear that it's ironic and it's black humor. They are two fundamentally different things. Nobody is being indoctrinated into being a fascist from the latter. The former is actively attempting indoctrination.