Laughing's a great experience. It releases endorphins, relaxes people, eases tension, all the rest. However, this thread is more about the Dark Side of humour. Jokes can be weapons as much as they can be tools of joy. Differentiating between the two uses takes a lot of careful thinking at times. So here are a few pointers.
Pick Your Audience
This is probably the biggest problem. A joke which is fine in one context is hugely offensive in another. To make humour acceptable it's important to gauge ones audience or one may find their ankle wedged between their teeth. The rule of thumb here is to not say something obviously offensive in front of someone who is a part of that group. It's just safer that way for everyone involved.
Jokes which offend a particular social, economic or cultural group require your audience to all be of sufficient maturity to gauge that it comes with no malcontent. The audience also needs to know that they, and you, are all of said maturity. Otherwise people get offended.
Remember that this is a public forum, on the internet. This means that you will NEVER be able to know all your audience. On private, niche forums it's easier, but not here.
The one exception (mostly) to this rule is personal jokes between people about each other. This does come under the "maturity" thing, but there is less need for concern for the much wider audience because said other person is speaking for themselves. Whether they get offended is their move. I mentioned that jokes can be used as weapons and here is where it often comes into play, though reversed. A hypothetical here is a boyfriend joking at a social gathering about his girlfriend's inability to cook. Sure, it's humour to him and maybe to his friends, but it's a personal attack none the less.
Pick Your Material
A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. It's worth remembering that endless jokes stop being funny, especially if they're about the same thing. Once humour is gone it suggests to people that instead of merely saying stuff for humour's sake one genuinely believes it. This is particularly troublesome if you haven't chosen the right audience.
Some things will never be acceptable except to you and a few close friends. Black humour is often in this category because it specifically target social taboos. Derogatory humour too. The best bet in a general situation is to go with something witty which pushes social boundaries but doesn't shatter them. All of this relates back to picking ones audience and the material which is appropriate to them.
Never forget that there are repercussions for inappropriate humour, or humour with perceived malevolent aims. I hope this makes your posting time here more fun.
Pick Your Audience
This is probably the biggest problem. A joke which is fine in one context is hugely offensive in another. To make humour acceptable it's important to gauge ones audience or one may find their ankle wedged between their teeth. The rule of thumb here is to not say something obviously offensive in front of someone who is a part of that group. It's just safer that way for everyone involved.
Jokes which offend a particular social, economic or cultural group require your audience to all be of sufficient maturity to gauge that it comes with no malcontent. The audience also needs to know that they, and you, are all of said maturity. Otherwise people get offended.
Remember that this is a public forum, on the internet. This means that you will NEVER be able to know all your audience. On private, niche forums it's easier, but not here.
The one exception (mostly) to this rule is personal jokes between people about each other. This does come under the "maturity" thing, but there is less need for concern for the much wider audience because said other person is speaking for themselves. Whether they get offended is their move. I mentioned that jokes can be used as weapons and here is where it often comes into play, though reversed. A hypothetical here is a boyfriend joking at a social gathering about his girlfriend's inability to cook. Sure, it's humour to him and maybe to his friends, but it's a personal attack none the less.
Pick Your Material
A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. It's worth remembering that endless jokes stop being funny, especially if they're about the same thing. Once humour is gone it suggests to people that instead of merely saying stuff for humour's sake one genuinely believes it. This is particularly troublesome if you haven't chosen the right audience.
Some things will never be acceptable except to you and a few close friends. Black humour is often in this category because it specifically target social taboos. Derogatory humour too. The best bet in a general situation is to go with something witty which pushes social boundaries but doesn't shatter them. All of this relates back to picking ones audience and the material which is appropriate to them.
Never forget that there are repercussions for inappropriate humour, or humour with perceived malevolent aims. I hope this makes your posting time here more fun.
