Topic: Don't kid yourselves. Rape/racism/etc jokes are never just jokes.
+Anonymous A — 13.4 years ago #21,070
Jokes are a form of self expression.
Seriously, that is it. You can not hide behind jokes if they are a form of self expression. Jokes always mean something, even if that thing is relatively trivial, it means something. It tells us something about ourselves. Jokes reveal something about the joke teller, the ones who laugh at the joke, and the ones who do not laugh at the joke.
A person who laughs at some trivial knock knock joke because of a pun, is in fact revealing something about himself - no matter how small or "insignificant" you may think that revelation is, it is still there. Jokes tell us about our values, our dislikes, it tells us about our culture, about our life experiences, and our personalities. People who deny this, are just in denial.
The fact that I have to explain, and emphasize this point is rather sad... but I suppose it has to be done for a certain group of people. So let us take a look at one particular topic concerning jokes...
We have this "joke teller" who likes to tell jokes about minorities. This person always manages to tell jokes about minority groups at the exact same time when the topic of their oppression comes up and is being talked about very seriously. They always manage to tell jokes to the people who are being oppressed, about their oppression, at the time when they are talking about the plights they face because of their oppression.
Now, really, that is all I should have to say on this topic. The mere summary of what behavior we are going to attempt to explain... actually gives the very reasons this behavior is done. The ones who have got a clue, don't even have to read any further than that summery because they know what is going to be after it. For those of you who are sill rather clueless, let us look at the situation in some detail.
First though, we have to realize something that is rather basic to human behavior. When someone has a specific behavior pattern, this pattern tells us something about this individual. Many times, the pattern is so obvious that they need not really ever have to tell us explicitly what it is they feel or think. For example, if I write pages and pages of information about technology on this forum every time someone mentions some new gadget or two... it is fairly obvious that this pattern of behavior tells you something about me - maybe that I am a technology enthusiast, or maybe I have some sort of degree in it. We not be completely certain what it tells you about me, but we do have a sort of vague idea what it could mean.... without me ever having to say "I like technology" or anything like that. In fact, this sort of analysis is so fairly common that we really could not function as a society if everyone did not have at least some basic understanding that certain behavior patterns correlate with certain thoughts. You do not have to have a degree in psychology, to understand and identify what a few behavior patterns can mean about an individual. It does help to have some sort of catalog in front of us to reference common correlations - which is basically what a degree in psychoanalysis grants you - but many times we can make do.
So let us take a very deep look at one specific behavior pattern that quite a few posters fall into here, when the topic of "oppression of minorities" comes up. Let us take a look at this "joke teller" who says these "oh so hilarious" jokes at the same time when minorities are voicing their various sincere and serious opinions about their "oh so hilarious" oppression.
So let us take an individual who tells lots of minority centered jokes. However, this person hardly mentions these jokes on his own.. he only really tells them when the topic of oppression is getting seriously discussed. The jokes he tells start coming out right around the time the minorities are expressing negative feelings towards the dominant group who happens to benefit from their oppression.
What do you think this tells you about this individual? I think, it is fairly obvious, that if the jokes start coming out right around the time the minorities are expressing negative emotions towards the dominant group - this person takes some kind of issue with that. What that issue is, we are not quite sure, but this individual has done it enough such that, there has to be something more to this.
Now, let us dig even deeper. If we take a look at this persons style of jokes.. we notice that they are hardly ever told in the fashion that would empower the oppressed groups position. The meanings of the jokes are almost always "ironically" derogatory towards the minorities in question, or take the form of "sarcastically" minimizing their suffering. This person typically tells these jokes to the minorities. Now, very few respond in laughter.. but this typically does not deter them, instead the jokes get more aggressive and more abrasive or "edgy."
What do you think this tells us about this person now? What could this mean about them?
Yet let us dig even deeper again and look at more correlations. Let us say that this person is not a member of the minority group that is being oppressed. Instead this person is the member of the dominant group that is benefiting from the social hierarchy. The jokes get laughs most from the people who are outside the minority group - part of the dominant group - and get the least laughs from the minorities the target of these jokes. Let us also say that this person has been told, more than once, by the minority groups in question, that a few of them are offended by such jokes. The persons typical reaction is then to tell more jokes in a more outlandish fashion. If a minority asserts themselves more assertively and tells this person to stop - this person gets more aggressive and tells more jokes. These jokes become more and more crude and more and more demeaning.. and they come with a sense of self importance and opposition.
What do you think this tells us about this person now?
I think it is very clear that this behavior pattern comes out of people who have issues with the topics at hand. The prevalence of the pattern and the way it is done, does not allow us the luxury to dismiss this as some kind of silly game. Instead this reveals something rather bad of the individual. I mean clearly, these jokes have cease to become harmless and more or less function as a form of harassment. It functions as a form of group dominance, a form of silence, or perhaps a form of avoidance of the issues at hand. When targeted in such a fashion, it tells us that this person may have an issue with race, or gender, or sexuality. To take jokes out in such an unaccommodating, aggressive, insulting, and timely manner (just when the topic starts to be about the negative things dominant group does).... this is clearly, something more than a joke.
It may not even be about the jokes anymore.. it would be about the person who is telling them and how they are being used, in what context they are being shown. To use jokes like this is not longer humorous... but instead reveals the character of the individual and whatever problems they are dealing with.
IT IS NOT A JOKE ANYMORE.
It is something else... something rather sad.
It is especially tiresome when this behavior has actually been linked bigoted ways of social dominance. When the pattern is so common from within the dominant group.... It has a function that is now more sinister than humor, and it is sad.
Seriously, that is it. You can not hide behind jokes if they are a form of self expression. Jokes always mean something, even if that thing is relatively trivial, it means something. It tells us something about ourselves. Jokes reveal something about the joke teller, the ones who laugh at the joke, and the ones who do not laugh at the joke.
A person who laughs at some trivial knock knock joke because of a pun, is in fact revealing something about himself - no matter how small or "insignificant" you may think that revelation is, it is still there. Jokes tell us about our values, our dislikes, it tells us about our culture, about our life experiences, and our personalities. People who deny this, are just in denial.
The fact that I have to explain, and emphasize this point is rather sad... but I suppose it has to be done for a certain group of people. So let us take a look at one particular topic concerning jokes...
We have this "joke teller" who likes to tell jokes about minorities. This person always manages to tell jokes about minority groups at the exact same time when the topic of their oppression comes up and is being talked about very seriously. They always manage to tell jokes to the people who are being oppressed, about their oppression, at the time when they are talking about the plights they face because of their oppression.
Now, really, that is all I should have to say on this topic. The mere summary of what behavior we are going to attempt to explain... actually gives the very reasons this behavior is done. The ones who have got a clue, don't even have to read any further than that summery because they know what is going to be after it. For those of you who are sill rather clueless, let us look at the situation in some detail.
First though, we have to realize something that is rather basic to human behavior. When someone has a specific behavior pattern, this pattern tells us something about this individual. Many times, the pattern is so obvious that they need not really ever have to tell us explicitly what it is they feel or think. For example, if I write pages and pages of information about technology on this forum every time someone mentions some new gadget or two... it is fairly obvious that this pattern of behavior tells you something about me - maybe that I am a technology enthusiast, or maybe I have some sort of degree in it. We not be completely certain what it tells you about me, but we do have a sort of vague idea what it could mean.... without me ever having to say "I like technology" or anything like that. In fact, this sort of analysis is so fairly common that we really could not function as a society if everyone did not have at least some basic understanding that certain behavior patterns correlate with certain thoughts. You do not have to have a degree in psychology, to understand and identify what a few behavior patterns can mean about an individual. It does help to have some sort of catalog in front of us to reference common correlations - which is basically what a degree in psychoanalysis grants you - but many times we can make do.
So let us take a very deep look at one specific behavior pattern that quite a few posters fall into here, when the topic of "oppression of minorities" comes up. Let us take a look at this "joke teller" who says these "oh so hilarious" jokes at the same time when minorities are voicing their various sincere and serious opinions about their "oh so hilarious" oppression.
So let us take an individual who tells lots of minority centered jokes. However, this person hardly mentions these jokes on his own.. he only really tells them when the topic of oppression is getting seriously discussed. The jokes he tells start coming out right around the time the minorities are expressing negative feelings towards the dominant group who happens to benefit from their oppression.
What do you think this tells you about this individual? I think, it is fairly obvious, that if the jokes start coming out right around the time the minorities are expressing negative emotions towards the dominant group - this person takes some kind of issue with that. What that issue is, we are not quite sure, but this individual has done it enough such that, there has to be something more to this.
Now, let us dig even deeper. If we take a look at this persons style of jokes.. we notice that they are hardly ever told in the fashion that would empower the oppressed groups position. The meanings of the jokes are almost always "ironically" derogatory towards the minorities in question, or take the form of "sarcastically" minimizing their suffering. This person typically tells these jokes to the minorities. Now, very few respond in laughter.. but this typically does not deter them, instead the jokes get more aggressive and more abrasive or "edgy."
What do you think this tells us about this person now? What could this mean about them?
Yet let us dig even deeper again and look at more correlations. Let us say that this person is not a member of the minority group that is being oppressed. Instead this person is the member of the dominant group that is benefiting from the social hierarchy. The jokes get laughs most from the people who are outside the minority group - part of the dominant group - and get the least laughs from the minorities the target of these jokes. Let us also say that this person has been told, more than once, by the minority groups in question, that a few of them are offended by such jokes. The persons typical reaction is then to tell more jokes in a more outlandish fashion. If a minority asserts themselves more assertively and tells this person to stop - this person gets more aggressive and tells more jokes. These jokes become more and more crude and more and more demeaning.. and they come with a sense of self importance and opposition.
What do you think this tells us about this person now?
I think it is very clear that this behavior pattern comes out of people who have issues with the topics at hand. The prevalence of the pattern and the way it is done, does not allow us the luxury to dismiss this as some kind of silly game. Instead this reveals something rather bad of the individual. I mean clearly, these jokes have cease to become harmless and more or less function as a form of harassment. It functions as a form of group dominance, a form of silence, or perhaps a form of avoidance of the issues at hand. When targeted in such a fashion, it tells us that this person may have an issue with race, or gender, or sexuality. To take jokes out in such an unaccommodating, aggressive, insulting, and timely manner (just when the topic starts to be about the negative things dominant group does).... this is clearly, something more than a joke.
It may not even be about the jokes anymore.. it would be about the person who is telling them and how they are being used, in what context they are being shown. To use jokes like this is not longer humorous... but instead reveals the character of the individual and whatever problems they are dealing with.
IT IS NOT A JOKE ANYMORE.
It is something else... something rather sad.
It is especially tiresome when this behavior has actually been linked bigoted ways of social dominance. When the pattern is so common from within the dominant group.... It has a function that is now more sinister than humor, and it is sad.
+ThatGuy !v1u1DVE9Lk — 13.4 years ago, 1 minute later[T] [B] #254,620
Didn't read, lol.
+Anonymous C — 13.4 years ago, 1 minute later, 2 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #254,621
Very true.
+Anonymous D — 13.4 years ago, 2 minutes later, 5 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #254,623
lol 10/10 bud
+Anonymous E — 13.4 years ago, 1 hour later, 1 hour after the original post[T] [B] #254,649
Livvddftf
+Anonymous F — 13.4 years ago, 11 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[T] [B] #254,659
Kook posts rape threads about herself.Start a new topic to continue this conversation.
Or browse the latest topics.