You completely missed the point: laughing at someone because they’re struggling is horrible, and there’s no defense. It’s not funny, it’s just shitty. Laughing with them about their unfortunate circumstance is sharing a human moment with them, and is very much not horrible. They are very different things, and it’s pretty easy to tell them apart: one of them will get a laugh from the person suffering. If the joke makes the sufferer laugh, you’re in no position to judge.
And here’s the thing about Ricky Gervais’ comedy: I’m pretty sure his Make-A-Wish fan would have thought the cancer jokes were hilarious, even if his family don’t appreciate them. It’s not like they’re out of character for him, after all; or do you imagine little George managed to avoid all of that and still end up a fan somehow?
Oh sorry, no I meant to agree with you on that point. I just didn’t stress it as much because it is, as you say, quite different. I just meant that whether or not one believes what they say is irrelevant, there’s no excuse for it.
I honestly can’t pretend to know anything about a dead child’s appreciation for a type of humour, but I don’t think it’s fair to say he’d necessarily be a fan of being the butt of a joke. Perhaps he would be, perhaps he’d realise how awful it is and change his point of view. It’s kind of meaningless to really say anything about it.
I’m coming at this from my own point of view, as a minority who is often the target of this sort of thing, I have no patience for it.
You completely missed the point: laughing at someone because they’re struggling is horrible, and there’s no defense. It’s not funny, it’s just shitty. Laughing with them about their unfortunate circumstance is sharing a human moment with them, and is very much not horrible. They are very different things, and it’s pretty easy to tell them apart: one of them will get a laugh from the person suffering. If the joke makes the sufferer laugh, you’re in no position to judge.
And here’s the thing about Ricky Gervais’ comedy: I’m pretty sure his Make-A-Wish fan would have thought the cancer jokes were hilarious, even if his family don’t appreciate them. It’s not like they’re out of character for him, after all; or do you imagine little George managed to avoid all of that and still end up a fan somehow?
Oh sorry, no I meant to agree with you on that point. I just didn’t stress it as much because it is, as you say, quite different. I just meant that whether or not one believes what they say is irrelevant, there’s no excuse for it.
I honestly can’t pretend to know anything about a dead child’s appreciation for a type of humour, but I don’t think it’s fair to say he’d necessarily be a fan of being the butt of a joke. Perhaps he would be, perhaps he’d realise how awful it is and change his point of view. It’s kind of meaningless to really say anything about it.
I’m coming at this from my own point of view, as a minority who is often the target of this sort of thing, I have no patience for it.