Pro Column: Take a joke

By Jacob Wee

Being bad is good, at least in the case of dark humor.

No other type of humor — whether satirical, ironic, or slapstick — is as satisfying to laugh at. Why is this, exactly? I’d like to think it’s because we know we shouldn’t be laughing at something so messed up, but yet there’s still something so painfully true that makes the concept laughable.

It defies the boundaries of political correctness and makes sensitive people “butt-hurt,” a term coined just for people who can’t take a joke. What could be greater than that? Our society has come to a point in time where the importance of political correctness and respect for people’s differences is paramount. Not to say that this is atypical, but if someone were to say something the slightest bit insensitive for the sake of a joke, the backlash is almost always harsh.

That being said, dark humor is definitely not for everyone. Just like any other type of humor, dark humor is subjective, as there is no secret formula to making a joke that everyone will find funny.

I can see why people don’t find dark humor funny, as many have a negative connotation about it. How can people laugh at such crude and messed up humor?

See, that’s the thing.

Laughing at a dark joke is not an agreement of the joke’s contents, but an understanding of the brevity of the situation. Taking things that are morally offensive and knowing why it’s that way is where the humor comes from — a place of painful truths, as many good jokes do. Without any other context, dark humored jokes would be uncalled for.

The genius of dark humor is that we knowingly expect such dire situations to be ludicrous and this, believe it or not, can help us with the hardships of reality. Dark humor is a reliever for how screwed up the world is at times.

As long as there is no intent to harm or offend anyone, it’s all in it for good laughs. When we can come to see that dark humor has no intent of hurting any person, religion, race, sexual orientation, gender and so on, then hopefully we can take a little social pressure off our backs.

I mean, it obviously wouldn't be called “dark humor” if no one laughed at it, so next time you laugh at an orphan joke, don’t feel so bad about it.