3 ms·

Who determines social status? It seems to be the people wanting this rule enforced and not any objective measure. To use Colbert as an example is frankly strang

Who determines social status? It seems to be the people wanting this rule enforced and not any objective measure. To use Colbert as an example is frankly strange and telling of how arbitrary this line of thinking is, someone who earns $15m a year constantly makes fun of regular people who end up on the news or in awkward situations. If I were to make a joke about blue-collar neo-nazis am I allowed to do that? I get the feeling most who nod along to this article would say yes and howl along in laughter, but that implies that min wage and racist ideology is of higher status than average wage and moderate ideology, which again makes absolutely no sense unless you come to the conclusion that there is no "up" and "down", just "us" and "them". The way I see it everyone should be fair game for jokes.

deleted 3y ago
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giraffe_lady 3y ago
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- blatherard 3y ago
  Now this is the kind of humor we need. You can punch up or down, as long as there's a nazi at the other end of the punch.
- elnegerito 3y ago
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- zen_1 3y ago
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blatherard 3y ago
I think it depends on the joke, really. If you made a joke along the lines of "those nazis think they're hot stuff but you know what, they're POOR! They can't even afford to go to college and many grew up in POOR families!" I don't think that would be funny, even though I hate nazis, because the humor is based on dislike for a particular group of people. Not nazis, but poor people. "Nazis suck because they're poor" is the meaning. And that's punching down, even if the nominal target is nazis. Laughing at that joke is laughing at the poor for being poor and that sucks. If the joke isn't related to the poverty part then its immaterial, and you're just making a joke about nazis, which is fine.
legostormtroopr 3y ago
The only consistent measure I have seen is: * Down = people I like. * Up = people I don't like. The broader internet has a problem with jokes about bodyshaming, but jokes about bald men or "small-dick energy" are ok because... reasons. You can have famous comedians with multi-million dollar movie deals making fun of members of the general public, and as long as they target people in a percieved "powerful" social group, its punching down - and any callout of this behaviour is an "-ism" of some description.
- mnk47 3y ago
  To me, it's closer to: * Down = the "oppressed" * Up = the "oppressor" But it's pretty much what you said, and it lends itself to patronizing behavior. As a member of the "oppressed" (minority in the US) I see it everywhere, particularly in media/entertainment but occasionally in real life, too. I'm a human being, I'm capable of taking a joke, and I have enough intelligence to tell when a joke isn't ill-intentioned. In fact, if it rings true, I'll probably enjoy it, just like white people have loved hearing jokes at their expense for decades.

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giraffe_lady 3y ago

[flagged]

blatherard 3y ago
Now this is the kind of humor we need. You can punch up or down, as long as there's a nazi at the other end of the punch.
elnegerito 3y ago
[flagged]
zen_1 3y ago
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blatherard 3y ago

I think it depends on the joke, really. If you made a joke along the lines of "those nazis think they're hot stuff but you know what, they're POOR! They can't even afford to go to college and many grew up in POOR families!" I don't think that would be funny, even though I hate nazis, because the humor is based on dislike for a particular group of people. Not nazis, but poor people. "Nazis suck because they're poor" is the meaning. And that's punching down, even if the nominal target is nazis. Laughing at that joke is laughing at the poor for being poor and that sucks. If the joke isn't related to the poverty part then its immaterial, and you're just making a joke about nazis, which is fine.

legostormtroopr 3y ago

The only consistent measure I have seen is: * Down = people I like. * Up = people I don't like. The broader internet has a problem with jokes about bodyshaming, but jokes about bald men or "small-dick energy" are ok because... reasons. You can have famous comedians with multi-million dollar movie deals making fun of members of the general public, and as long as they target people in a percieved "powerful" social group, its punching down - and any callout of this behaviour is an "-ism" of some description.

mnk47 3y ago
To me, it's closer to: * Down = the "oppressed" * Up = the "oppressor" But it's pretty much what you said, and it lends itself to patronizing behavior. As a member of the "oppressed" (minority in the US) I see it everywhere, particularly in media/entertainment but occasionally in real life, too. I'm a human being, I'm capable of taking a joke, and I have enough intelligence to tell when a joke isn't ill-intentioned. In fact, if it rings true, I'll probably enjoy it, just like white people have loved hearing jokes at their expense for decades.