Humor Versus Tragedy: When Is It Okay to Laugh?

Posted on 28 April 2008 by Nicholas Johnson

In a recent article, I comically used the dysphemism “like a B-52 over Nagasaki” to describe my writing style. My aim was not to offend anybody. Well, not to offend anybody with that statement. I had an interesting comment that got me to thinking about how long is the moratorium for humorous references to tragic events.

I personally choose to laugh at as much of life as possible. I have found that it really helps me keep my sanity. Yet, at the same time, I don’t want to laugh at other people’s expense or in the wake of their pain. Now it’s one thing to laugh at kids that wipe out while riding their bikes and skateboards. It’s an entirely different thing when you outrage an entire generation. 

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and provide a list of events that are safe to laugh about or to use in dysphemisms.
 
Topics that are totally safe:

The Smallpox Plague
The Crusades
The Spanish Inquisition
Anything involving Greek or Roman Empires
The Revolutionary WarThe War of 1812
The Mexican-American War
The Civil War (Union)World War I
The Great Chicago Fire
The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Any Presidential assassinations or attempts
All Presidential scandals
All stock market crashesThe first Iraq War
Any recessions prior to 2000

Topics that are still touchy:

The Civil War (Confederate)
World War IIThe Great DepressionThe Korean War
Any Hurricanes Prior to 1990
Vietnam
Anything associated with the Civil Rights Movement
Hostage situations or airplane hijackings
Any Space Shuttle explosions
The Branch Davidians
The World Trade Center bombing in 1993  

Topics You Should Completely Avoid:

Anything remotely involving slavery
The Holocaust and any other acts of genocide
September 11, 2001
The Oklahoma City Bombing
The 2000’s recession
Any school shootings
The current Iraq War

Obviously I haven’t included everything, but this is a pretty good baseline to begin with. As with anything, it’s important to know your audience. I probably wouldn’t go to a Jewish senior center and joke about Hitler or give Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl a crappy book review. At the same time, with the right crowd it’s possible to laugh at any situation. Not that any doctor will ever admit it, laughter is still the best medicine. If we aren’t able to laugh our way through understanding our pain, then we have no other option than to wallow in it. I for one will never wallow like a swine, but I’ll point and laugh at one all day long.

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6 Comments For This Post

1. Jeremy Herbel Says:
   April 28th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

   I’m wholly with you on this one. It’s important to be able to laugh at things, as long as you can stay respectful. Just referencing something in a joking manner does not mean you have no sympathy for those that were affected by it. You can be mournful of the lives lost during a war, but still use the war in a punchline. People are far too sensitive, I think. A friend once referred to the Holocaust as an “awesome” event. Not in the awesome as in cool meaning, but awesome as amazing. He was struck down by a lot of people, but he was right. To think that someone could pull something so incredibly horrible off is truly amazing.

2. Adam Says:
   April 29th, 2008 at 10:48 am

   I suppose it depends on who you are and/or a joke’s context. There are some who can seemingly get away with saying almost anything for the sake of a laugh. Others, not so much. Take the Broadway musical-comedy “The Producers,” for example. This production took much of its material from your “Completely Avoid” list and won 12 Tony Awards.

3. Dr. Danger Says:
   April 30th, 2008 at 8:17 am

   “The Producers” is a great example and something of an inspiration for this piece. One thing that the show did was it made no mistake in making sure that EVERYBODY knew it was all in humor. Despite that fact, it’s impossible to say that NOBODY felt angered or hurt.

   Here’s a great current example: On the most recent season of Celebrity Fit Club, the drill sergeant Harvey occasionally referred to (Jewish Screech) Dustin Diamond as a “nazi”. Considering that the guy has been on TV all of his life and makes his living as a comedian, you’d expect that he wouldn’t take it to heart. It’s hard to say how much is actual pain and how much is for show in front of the cameras. Either way, it was an interesting exchange.

4. Angie Says:
   April 30th, 2008 at 11:23 pm

   Hmmm . . . I think the trick is laughing at our OWN pain. Laughing at the pain of others, pain that we can never understand in a million years, is probably going to seem shallow - at the very least - forever. What’s so funny about smallpox anyway?

5. Dr. Danger Says:
   May 1st, 2008 at 8:29 am

   Evidently Angie was touched first hand by the tragedy that was the smallpox plague. Considering that it has been deemed “completely eradicated” since 1979, I’d say that maybe it’s time to give it a chuckle.

6. Yayan Says:
   May 19th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

   I personally like to laugh when people fall. It’s really funny, especially when it’s a super wipe-out. I feel i can laugh because I have a fear of falling for valid reasons (i do it all the time). I just try not to laugh if the person is hurt real bad, at least not right away or in ears shot. It’s just funny. i even laugh at myself when I fall, cuz I know I look like a dumb ass.

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