Are there some things that should not be joked about?

[Campbell305]

A while back I fell out with some female friends because I made a joke which referenced rape and it got me thinking are some subjects to serious to be joked about. I personally think that it all depends on the context of the joke or the way George carlin put it "what the exaggeration is". I'd love to hear other people's opinions on the matter

[brimstoneSalad]

Humor is a tool, and it can be used for good or evil.

When it's used for good, is it made to press progressive social issues in a non-offensive way (or a way that may be offensive to conservatives, but which can be excused as "a joke" to avoid consequence); in that sense, it can also be used to spread the ideas, and make people think about them more than they otherwise would.

E.g.
God is an imaginary friend for grownups.
Vegetarians will rule the world after the meat eaters finish eating themselves to death.

When it's used for evil, it's used to support conservative positions by marginalizing or trivializing progressive and moral values, and dismiss them. It's a way for conservatives, who might otherwise feel uncomfortable about their behavior or beliefs, to excuse it and make fun of others instead, deflecting the guilt and brushing it off.

E.g.
Murder is delicious.
There are no atheists in foxholes.


Your rape joke may have been dismissive and trivializing of rape; more along the lines of the latter, evil jokes that damage social moral progress.

It IS actually possible to tell rape jokes at the expense of the rapists that push progressive morality instead.

Why did the frat boy trick the girl he just met into getting drunk?
Because he's a fucking rapist, that's why.

Some jokes are hard to make funny, but that's another issue.

[Jebus]

In my opinion, as long as it's funny nothing is off limits. You just have to be careful who you tell the jokes to. My wife and I are of different races and we'll often laugh at each other's racial jokes. However, that doesn't mean I'll tell the same joke to the next black person I meet on the street. I've personally never been offended by a joke and I think people who are easily offended need to lighten up and see it for what it is; a simple joke.

[miniboes]

I don't think there is anything that should never be joked about. It also really depends on the situation; one should probably not joke about the holocaust too much in the presence of jews or european elderly.

In my opinion, as long as it's funny nothing is off limits.

Unless it is in public. I think you'd agree, the conversations with your wife you mentioned are private after all.

I've personally never been offended by a joke and I think people who are easily offended need to lighten up and see it for what it is; a simple joke.

There are jokes with the intend of harm, or for the purpose of evil, as Brimstone called it. I think it's fair enough to be offended, or at least disapproving of those.

[brimstoneSalad]

Here's one I saw while browsing jokes:

"McDonalds announced it's considering a more humane way of slaughtering its animals.
You know they fatten them up and then kill them. You know the same thing they do to their customers, isn't it?"

A great class of political joke is making fun of a socially harmful company, person, group, etc.

It's all barrels against McDonalds, the Taliban, the Tea Party, etc.

These are the kinds of jokes we need as society, to point out the terrible things we ignore, and help slip that knowledge into our humor.

Of course, there's the other class of jokes, which is just funny and useless, like puns and such that are non-political. I guess those are fine, although there aren't very many topics that are fully neutral.

"Race" jokes can be neutral when they aren't insulting, but just point out silly idiosyncrasies and observations. If public, they have to be proof against offense to an audience of that 'race' though, or classically made by somebody of that 'race' to prevent them from being interpreted offensively and giving the wrong social message.

I think it's better to avoid them, and focus on more meaningful jokes, though.

It's like news running stories about the Cardassians or Justin Beaver instead of meaningful international politics and world events.
We have a limited amount of time and memetic capital, let's put it to its best use.

That said, puns and other neutral jokes, when they're slipped in without wasting time in the process of rhetoric, can help win an audience for a larger message, and in that sense sometimes a neutral joke can be used in a positive way too.

Some more jokes, courtesy of Happycow:
http://de2p6bf9wvuml.cloudfront.net/hum ... bsters.jpg
http://de2p6bf9wvuml.cloudfront.net/hum ... /dinos.jpg
http://de2p6bf9wvuml.cloudfront.net/hum ... vencow.gif
http://de2p6bf9wvuml.cloudfront.net/hum ... /lions.gif

[XandWacky]

Humor exists everywhere, although there are things that can be sensitive to people when that humor is exploited.

[DDDx8]

It is more or less about knowing your audience and how they might react to the joke. Its not that somethings should not be joked about it is more like somethings are going to be harder to joke about, because somethings are more likely to strike a nerve.
It all depends on personal experience and how one might relate to the topic based on their personality.
There are risks to making jokes about the more touchy subjects so its better to know what subjects are touchy and your audiences take on the subject first before telling a joke.
Even I, who is a crude shock value type mother fucker, avoid jokes about rape. Especially to women, mainly because it is a common and messed up thing and I do not want to risk hearing "(person) was raped in my life". Its not fun.
Pretty much anything can be a touchy subject to somebody. You just really got to know the person or at least have a feel for how they might react. If the joke harbors a negative reaction from them then at least you know next time what they might not find funny.
There are types of jokes I really hate even though the subject matter could be called benign. Like I really hate jokes about invalidating a male because of his lack of sexual experience. Because i've always had trouble with social things. So it was something I could relate with personally and it was always a negative experience so I never found the jokes funny.
Should people not tell those jokes cause I have negative experiences with the topic and take the joke personally?
No, but if they care at all about how it affects me and want to continue being on good terms with me they will stop telling those types of jokes around me.
Now this can also get into a topic that is pretty interesting: when is it over sensitivity? We can talk about that latter or maybe there is already a topic about it.
Hmmm but yeah, know that certain topics will always be touchy to certain type of people. The more likely the person is to relate with the subject in a negative way the more likely they will be offended. Somethings you will learn from specific individuals and they may only apply to that specific individual. You can do two things accept their reaction to the topic "sorry I joked about that I didn't know you had such an experience with apples" or object to their reaction "ummm you really shouldn't be offended by a joke about apples". But you should only object to their reaction if you think that them not being offended by the subject might benefit them or society. Like apples are something that are pretty much everywhere and almost everyone has a positive reaction to them, and you could even argue regardless of personal experience people should not have a negative view of apples, ummm the fruit its self not the consumption of it. So if a person gets offended by apples often they are going to end up alienating themselves it might be best to not enable their reaction but you might also lose their friendship so tis up to you. Damn it, I kinda strayed to the topic of over sensitivity but it applies to jokes of course.
Just make a list of things that might strike a nerve and who that applies to the most: lynching jokes might want to avoid telling that to African Americans, rape jokes might want to avoid those to women, anything bad happing to kids jokes avoid to parents ect. Also think about what kinda subjects might offend you and avoid perpetuating them. It might of seemed funny coming out of you the first time but will it still be funny coming from others consistently? If not don't tell it.
I could say more but I don't know? Is what I'm saying relevant? Hope so.