this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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It's starting to sound echoy in here. You can joke about kids being shot up in American schools but you can't joke about abortion, fat people, etc., because then it seems too mean spirited.
Jokes about school shootings are jokes about America and its priorities. The punchline is America and its ruthless protection of firearms, not dead kids.
Jokes about obesity are jokes about a person and their weight. They’re the subject and the punchline and there is no meaningful observation other than “I find them repulsive.”
I think the big issue is that joking about school shootings is satirical to bring up how common it is in hopes to change it, while joking about fat people is just to be mean. No one is going to change because you made fun of them, in fact it might make the problem worse as state of mind is a factor in being unhealthy.
You could probably make the same argument about abortion jokes being satirical, but I don't think abortion jokes are made in order to enact social change. It's usually just to be offensive. Satire is usually used to point out how ridiculous something is, the hope is that we as a society will see it and do something about it.
You can be offensive and funny at the same time. But it's an extremely fine line, and difficult to pull off. Watch Jimmy Carr if you want to see it done properly.