Figuring out what I wanna be when I grow up.
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Saturday, July 23, 2011

I Have A Sense Of Humour but That's Just Not Funny

Okay, so I spend a lot of time here in blog land.  I love to read and reply to comments.  I love coming up with wacky ways to make people laugh.  I like being my outrageous self at times, and I super enjoy writing.  Well, I have to enjoy something people;  I suck at sports. 

Sometimes it's fun (mostly not, I'm trying to be optimistic) to hit the 'next blog' button at the top of the page. Occasionally I'll stumble across something really interesting.  Mostly though, I either get lead to a) the long distance bicycle enthusiasts, or b) the religious blogs.  No, I'm not trying to start an argument, or be a jerk, or anything, I just find it interesting, that if I hit the 'next blog' button long enough, these are the sub-genres I will always fall into.  This is kind of funny in a way, because it almost feels like I'm being sent some sort of cosmic messages:

A) GET OFF THE BLOG AND GET MORE DAMN EXCERCISE

and

B) TAKE IT, HEATHEN, TAKE IT!!!!


Weird.

Recently, in a blog writers' site that I follow, I saw a blogger who was being featured that week and clicked said blogger's link.  Okay, it was the typical thing:  tons of followers, lots of outrageous humour peppered liberally with the salitiest language, some talk of dicks and boobs, some snark, etc.  Fine, fine.  Whatever. 

On the side of this blogger's page were the blogger's "blog awards."  Blog awards are tokens of appreciation from other bloggers.  This one particular blog award really stuck in my craw though:

It was a school picture of the girl who made the award from the 60's or 70's, with a few missing baby teeth.  It was called "The Award of Pedophilia", and the caption on it read something to the effect of "because you TOUCH me where I pee"

...

I'm not a prude here people.  I'm also not a tight ass, or a stick in the mud.  I don't often need to "loosen up."  I'm hip...relatively.  I like a good outrageous laugh. 

But,

That's not funny.

Why is pedophilia ever funny?  Even if this is shock humour.  Even if this is meant to be over-the-top. 

Can someone explain to me why this is funny? 

But, the girl who made this blog award has a ton of followers.  And her blog seems to follow along that whole F*CK YOU IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT YOU CAN SUCK MY $%&!*  kind of tone.  I don't know when it became cool to lose all sense of decency or respect to one another in order to get that slurpable laugh. 

It kind of got me the same way that Elmo On Crack video that my innocent son stumbled across by accident on youtube did that time.  The kid was looking for Elmo video's for f*ck's sake because he liked Sesame Street. 

What the world needs are more funny, tasteful posts on weekend romances with whisky.  Now THAT, my friends, is class. 

29 comments:

  1. Depraved just as much as an abuser.

    Depraved humanity who have never suffered at the hands of an abuser.

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  2. Agreed. Nothing funny about abuse. The wounds go deep and the healing is hard enough without people disguising crudeness as courage.

    Beyond any of your environmental posts, this is the most socially-just topic you have covered. Thanks.

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  3. I completely agree, Melissa. I also think that about people who poke fun at obese people, or people with anorexia or what have you. No empathy.

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  4. Well said, Matt. I just don't find it funny. I'm not advocating censorship, but I am advocating, take-your-insensitive-head-out-of-your-ass-ship.

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  5. Personal restraint is not censorship. Being free to do anything is not the same as it being healthy to do anything.

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  6. thats just wrong on so many levels.but we may have to buy you a bike with a book holder so you can read the bible while riding. ;)

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  7. ooh, I like Paula's idea. Or, we could just get her an mp3, 'as read by Larry King' or some similar celebrity...

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  8. i've seen that award a couple times too & wondered who thought that was a good idea.
    i love what paula said. i'll send you one of my bibles if you want to read it while you ride your new bike...

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  9. Matt, I'm still pondering this whole thing, nearly non-stop, so on the way to the movies tonight, I got to thinking that we're all far too disconnected to one another thanks to facebook, and because these social mediums tend to put our "friends" into groups and categories, it develops this whole US against THEM mentality, and makes what we do and say OKAY.


    "THESE PEOPLE on my friend list are like me. WE'RE the same. YOU'RE DIFFERENT, because YOU don't like our jokes. Therefore, YOU are wrong and WE are right." Plus, anybody who's not on our "friend" list doesn't count, both literally and figuratively, and thus they are just another meaningless thing for us to derive humour from, no matter how insensitive.

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  10. Oh Paula, you are a true delight. Can my bike have a pink straw basket on the front??? OOO, AND TASSLES FOR THE HANDLES!!!

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  11. Matt, what a jazzy idea. Larry King does have a compelling voice...

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  12. Oh geez. Sherilinnie, you too are hilarious. Actually, I HAVE a bible. My AUNT gave it to me as a grade 8 graduation present. She used to work for Jimmy Swaggert ministries :) I think I even know where it is...


    Actually, years ago when the Gideon peeps would come to the schools, I super LURVED my tiny red bible. Then one day I was reading my brother's on the can, and when I stood up, I dropped it into the toilet, and the book expanded to three times its original density, had crackly, wavy pages, and would no longer close. He was FURIOUS with me at the time.

    What a fun story. I'll have to remind him again.

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  13. Good point, Karen, about the cyberverse us-them culture. I find that rather than infinite connections, we develop infinite silos or niches, where we nod to ourselves in our miniature majorities, and become desensitized to the real people outside of our circles.

    I'll get off my soap box now, right after I shamelessly prod you to dust off that bible and read it. It's where I steal all my ideas! ;)

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  14. sure, you can have a bell and a horn too!if you are going to read the bible,start with mathew or john, not at the beginning, it is easier to understand that way.

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  15. Sick award period.

    Aunt Joan gave you a bible? Too funny!!
    I love these comments here they are so great especially the bike with the bible !! lol !!!

    Hope you are coping with all that nasty heat!

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  16. you didn't pitch out the bible after it took a toilet dive? no wonder he was mad!
    i really like facebook, but i try not to reveal too much of my belief system on there usually because i don't want someone else who feels differently to feel like that's a wall between us. i can love and adore people who have totally different stances than i do on politics, religion and parenting. i see no reason for us not to enjoy each other even if we don't agree on everything.

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  17. Karen Darling, I couldn't agree with you more... xoxo

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  18. Ugh. So many things to say to this - seriously, I don't like getting all serious in blog land, but that is one topic that (for some reason) is big today. Google "freerangekids" and sadly, you will read another group arguing what is "funny" and what isn't. Draw your own conclusions there.
    As to the badge: report it. That is NOT funny, write her. Tell her. She has to know. She may tell you to suck it, but you will have done the right thing. I follow some mommy blogs that are all that, I don't read them anymore, their feed shows up, I notice, "Wow, another shot of your tattoo and your tits - whatever. Oh, and you're whining again about how your life sucks. Yeah, I can tell that tattoo was REALLY cheap, uh. . .no."
    Go on sister (religious pun intended) Karen - tell her like any good auntie would. She can ignore you, that's ok. Just, what happens when we ignore the truth???
    PD - religion: is personal, until some jack wagon shoves theirs in your ears for hours. Then it's annoying. I will never see a flower fade because of what I believed, but if I choose to not appreciate it one of us will whither. { It won't be the flower. : )}

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  19. Matt, don't get off your soap box. I love the way you worded that about our niches and silos and miniature majorities. Very astute, with a slight sci-fi creepiness to it!


    Oh, and you and your gorgeous wife can continue to prod me, so long as you know it's like trying to make holes in the surface of water. Ooo...was that poetic?

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  20. Well Pam, I'm coping by a) staying in my ac'd house as much as possible, and b) floating in the kids' pool once in a while.

    How are you coping with your job?

    Sick award is right.

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  21. Actually Sherilin, I should have clarified: that little gideon bible fell into the can AFTER it had been flushed, so while it was still toilet water, at least it was relatively clean. Yeah, if I'd been smarter, I'd have gotten rid of the evidence.

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  22. oh yeah, and Sherilin, I agree: different stances on religion don't make someone less of a friend to me. I used to be more judgemental about that in my teens, but then, aren't teens judgemental about too much anyway, and stupid to boot? Judge not, etc, etc.

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  23. Paula, I'm probably not going to start reading it anytime soon, but thanks for the tip. I was all ready to say I DID TRY TO READ IT SEVERAL TIMES BUT COULD NOT GET PAST GENESIS. Har har...you took the words out of my mouth.

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  24. Thank you Ms. Caffeine. I didn't think you'd lurv that kind of thing anyway.

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  25. Christina, you've given me some good food for thought. While I'm pretty sure I wouldn't 'report it,' I am considering asking her to explain why she thinks it's funny, and how she feels about the loss of the human connection, which allows these jokes to become so popular.

    This kind of thing should be left up there so hopefully others will either think, or stand up for the idea that this kind of mentality is not 'cool' or 'awesome,' but is depraved, degnerate and just plain sad.

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  26. It's amazing what people do to just get attention. Making fun of serious issues as these are not worth your eyes to read. But you just can't censor everything you come across the Internet.
    Thanks for coming over,
    Have a wonderful rest of the weekend,
    Barbara
    Español para Niños (Spanish for Kids)

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  27. Thank you Barbara-- I hope you've had a nice weekend as well. I agree, we can't censor everything. We can only hope that more people will see this type of stuff and be just as outraged.

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  28. I've already noted that I'm a "Get off my lawn" type of guy. I don't find humor in this type of award. These are probably the same type of people who would be outraged by stereotype humor but find this subject funny.

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  29. I don't know George--they seem to be an ANYTHING GOES in the land of comedy kind of bunch. Like, it's hilarious to photo-shop yourself into a Nazi pic, and everyone thinks you're a scream. WTF?

    p.s. I like your GET OFF MY LAWN sensibilities.

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