It doesn’t need to be a concise list. There are “protected classes” for a reason. A simple, logical reason. There are things you choose to become, and things you are that you can’t change.
I can’t choose my gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, and so on. I can choose whether I root for a sports team (or don’t follow sports). I can choose what profession to pursue. I can choose how I dress and how to style my clothes, or what music I listen to. I can choose which political views and politicians I support. If I feel oppressed about being mocked for any of that, at least I’m somewhat culpable in my own situation.
But you just provided us with a bright line rule: sounded like you’re saying jokes about protected classes are off-limits, but jokes about people because of their choice of profession are okay. That’s how I read your first post.
I agree. And while I don’t think the SDMB is going to ban jokes about killing lawyers, I don’t think they reflect very well on the teller, either.
Which goes back to pointing out that not all jokes are mean. It’s not just a question of “which classes are protected”. There are jokes that are funny and that aren’t mean to anyone. That actually describes quite a lot of the jokes in the thread we are discussing.
I’m not certain of the official position of the SDMB on jokes about ethnic groups (or other protected groups) that are told by members of that group. But I’d suggest that if you want to tell such a joke you should stop and think “how nasty is this”, and refrain from posting especially nasty jokes even if they are jokes about your own identity-group.
I personally distinguish between jokes that play on stereotypes and mean jokes that play on stereotypes.
If a person who lost a child feels the need to walk out during the dead baby jokes at comedy night, that’s a personal problem. People in their party can go out and comfort them - I think the social expectation is that at least one person does so. In a small crowd it would be kind for the comedian to take notice and switch acts. In a large crowd that’s not going to happen. Said comedian making a joke about the person leaving the room, however, is mean and deserves a heckling.
That’s the thing about comedy night - you don’t need a lot of strict bright line rules. Just go by the crowd response, you know, bring in the hook if the comedian can’t take a hint.
Unfortunately comedians on the board don’t have the ability to read the room. People aren’t going to post lol or boo for every joke… Unless you add a poll after each joke posted.
You’re wrong. I never said “this is okay, this is not”. I was agreeing with DSeid (who my initial quoted text was replying to) where he was saying you can’t equate them. You can’t equate racist and lawyer jokes, for example.
That’s not the same as saying that all lawyer jokes are fine, and all racist jokes are bad.
That’s a lot of links, but do you think that lawyers are at more risk than any other occupation? I mean, it would be trivial to produce a similar list of links for schoolteachers or election workers.
One of my personal favorite types of jokes is the insensitive play on recent tragedy. One example - the many jokes following the Challenger disaster. No, the teller isn’t saying it is funny that this tragic/horrific event occurred. But some non-horrible people appreciate such topical black humor.
Sure, many other folk will say that is in poor taste. Others will cite" tragedy + time…" Or will ask, “Too soon?”
Nate Bargatze (sp?) is a currently hot standup comic who makes an effort to avoid jokes that are at anyone’s expense. IMO, he’s hysterical. I also saw a Black comic named Brian Simpson on Netflix Standups. His bit relied largely on the use of the N-word, with a section concerning using the “R-word” to describe people with Downs syndrome. Also hysterical IMO.
I reserve my option of considering a joke/comedian funny or not, based on my own criteria, not solely based on whether they tell a specific sort of joke.
You can bet your life if a professional gets crickets and even heckling with a dark humor routine, they will change up their act. And if it’s an amateur who can’t take a hint, that’s when the venue will remove them from the stage.
Always. (With only quite rare missteps for which I’ve apologized.)
As I’ve consistently said in this thread and elsewhere, I do not always agree with the mods, but I appreciate their existence and acknowledge that if I don’t like their rules/refereeing, I’m free to look for a different game.
I’m white and had been hearing jokes around Black people and potato salad - especially, specifically, the notion that Black people find white people’s potato salads terribly substandard - for a very long time. There’s a terrific joke about it in one of SNL’s “Black Jeopardy!” skits, with Chadwick Boseman.
That said it’s just a gag. I make a sensational potato salad.
I think there’s an important–but not all-encompassing–distinction between “asshole” and “oppression.”
Some jokes are asshole jokes. In general, jokes that play on negative stereotypes of a group, or that revel in the misfortune of members of that group, are asshole jokes. Lawyer jokes and racist jokes both fall into that category.
Some jokes are oppressive jokes. In general, jokes that reinforce negative stereotypes of a group that has faced historical oppression and that currently faces oppression in the society in which the joke is told can serve in a very small way to normalize oppressive attitudes and structures. Anti-black jokes and anti-woman jokes, but not anti-lawyer jokes or anti-white jokes, are oppressive jokes.
It’s reasonable to dislike both categories. It’s reasonable to issue notes or warnings against both categories. It’s not reasonable to treat them as exactly equivalent.
I get it. I intermittently (a word meaning “from time to time”) find myself explaining things as if I’m talking to a bunch of fourth graders, and have to stop myself. I suspect attorneys find themselves parsing everything with an adversarial legal mindset, even when that’s entirely inappropriate and ought to get their clip moved down.
Yes. Specific individuals targeted because they were using their training as lawyers to stand up to oppression. In the same contexts that journalists standing up to oppression are being targeted. And sometimes even comics are.
What do I not see?
Any connection to stereotype containing jokes about lawyers as sharks or unethical.