Where there’s a positive side of things…there’s usually a negative side, and that applies to humor as well.
Unfortunately, the negative side of humor can be ugly…it can hurt feelings, and can be damaging and destructive! There are people in this world who will do almost anything for money. There are people in this world who will do almost anything for power. There are people in this world who will do almost anything for fame. And, there are people in this world who will do almost anything to get a laugh…and if they hurt somebody in the process…no apologies…business as usual!
In my view, this country is suffering from a big fat attitude problem that needs to be fixed! What are parents teaching their kids…to be corrupt? What happened to manners and respect? I haven’t seen a local news broadcast on television for years! Why? It’s the same old broken record…only the names change. The same old tired stories…who murdered who…who robbed who…another woman was raped, and there is more and more corruption…scandal, etc.
All of this gets old after a while. You have to wonder if there is any good news in America anymore! Yes, there is, but good news doesn’t sell newspapers, and the television ratings and newspapers won’t sell, if there is no bad news!
I think this society is turning more and more negative, and all that negativity rubs off on the children and grandchildren. There so much negativity in this society, that some of the people who are supposed to be leaders and model citizens in the community are being busted for one thing or another. Corruption; DWI; bad behavior in general.
How does humor fit into all this bad behavior? Put down of others…just to get a laugh! Ethnic jokes…just to get a laugh! Racial slurs…just to get a laugh! Dirty jokes…just to get a laugh! Teasing of others…just to get a laugh! Negative humor, like booze; prostitution; drugs will always be with us, and we all have to live with it, etc. Negative humor is another black eye for America!
A few years ago, was when we heard of the violence on a few high school campuses around the country. Students and others were shot and murdered on school grounds! There is no doubt in my mind, that some of this violence started, at least in part, because of teasing kids until they couldn’t take it anymore…JUST TO GET A LAUGH!
What are parents teaching their kids today? Have they ever heard of mutual-respect? If they’ve heard of it, do they teach mutual-respect to their kids? Many of us have been teased in school, I know I have. Being Hispanic, I remember I was teased because I didn’t speak or write the English well. Kids would make fun of me…JUST TO GET A LAUGH! It was so upsetting to me, that I didn’t want to go back to school! Everyone knows kids can be awful. I was always reluctant to give an oral book report for fear that the kids would laugh at me! I will always remember those awful days of ridicule and hate!
If you’ve ever been put down, by those who I refer to as “the jokesters and people of put-down,” who enjoy getting a laugh at somebody else’s expense, then you know how awful it can sting! I’m reminded of a comedian (so he calls himself), who goes around the country, putting down and making fun of the disabled and the challenged…JUST TO GET A LAUGH! This guy is the lowest of the low! What kind of humor is this? What kind of people would go to see this JERK, who finds laughing at challenged people amusing! This so-called comedian and his followers are what I call “the little minds of the world!” They’re warped…all of them, who would do something like this!
Where is this country headed when we allow this kind of thing, that is, making fun of the disabled and the mentally challenged? I know the issue of free speech in involved…and not much can be done about it! Will you allow your children to see this so-called comedian putting down the disabled and the challenged?
* I don’t see anything funny or amusing about a person who has suffered an illness; an accident and who will spend the rest of his or her life in a wheelchair.
* I don’t see anything funny or amusing about a person who was born with a deformity.
* I don’t see anything funny or amusing about a blind person who is struggling to cope.
* I don’t see anything funny or amusing about a person who has a speech impediment, hearing loss or severe burns!
Regrettably, humor can play a part in all this, because there the “little minds of the world,” that I spoke of earlier, who laugh at all this to get their kicks…UNTIL A TRAGEDY HAPPENS TO THEM! But, there IS a solution to all this, and it lies only with the parents. Parents have to teach their kids to respect others…teasing or the put-down of others is out of bounds! Two of the most important words in the world are, “mutual-respect,” and parents have to teach their kids to respect others, and to stay away from negative people, so they don’t become negative themselves.
Negative and dirty humor are NOT acceptable to me! A person doesn’t have to be dirty to be funny! Negative humor can sting, if you are on the receiving end of it! Many years ago, the senior President Bush declared, “What we need is a kinder, gentler nation!” What he was talking about, I believe, is what we are doing to each other as a People…and much of which is no laughing matter!