The danger of ‘you can joke about anything’ is that tribalist cranks hear ‘all jokes are valid.’ They refuse to understand that meaning matters more than subject. How you make fun of something can be terrible, no matter what you’re making fun of. So expect to hear ‘you can joke about anything!’ spat back at you, when someone points out they’re espousing sincere bigotry through amusing turns of phrase.
I call this is the Yo Mama hypothesis. Some kids got genuinely angry when classmates made fun of their mom, and were told ‘calm down, it’s a joke.’ By outward appearances they got it. They stopped yelling. But internally, they learned that jokes are lies you’re not allowed to get mad at. Like it’s a socially acceptable format for abuse you have to shut up and take.
This was absolutely infuriating while Dave Chappelle was torching his reputation. ‘He’s a comedian!’ was constantly parroted as if that meant his opinions were beyond criticism. Even when pointing out the many times he said the exact same shit, out loud and in public, with no audience and no punchline.
These people genuinely do not comprehend there’s a part of the joke that you mean. ‘Eat the rich’ is a joke about wealth and cannibalism… but it’s only joking about the cannibalism.
The danger of ‘you can joke about anything’ is that tribalist cranks hear ‘all jokes are valid.’ They refuse to understand that meaning matters more than subject. How you make fun of something can be terrible, no matter what you’re making fun of. So expect to hear ‘you can joke about anything!’ spat back at you, when someone points out they’re espousing sincere bigotry through amusing turns of phrase.
I call this is the Yo Mama hypothesis. Some kids got genuinely angry when classmates made fun of their mom, and were told ‘calm down, it’s a joke.’ By outward appearances they got it. They stopped yelling. But internally, they learned that jokes are lies you’re not allowed to get mad at. Like it’s a socially acceptable format for abuse you have to shut up and take.
This was absolutely infuriating while Dave Chappelle was torching his reputation. ‘He’s a comedian!’ was constantly parroted as if that meant his opinions were beyond criticism. Even when pointing out the many times he said the exact same shit, out loud and in public, with no audience and no punchline.
These people genuinely do not comprehend there’s a part of the joke that you mean. ‘Eat the rich’ is a joke about wealth and cannibalism… but it’s only joking about the cannibalism.