Issue 147 made me think about how much humor has changed. They say laughter is healthy and all that but I have to wonder if thanks to the mass media it has gone too far. The most watched episodes of a new season of American Idol are the early ones where the untalented singers are humiliated in front of millions by Simon tearing them to pieces for the amusement. The Star Wars kid (a cautionary tale if I ever saw one) made a youthful mistake that made him a laughingstock in front of not just his school but millions more through the internet. I'd like to ask you, do you think we've gone too far? Have we started using "humor" as an excuse to be assholes to each other and give it some notion of legitimacy? What do you think? Discuss.
Are we getting meaner and nastier?
- Thread starter General Ma Chao
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It seems to me like the people who go to far aren't being told that because people are afraid of being accused of having no "sense of humor", and keep on being as asinine as they were to begin with.
Pretty broad statement though, and it's not a new concept/problem.
Pretty broad statement though, and it's not a new concept/problem.
Broad statement? Absolutely. But I would think the popularity of reality TV would give this some legitimacy. People having their quirks exposed to the public to be jeered at has become commonplace. If you look at video sites, there are plenty of videos of people getting pranked or even beaten up for immediate posting ("This is Youtube material!")
I think that it should stop, though there is not really much I (or anybody) can do. Sure, I plan to go into broadcast journalism, but there really isn't much we can do about it. What makes the green is always going to win.
The reason more people watch the audition episodes of American Idol is because it's better. It's better because it's not live, therefore they can edit it. Editing makes all the difference in reality tv shows.
I don't think we've become meaner. I think since the dawn of comedy people made fun of others. It's always been this way. I think it's more likely we're getting nicer, as more humour is just references or funny tones.
I don't think we've become meaner. I think since the dawn of comedy people made fun of others. It's always been this way. I think it's more likely we're getting nicer, as more humour is just references or funny tones.
I was watching Robot Chicken the other day. It was actually my favourite show before. But then I saw this one episode...
Basically, what went down was this little kid and his mom were having a nice, family evening watching TV and cuddling, when suddenly these thugs burst in through the door. The little kid was like "waaah mommy" and the thugs strapped her to a wall and shot her to death in front of the kid. Then, the kid's brother walked in to help, and they killed him too. Finally, the thugs strapped the kid to a table and ripped off his arms and legs.
I mean, what kind of humor is that?! I almost cried, let alone laughed. Later on in the episode, an old man was going on a killing rampage. He killed his wife, his kids, and then he broke into a hooker joint and started shooting all of the women. Come on, already...
Basically, what went down was this little kid and his mom were having a nice, family evening watching TV and cuddling, when suddenly these thugs burst in through the door. The little kid was like "waaah mommy" and the thugs strapped her to a wall and shot her to death in front of the kid. Then, the kid's brother walked in to help, and they killed him too. Finally, the thugs strapped the kid to a table and ripped off his arms and legs.
I mean, what kind of humor is that?! I almost cried, let alone laughed. Later on in the episode, an old man was going on a killing rampage. He killed his wife, his kids, and then he broke into a hooker joint and started shooting all of the women. Come on, already...
Why is being socially awkward or overestimating your abilities a capital offense worthy of mass humiliation? It's skating a fine line towards making bullying justified.Khell_Sennet said:
That may just be a satire for the point we are all making here though. I dont think it was meant to be punch line funny, more like satirizing the amount of violence in media. Or it could just be the writers got lazy.Stammer said:
I think that deep down everyone has a lust for violence and it is amuing to see someone else in pain and/or suffering. If that be physical or emotional it will still amuse a wide population of people.
Look, we are getting meaner, and that is a good thing. Don't misunderstand me on this, the more people who stop doing stupid things in public, the fewer Memes, internet jokes and retards i have to deal with. Mediocrety is NOT good. it's ok. we need people to strive for exellence and they wont do that if we keep telling them how awesome they are
Well, throughout history we've watched people get axed for our entertainment (gold star if you thought of Rome), but over time, that's become taboo and inhumane, so instead we've switched to voluntary social injury to people in the guise of reality tv. It's all about knowing that someone, somewhere is having a worse day than we are. Hey, that's why slapstick comedy exists, so I'm not complaining.
laughter is the best medicine, unless you are suffering from massive aneurysms of the lungs.
but i just think that with the amazing power of anominaty (fuck off, its really hard to spell) and the knowledge that it will most likly never come back to haunte us we are allowed to air all of the racist, homophobic and xynophobic thoughts that most of us have bubbling under the surface.
i mean back in the days before the internet if you wanted to be racist you hade to join the KKK (in america) or the BNP (in UK) but now all you do is go on to 4chan vent all your racistremarks on to there and go back to being a healthy member of sociaty (i suddenly feel like i am in a Brave New World)
also *puts on darwin hat* ever since we could stand upright we have had to be, to an extent, completly cold to other humans. If we had stoped at every littel problem that befell people then we would not be hear and this need to be uncaring, the need to blockout the suffering of another has been hardwired in to us on a level that we dont fully understand *takes of darwin hat* so that means that we will always be able to ignore the suffering of another (just turn on the news and countthe number of stories about africa).
as for why we sometimes enjoy watching another suffer. well that could just be the natrual amount of evil in all of us.
but i just think that with the amazing power of anominaty (fuck off, its really hard to spell) and the knowledge that it will most likly never come back to haunte us we are allowed to air all of the racist, homophobic and xynophobic thoughts that most of us have bubbling under the surface.
i mean back in the days before the internet if you wanted to be racist you hade to join the KKK (in america) or the BNP (in UK) but now all you do is go on to 4chan vent all your racistremarks on to there and go back to being a healthy member of sociaty (i suddenly feel like i am in a Brave New World)
also *puts on darwin hat* ever since we could stand upright we have had to be, to an extent, completly cold to other humans. If we had stoped at every littel problem that befell people then we would not be hear and this need to be uncaring, the need to blockout the suffering of another has been hardwired in to us on a level that we dont fully understand *takes of darwin hat* so that means that we will always be able to ignore the suffering of another (just turn on the news and countthe number of stories about africa).
as for why we sometimes enjoy watching another suffer. well that could just be the natrual amount of evil in all of us.
People love to watch other people suffer. Whether it's in the gladiator's ring or on the internet, people getting hurt and/or making complete fools of themselves is something everyone can enjoy. Just look at the Three Stooges, lovable idiots beating the hell out of each other is comic gold. I guess it might have something to do with pride and self worth too. We're less forgiving of those deemed inferior to us and we love to see them get their just desserts for being more mentally deficient than us.
Frankly, I enjoy it when people get hurt or killed in hilarious ways, just look at the Darwin Awards, cruel, but still funny.
Frankly, I enjoy it when people get hurt or killed in hilarious ways, just look at the Darwin Awards, cruel, but still funny.
I will concede the point about reality TV. They DID sign a contract knowing that a camera was always on.
But what about those who didn't know a camera was on, or simply believed it was under wraps. Star Wars kid made the mistake of forgetting about his tape. I doubt he intended anyone to ever see it. That mistake humiliated him in front of millions and made him into a societal punchline. "Don't taze me, bro" guy certainly didn't ask to get tazed even if he was out of line. Now he's become a societal punchline too. Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit "cruel and unusual" to laugh at people caught in moments of such complete vulnerability? Would you be able to "laugh it off" if you were recorded doing something less than dignified and humiliated in front of the world?
But what about those who didn't know a camera was on, or simply believed it was under wraps. Star Wars kid made the mistake of forgetting about his tape. I doubt he intended anyone to ever see it. That mistake humiliated him in front of millions and made him into a societal punchline. "Don't taze me, bro" guy certainly didn't ask to get tazed even if he was out of line. Now he's become a societal punchline too. Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit "cruel and unusual" to laugh at people caught in moments of such complete vulnerability? Would you be able to "laugh it off" if you were recorded doing something less than dignified and humiliated in front of the world?
And people think that video games cause kids to be violent. :OStammer said:
Seriously, that is MESSED UP. This perfectly justifys that humor has gone too far. I also agree that things today is just about bullying, but as long as everybody does it it is fine. :O