I briefly mentioned how there is a moral line that should never be crossed by satirists and trolls in my other blog post, Satire or trolling?, and that line is very hazy. This line is hazy because morals are all relative and that humor is accepted, by society to a certain degree, to mask meanness and the degree of which can also be relative. Jokes are similar in that they also have this line when they are made at another’s expense, but whether it is a joke, satirical comment, or troll, does not matter when it crosses the line of a member of the audience. It is no longer funny and rather hurtful and mean.
Gerald Brovloski, in season 20, is a troll in South Park that justified his harmful internet trolling behavior by saying, “It’s not mean if it’s hilarious”. This point of view is relative to the person using it and extrapolating the logic in this point of view indicates that if you find meaner and meaner actions or comments funny, then those actions are justified. This same justification is what another more radical troll, Lennart Bedrager, used when he was justifying his attempt to annihilate all of Sweden through trolling. Gerald believed Lennart to be crazy for using the same justification on a much more sinister plan that Gerald ever thought of. However, the opposite extrapolation of the justification can be used and say that nothing is funny about saying even the most remotely mean thing. This is generally not the case and some mean comments can indeed be funny. This psyche, of thinking humor can justify meanness, is all relative and needs to be taken into consideration of the audience.
Jamaal May takes the punchline out of his jokes in his IR Prize winning poem, THE GUN JOKE to show that jokes at the expense of others can seem a lot more offensive than you would think. May uses different ways jokes are introduced used such as “What’s the difference between”, but he adds a controversial topic as the subject of the joke such as “a teenager with hands in the air and a paper target charging at a cop?”, but he never goes to the punchline. The punchline is the climax of the joke and likewise is the justification for making the subject of the joke a controversial topic. When the effect of the climax is removed all that is left is the brutal reality of the joke. It also mimics what an offended audience member would hear and be focused on. Removing the punchline also lets you think of it yourself, and as a result, makes you aware of the problem in society and the line you should not cross.
Jokes and trolling have a line that should not be crossed. This line is skewed in other people’s perspectives because they think that it is funny. Gerald and Lennart both believed that, “It’s not mean if it’s hilarious”, but what Gerald thought was funny was different to what Lennart thought was funny. May revealed that controversial jokes are a lot meaner when the punchline is removed, and by doing so, implies that humor should not justify a joke that crossed the line. Jokes and trolls can be funny, but it does not justify you for hurting another.
http://southpark.cc.com/clips/cr22o2/its-not-mean-if-its-hilarious
Jamaal May. THE GUN JOKE. Indiana Review.