I realize that this opinion may be unpopular, but I believe I have completely different colored light to shed on this issue.

There's a new type of humor, I see, cropping up everywhere, especially on the internet. I have no name for this style of humor, so for lack of a better name, I'll call it "psuedo-racism".

I dont know if you've ever heard a "dead baby" joke, but I'm sure you can operate google well enough to find one. These fall solidly into the category. There are also Holocaust jokes, TONS of jokes related to every possible race (YTMND's "nigga stole my bike" series is a classic of this category), and jokes relating to every horrific topic from the destruction of the challenger spacecraft to the murderous reins of dictators like Pol Pot, to terrorist acts like 9/11.

The humor value of these jokes relies directly on their percieved "offensiveness", with the offense magnified to an absurd level. No one who tells a dead baby joke wants to actually kill babies! I remember when my matronly old latin teacher (a mother of 4) told me the classic "why did the dead baby cross the road?"

"because it was stapled to the chicken!"

Its SO over-the-top that there is no way to even begin to take it seriously. Oh, yes, there are babies, they are dead, but the juxtaposition is just so outrageous, it overloads the senses. The joke is hilarious.

This holds true, for tons of other jokes relating to a million different topics, that I won't type here. Suffice it to say: we're not laughing at tragedy. we're laughing at the absurdity of it all, the absolute, over the top, completely incomprehensible level of "wtf" that the jokes generate.

Now, there is certainly a distinction between jokes like these and jokes referring to specific and recent traumatic / horrific events, like recent murders, sexual assauts, etc. For those involved, there is no thick layer of absurdity seperating the tragedy and the humor. For those involved, the issues are huge and still burning in memory, and I understand if they find jokes relating to their situation insensitive or painful.

I just hope that outsiders, like you, can try to see that people are not quite as evil as you think they are.

Instead of immediately assuming that people making these jokes with bad intentions, or with anti-feminist thoughts, consider that you may just not get the style of humor, at all.

Its refreshing to have someone with intelligence on the web. Thanks for sharing!

Whoop de do you posted a topless photo that was taken by your husband.Only in Puritanical America does this cause a fuss. In a lot of the world this wouldn't hardly be noticed.Teaching a class topless MIGHT. For all the flatulance America passes about freedom of speech/expression.It is all talk no action

Tim: relevance?

Alex's post:

What a perfect example of a complete inability to think.

This is what USC turns out?

Pathetic.

Pony: I do not go to USC, or understand why what I posted shows an inability to think.

Alex, the problem with those jokes is precisely as you stated: "for those involved, the issues are huge and still burning in memory". Sexual assault is not, as you imply, an "issue" only for those who have been assaulted - a shockingly high proportion of the population. Nor is it an "issue" just for the 52% of the population (women) who live their daily lives having to watch where they go, who they speak to, what they drink, what they wear, who they fuck (or don't) in case it gets thrown in their faces at a trial. Sexual assault is an issue for everyone, including for people who make jokes that distract us from that fact. Women cannot be made solely responsible for changing a culture in which sexual assault by men is a regular and relatively unpunished feature of the cultural landscape: whether they like it or not, everyone is "involved".

There is, as you state, a difference between jokes about dead babies and those relating to specific events, but it is not the difference you are thinking of. Unlike the dead babies - who die because of various social and biological factors including plain old bad luck, that very few of us can control - sexual assault and the other forms of gender (and racial) repression which make it okay are down to specific, deliberate acts by men and women, every day in every context.

Thus, the only way there can be a "thick layer of absurdity between the tragedy and the humor" is if someone is not fully accepting their involvement, not willing or able to face his or her responsibility in changing that culture. If you accept your responsibility, it's a burning issue for you, too, not a source of humor.

No thoughtful person thinks that the jokers are "evil" (neither Sarah nor Dr Blaine used this term). However for those of us who are committed to change, such jokes do appear (at the very least) unthinking.

On top of that, I would add, that whether or not the person who made the comments Sarah relates thought he was "only joking", he has nonetheless expressed a wish for a woman to have been hurt more than she already was.

Which, if you think about it, is not funny at all.

Isn't it odd that the USC students who attack me for everything else remain silent on this issue?

"Unlike the dead babies - who die because of various social and biological factors including plain old bad luck, that very few of us can control" Many babies also die at the hands of sick people who hurt them. Many babies die when their mothers don't want them and throw them in the garbage, literally. And then, many babies die, simply out of bad luck. However, any mother who lost their child wouldn't find dead baby jokes funny. The point of dead baby jokes are that, regardless of how babies die, a baby dying is tragic and horrible and so are the jokes. They're outrageous! Here are some examples that pertain to real baby deaths and real people (just as rape jokes might).

What's funnier than a dead baby?
A dead baby sitting next to a kid with down syndrome.
What do you call a dead baby with no arms and no legs hanging on your wall?
Art.
What's blue and thrashes about on the floor?
A baby playing in a plastic bag.
What gets louder as it gets smaller?
A baby in a trash compactor.
What's the difference between a truck full of bowling balls and a truck full of dead babies?
You can't unload a truck full of bowling balls with a pitchfork.
Why didn't they crucify baby Jesus?
I don't know why they didn't either.
Why do you unload a truck full of babies with a pitchfork?
So you can tell which ones are still alive.
How do you stop a baby from choking?
Take your dick out of its mouth.

While I agree that these jokes are somewhat gross and vile, that is the point. Of course you should resist sharing these jokes with the mother of a stillborn, etc.

As for the comments of your "attackers", half of the negative comments were made by people who have a genuine concern about the messages you send about the "victimization" of women in our society. I would like to see you encourage women to ignore societal pressures, not pay more attention to them. The other half of your critics are having fun at your expense because they don't take you seriously.

Freud's idea was that jokes were inherently aggressive.

Some anthropologists and sociologists think jokes are ways for cultures and societies to blow off steam and bring about change.

The question of "taste" is tricky. Perhaps someone with emotional intelligence can illuminate us.

Hi, Dr Blaine. You are great for appreciating the regular guy you met on the plane. Oh, and you are lovely for being yourself. best wishes from the east coast.