This is the last thing I will say about this thread. But I did post this exact same subject on another message board. And I got a much more positive response. People realized that it was lighthearted, and they responded to it that way. I wasn’t anticipating the response I got at all.
But I made a mistake. I now learned from my mistake. And it will never happen again.
Thank you in advance for your civil replies (remember this not the Pit 
).
The problem is that plain text gives no emotional cues. Yes, I could see an argument that your OP was tongue-in-cheek and intended to be lighthearted…
… but in plain text there is no way to know for sure.
Which is why (my opinion) I think it would have been better received if you had given some indication that it was actually intended to be humorous/sarcastic/tongue-in-cheek/whatever. Meaning plainly stated that that was the intent.
Otherwise it’s not what you say, it’s what the reader hears… which may or may not be the same thing you intended.
I didn’t see the controversial post, but I would add that tone is everything. Good writers can say the most absurd things and make it clear that it shouldn’t be taken literally. If you need to use emoticons and smilies to get that across, it’s not good writing.
I sentence you to read a dozen New Yorker “Shouts and Murmurs” columns.
There are all sorts of message boards. I’m sure it’s possible to find at least one that will give a positive response to nearly anything.
“It’s only a joke” doesn’t make an offensive thing non-offensive. The fact that it’s thought to be funny may be part of the problem.
If what you mean was that the post was meant to be satirical, and to mock the opinions it expressed, then agreeing with Broomstick that there was nothing there to indicate that.
Moved from Site Feedback to ATMB.
Yeah, saying it was meant to be a joke does not help at all.
I was going to take the time to give you a well-considered reply, but then a few sentences in I had some follow-on questions for you and realized the futility of continuing. After all, you’ve already put in your “last word,” which leads me to believe there is no point in further effort towards discussion with you. I post this solely for the benefit of others, who may be considering their own replies.
Well said.
There’s a tourist shlock store near me that sells lots of intended-to-be-humorous signs. And has a dozen or so in the display windows that are changed out every so often. One of my current favorites is “In dog beers I’ve only had 1.”
They recently added a sign in their window that never fails to boil my blood. Both for what it says and for what it says about the people that would think it’s funny.
It’s a fake warning sign about like this but instead of being blank the words read “My sense of humor will hurt your feelings”
F*** that noise. And F*** the people who’d think it was funny.
I teach my students an idea that’s screamingly obvious and yet hardly ever gets taught, and it’s this: humor and cruelty aren’t opposites.
It’s like, if you punch me, and your defense is, “But I used my left fist!” I don’t give a shit which fist you used to punch me: I care that you punched me.
If you say something shitty about me, and your defense is, “But I said it with humor!” I don’t give a shit about how you said something shitty about me; I care that you said something shitty about me.
You can use your left fist, or humor, to do good things or bad things. Don’t confuse “humor” with the opposite of “cruelty.”
Well said. I can’t find it now, but I remember reading a Twitter thread by an academic, I think back when candidate Trump “joked” about people assassinating Clinton if she won. It explained how the “joke” was about creating and enforcing the in-group and out-group. That it was a “joke” was part of that process. It didn’t somehow make the remark meaningless. Instead it made it more meaningful.
I don’t understand the outrage about this sign. If I find something funny, and it hurts your feelings, somehow I’m a bad guy?
If you just made a nasty bigoted joke, yes. And that’s exactly the kind of person who I would expect to wear a t-shirt saying something like that warning sign. Insisting that such things are funny, and on a mission to save the world and “free speech” from pOlitIcAl-coRreCtNeSs-gOnE-mAd.
I see. But I can still make nasty non-bigoted jokes, right, even if it hurts your feelings?
It’s entirely down to your own judgment whether to make any joke, bigoted or otherwise, and to decide for yourself whether the feelings of others should be taken into consideration. Other people may form some opinion of you accordingly. Are there any other parts of normal human social interaction that you’d like me to explain to you?
Sure. Why do people say “just sayin’” when they are doing more than just saying?
You can do whatever you want, but the “funny” part has nothing to do with it, which is the screamingly obvious point. If you say something nasty and it hurts people’s feelings, yeah, you’re being jerky.
I think that the “funny” part has a lot to do with it, since the sign mentioned is about sense of humor.
Uh, okay.
If you enjoy the fact that you’re hurting somebody’s feelings, yes, you’re a bad guy.
The sign is saying ‘I enjoy causing other people’s pain.’
If you find it funny to do so, that does not improve the situation.
No, I don’t think that is what the sign is saying.
