What to Make of Laughter at Illness or Disability?

[apl68]

Black humor is very popular throughout the culture, maybe thats a reason. Movies, TV, Halloween, digs at males, etc. Used to be called sick humor and was considered very weird. Now it is the prevalent form of humor.

The growing dominance of "edgy" humor in our popular culture surely has a lot to do with it.  Combine it with simple immaturity, lack of personal experience, and historical ignorance and it can lead to some ugly stuff.

For example, there was a big stink a few months ago about a bunch of kids at a posh school who had themselves photographed doing a Nazi salute.  It's doubtful the youths were neo-Nazis or sympathizers with such.  On hearing about the incident I reflected that the average American student today knows pretty much jack about history.  They know that Hitler and his Nazis were supposed to have been some very, very bad people.  It's one of a handful of things about history one can be reasonably sure they DO know. 

But it doesn't mean anything to them.  They've likely never really known anybody with any sort of first-hand memory or experience of World War II or the Holocaust.  Even their grandparents aren't old enough for that.  To them Hitler and the Nazis are as much ancient history as Ceasar and the Gallic Wars.  Nazis to them are cartoon villains in superhero movies and shooter video games.  So they don't really take them that seriously.  Combine that with a popular culture that makes pretty much everything fair game for sick, edgy humor--the sicker and edgier the better--and we get stupid adolescent pranks like group Nazi salutes and mockery toward any type of unfortunate person who's not actually in the room and obviously suffering.

Many young people are like this because our popular culture has taught them to be that way.  There's a real need to make incidents like these into "teachable moments," as some have described above.

[marshwiggle]

Black humor is very popular throughout the culture, maybe thats a reason. Movies, TV, Halloween, digs at males, etc. Used to be called sick humor and was considered very weird. Now it is the prevalent form of humor.

The growing dominance of "edgy" humor in our popular culture surely has a lot to do with it.  Combine it with simple immaturity, lack of personal experience, and historical ignorance and it can lead to some ugly stuff.

For example, there was a big stink a few months ago about a bunch of kids at a posh school who had themselves photographed doing a Nazi salute.  It's doubtful the youths were neo-Nazis or sympathizers with such.  On hearing about the incident I reflected that the average American student today knows pretty much jack about history.  They know that Hitler and his Nazis were supposed to have been some very, very bad people.  It's one of a handful of things about history one can be reasonably sure they DO know. 

But it doesn't mean anything to them.  They've likely never really known anybody with any sort of first-hand memory or experience of World War II or the Holocaust.  Even their grandparents aren't old enough for that.  To them Hitler and the Nazis are as much ancient history as Ceasar and the Gallic Wars.  Nazis to them are cartoon villains in superhero movies and shooter video games.  So they don't really take them that seriously.  Combine that with a popular culture that makes pretty much everything fair game for sick, edgy humor--the sicker and edgier the better--and we get stupid adolescent pranks like group Nazi salutes and mockery toward any type of unfortunate person who's not actually in the room and obviously suffering.

Many young people are like this because our popular culture has taught them to be that way.  There's a real need to make incidents like these into "teachable moments," as some have described above.

Another possibility occurs to me. Given the outrage over all kinds of costumes, including claims of "cultural appropriation" and so on, the Nazis may be about the only kind of group whose "costume" is fair game. Dressing up as part of some group universally vilified as evil may be the only way to avoid being criticized by the cultural police.

[mamselle]

Reviving because I ran across a "teacher's guideline" page from when I was substituting in a local school district, on how to handle students' inappropriate responses of unthinking levity or pointed unkindness to serious issues. Some may be more addressed towards prejudicial hate speech, but they seem to me to also apply in some ways to the situation we were discussing above:

There were four steps to consider (I'm just copying the page verbatim here:

1. Interrupt: Speak up against every biased remark--every time, in the moment, without exception. Think about what you'll say ahead of time so you're prepared to act instantly. Try saying, "I don't like words like that." Or, "That phrase is hurtful."

2. Question: Ask simple questions in response to hateful remarks to find out why the speaker made the offensive comment and how you can best address the situation. Try saying, "Why do you say that?" "What do you mean?" Or, "Tell me more."

3. Educate: Explain why a term or phrase is offensive. Encourage the person to choose a different expression. Hate isn't behind all hateful speech. Sometimes ignorance is at work, or lack of exposure to a diverse population. Try saying: "Do you know the history of that word?"

4. Echo: If someone else speaks up against hate, thank her or him and reiterate their anti-bias message. One person's voice is a powerful start. Many voices together create change. Try saying, "Thanks for speaking up, Allison/Albert. I agree that word is offensive and we shouldn't use it."

Some of these might want adapting to the issues under consideration, but having some specific steps and guidelines for responses might be helpful when confronted with a situation in the moment.

They might apply to other situations, as well.

M.