Subject: A few thoughts.
Author:
Posted on: 2020-06-27 01:18:27 UTC
This sort of thing is always heavily nuanced and dependent on circumstances and the social mores of the group you're in, but consider:
Punch up, not down. Making fun of groups with all the social and political power is probably okay. Making fun of groups that are historically marginalized and disenfranchised is not okay.
Do not make fun of individual people. Treat people how you want to be treated (i.e., with civility), especially if you disagree with them, so as not to become them. Individual people's genuinely held beliefs are to be respected. (Actions or statuses quo they use those beliefs to rationalize, however, may be another story.)
No one has a right to be perfectly comfortable all the time. We will all be confronted with things* that challenge us from time to time. Learning to deal with those things is how we grow. If you are a member of one or more of those groups with all the social and political power and you find yourself getting offended at jokes about said group(s), stop to consider why you are offended. Is it, perhaps, because the joke is challenging you to face up to an uncomfortable truth about yourself or people you identify with? What can you do to get on the right side of the issue while owning your identity?
* Note that I do not mean this to include heavy topics of the sort mentioned in Article 3 of our Constitution. Follow the Constitution and always discuss those topics with sensitivity.I do my venting in private, among friends I trust to tell the difference between me venting and me expressing my true values. My feelings may (or may not!) be valid, but I don't have to spew them without regard for whether they may hurt someone.
That's my hot take.
~Neshomeh