Poll: Can humour go too far? (potentially offensive image within)

[kiwi_poo]

So recently a friend of mine showed me this image:

Spoiler

And the question "Is there a point where humour can be taken too far?" was raised. So I figured why not ask the Escapist's community.

What's your opinion? Can humour never go too far because someone will always think it's funny, or should it not be taken too far, like this image might have for some people?

 

[Flamezdudes]

There are very few lines that humor can cross that can get me upset, i'm not even sure if there is anything that could wind me up perhaps. I have a very dark sense of humor so I find things like the picture you presented as quite funny, however it doesn't mean I don't recognize that what Hitler did was wrong and I still find his acts deplorable.

 

[NinjaSniperAssassin]

I don't think humour can ever truly go "too far". There are definitely types of humour that are inappropriate for certain audiences (for example, you wouldn't have a singalong of that song going at a Holocaust Survivors support group or whatever), but I don't believe there's any type of humour that's universally offensive to the point that everybody in the whole world is disturbed by it, which is the point at which I would consider it "too far".

 

[BathorysGraveland]

I don't think so, no. There is courtesy of course, you probably shouldn't send that image to Jews or people with Jewish family. But ultimately, I don't think humour has a limit. If you can laugh at something, then the pain it caused can be forgotten, temporarily or otherwise.

Just so you know, I dug the lyrics in that image. Sounds like something a modern Thrash band would come up with.

 

[DoPo]

I don't think humour can ever truly go "too far". There are definitely types of humour that are inappropriate for certain audiences (for example, you wouldn't have a singalong of that song going at a Holocaust Survivors support group or whatever), but I don't believe there's any type of humour that's universally offensive to the point that everybody in the whole worlds is disturbed by it, which is the point at which I would consider it "too far".

Yes, my thoughts exactly - humour may not be for everybody but can't really be universally bad. Or good, for that matter.

Now cue people repeating (probably unwittingly) the stuff from those half a dozen threads we had a few months ago.

 

[hazabaza1]

Nope.
But, if someone is sensitive to certain matters and you have knowledge of this, hold off. Just for good taste. (Like, you know someone's been raped and you make a rape joke. Cut that shit out, yo.)

 

[Zantos]

Well, it sort of depends. Humour can't really go too far, although maybe consider situation. The only way humour can go too far is if someone is trying so hard to shock people that it really just isn't funny any more. But because it isn't funny, it isn't really humour, so humour can't go far.

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

I think if it gets to a point where the humour is or could be causing severe emotional trauma to someone(say for example intentionally telling rape jokes to a rape victim), then a line has been crossed. Although that line could just as easily be the one of poor taste rather than 'offensive'.

In general though I think it's very hard to determine when somebody has gone too far. I certainly don't think it should be completely unrestrained.

 

[excalipoor]

I draw the line at dead babies. It's not so much that I'm offended, just that there are no circumstances under which I would find them funny.

 

[Tombsite]

In before the Gorge Carlin quotes.

No I do not believe anything is sacred, and thus every thing can be made fun of.

That being said, even if you are trying (and in this case failing oh so hard) to be funny it does not in any way excuse you from any pain or discomfort you have caused. Freedom of expression does not mean freedom of responsibility as so many seem to believe.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

You are free to make jokes about whatever you want, but you should try to make good ones. Screaming rape into your mic on Xbox live after every kill is not funny, therefore it is not a joke. The George Carlin bit that will inevitably show up here was funny and is a joke. The former is what deserves scorn.
As for that joke itself, I found it funny and have come up with similar jokes.

 

[aba1]

I think when the level of offensiveness outweighs the humor than you might be going to far. I generally don't take things all that seriously though.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Society should never impose one arbitrary limit to humour. Everyone has their one tastes and their own 'line'. This doesn't even get close to my line, but that's just me.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

It depends on how the joke is told. If the joke is actually funny then yea it's fine, but if the joke isn't even funny at all, then why would you make that joke.

Bad example: Jews are so fucking cheap lol.

Good example: Did you hear about the new BMW? It's called the Jew Bug. Not only can it turn on a dime, it will also stop and pick that dime up too.

See? Big difference.

 

[Lionsfan]

I don't think there's a line humor can cross, and holy hell was the given example hilarious

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I wouldn't even call that humour.

That's a bad joke. Not because of the subject matter, but because it's just not a funny joke.

 

[DementedSheep]

Eh...its largely dependent on context, timing and who you are talking too. To use an extreme example making a joke about someones recently murdered family member is obviously not cool.
And there actually has to be something funny about it. "Lol rape" for instance is not a joke and it implies you think rape itself is funny.

 

[redmoretrout]

Nope, if a joke is legitimately funny it can not "go too far". Everything is game, but it takes a real comedian to make the controversial stuff work.

That said, if the punchline is "look how controversial this is, can you believe I said it!" its not a very good(funny) joke.