Snow Melt

The Limits of Laughter

The August 30, 2013 prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum"  is
Can anything be funny, or are some things off limits?

Can anything be funny? Yes! Are some things off limits? Some things should be off limits, but they usually aren't. Different people have different senses of humor, which is no excuse for hurting others by making fun, ridiculing, or putting them down by using laughter as a weapon. Humor and laughter can bring people together or they can tear people apart, so the person using the humor has to learn to judge the audience and look at his or her motive for telling the joke or humorous incident.

Are there limits to laughter? The audience is the determining factor because a dozen people can listen to one joke or humorous incident with different reactions. Some people will laugh so hard they will pee themselves. Other people will find it amusing, but not laugh out loud funny. Some people will not laugh because they do not find the joke funny, while some will be offended. When it comes to laughter one is dealing with human beings who have different life experiences, senses of humor, etc. This is the way life is and this is why some people are offended a specific joke and others are not.

Laugh and the world laughs with you
is not always true,
because sometimes it is laughing at you.

Laughter is not always the best medicine
if you find the joke offensive
or unfunny.

Thought of the Day: "...Jokes are powerful weapons and that power can be misused. When you use a joke to bully someone or hurt an innocent person, it is wrong."1 - SteveG, Philosophers' Playground

Footnotes
1  http://philosophersplayground.blogspot.com/2006/05/limits-of-humor.html