Negative Humor

For this blog post, I have decided to not focus on one specific incident, but rather cover an example of negative humor that I tend to hear on a consistent basis. Very often I hear individuals, often times my own friends, say phrases such as “He’s acting like a kid with downs” or “He looks autistic”. After these statements, the group cracks up and laughs at the ‘joke’…everyone but me. If there is a quintessential example of negative humor, I believe these vicious remarks about people with learning disabilities is it.

The reason I am so bothered by comments like these is because I have personal relationships with individuals who have the disabilities mentioned. My brother is autistic and one of my cousins has down syndrome. I absolutely love both my brother and cousin, so when people make jokes about the way they look or act I am extremely offended. I don’t understand how these jokes could be funny in any way whatsoever and I am always upset when people tell or laugh at things similar to this. 

However, this is exactly what is worrisome.

The majority of the humor I am exposed to on a daily basis is negative humor, especially on a college campus. In fact, there is probably an incident almost every day where I participate in negative humor, whether that is telling an offensive joke or laughing at one. This is exactly what scares me. I get so offended and upset when people tell a joke that involves autism or down syndrome, yet I probably laugh at jokes that other people are equally offended by. More than likely, you will laugh at any example of negative humor except when you have a personal connection to the thing being ‘joked’ about. Whether they admit it or not, someone is almost always adversely affected by an incident of negative humor. Since our class discussion on negative humor, I have begun to notice the prominence of negative humor on campus. To be honest it is sad that our society views demeaning and offensive things as funny, but we do. Somehow, I believe this needs to change in our society. Personally, I have tried my hardest since the discussions to avoid engaging in negative humor and I try to utilize other pathways for laughter. Although negative humor will more than likely continue to flourish, if we each attempt to abstain then hopefully we can begin to make a difference on TCU’s campus.