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Is it OK to laugh about serious subjects? Is it acceptable to make light of events that are causing people real pain? Even if you are laughing instead of crying are you still keeping your focus on the negative rather than the positive? When is dark humor acceptable and when does it cross a line?
One of my favorite forms of humor involves self-deprecation. If my circumstances are difficult I try not to complain but I will make a joke. I am often admonished not to say such things and instead be grateful things are not actually as bad as I jokingly describe.
If some people are uncomfortable when we make fun of ourselves imagine the distaste people have for dark humor about the economy, illness or death.
I recently saw a link to a clip of comedian Louis CK performing a stand up routine about white (male) privilege. And I found it wickedly funny. But not everyone did. There are several comments on the YouTube clip calling Louis CK racist. Some of that comes from the common misunderstanding that privilege is not racism (Your thinking and behavior make you racist; privilege is a gift that you receive from society regardless of your thinking or behavior). But some of it comes from people simply thinking the subject is not an appropriate source of humor.
Watch and see what you think.
Recently President Obama was interviewed on 60 Minutes and Steve Kroft scolded him for laughing while talking about the economy and Kroft asked Obama if he were "punch drunk." Obama responded: "No, no. There's gotta be a little gallows humor to get you through the day."
Bonnie Erbe at US News & World Report wasn't laughing:
And therefore, having a lot on one's plate excuses that person from laughing about people being out of work? If you're busy, it's OK to joke about the economy being in a freefall and the ineffectiveness of the president's stimulus package thus far? I don't think so.
Leaving aside the critics who are looking for any reason to display their distaste for the president and reviewers who took him to task for his lack of comic timing, many just felt that it's just not right for anyone, especially politicians, to level levity at a situation that is bringing so much unfunny pain to so many real people.
Personally I keep going back to the old adage I mentioned at the beginning - we laugh to keep from crying. People like me make jokes about their own difficult circumstances. And if you think seeming not to take the economy seriously is bad what of those who got jokes about death and dying?
Years ago a friend of mine was killed in a car accident. A group of us gathered to share our grief when we learned the horrific news. As we reminisced our dead friend's best friend said "well, he always was a terrible driver." I cannot convey how and why this was funny but it was. The joke cut through the painful fog that enshrouded us and we all dissolved into a fit of giggles. It did not mean that the person who made the comment loved his friend any less or that those of us who gathered forgot our sadness even for a second. What that moment did do was kick off the sharing of many stories about what a wonderful loving friend he was and helped us find words to express how much we would miss him and move past collectively sitting around a table mostly weeping or stunned into silence. There is even some evidence that, when it comes to mourning, laughter may indeed help you to smile, though your heart is aching.
So again I ask - is it OK to laugh about serious subjects? Is it disrespectful to those who are suffering to joke about the economy? Are those who make light of death in order to cope disrespectful? And, if you are a believer in the law of attraction, do you think exaggerating your own difficulties just to get a laugh risks manifesting the exaggeration into reality?
Dark Humorists:
At her personal blog, Funny Business, BlogHer CE Elana Centor offers Financial Crisis Humor:
According to an email making the rounds, a Market Correction is the day after you buy stocks. In case your email filters prevent these humor emails from making
