Why Do Some People Get A Kick At Pulling Someone Else's Leg Or Joking About Others

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Susan Paynter, Apr 10, 2021.

  1. Susan Paynter

    Susan Paynter Very Well-Known Member
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    "Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone". As the saying goes.

    Humour does add some tonic to our life. And that's the reason people crave and appreciate humour.

    People who act as a source of humour are rewarded by society. This of course, encourages us to BE the source of fun.

    Making jokes about yourself is hard especially if you're not very confident about yourself. Making jokes about science, comics, etc could fall flat with those not in the know.

    So the easiest way to make jokes is to make fun of others' faults. It doesn't require a lot of courage, it doesn't require a lot of knowledge, It doesn't require any effort on either the joke maker's or the hearer's part. So this is probably the most common kind of joke made.

    The issue with making fun of others is that others have feelings (unlike a social situation or a science fact or a wordplay). Many people (especially children), don't realize that someone may be getting hurt each time he/she says a cruel joke. But most of us realize it at some point, and stop.

    Joking among friends is not so bad as its within your circle and feelings are not hurt too much.

    There are however, adults too who make fun for the sake of putting down a person. They may do this deliberately to belittle the person because of some former vengeance. Or they may do it simply to look better in comparison.

    At the end of the day, what we say and how we react to things defines who we are. People making fun of others to cause hurt may be suffering some form of inferiority complex. On the other hand, someone who gets hurt by a stray comment could also possibly learn not to be bothered too much by snide comments.
     
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  2. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Were you the victim of unkind comments, @Susan Paynter ?
     
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  3. Susan Paynter

    Susan Paynter Very Well-Known Member
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    @ Don Alaska

    Not on my face, but I have seen it happen mostly among children. I do know it does happen out there. ;)
     
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  4. Mary Robi

    Mary Robi Veteran Member
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    The rest of the quote might explain:

    "For this sad old Earth
    must borrow its mirth,
    but has sorrows enough of its own"
     
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  5. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Making fun of people (particularly about things they cannot change) was not an option at our house when I was a child, if you wanted food and a place to sleep. ;) Made it difficult to fit in, in junior high school. :p
     
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  6. Susan Paynter

    Susan Paynter Very Well-Known Member
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    It was heart rendering to see " the pot calling the kettle black", when one called another ugly, black and told her she had fat lips. At that age, it creates a terrible impact on a 13 year old. That being said, one would say "the apple did not fall far from the tree, imo.

    Young adults go through the same exercise. As mature adults, the case is different, when people have nothing else to do they will pick on others in jest to have a laugh.
    Maybe not on one's face but behind their backs. Adults handle it differently. As for me, I would tell that person to take a hike and much more!!
    Yes, laughter makes the world go round but not at the expense of others
     
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  7. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    I was teased quite a bit in high school, because I was skinny with very short hair. Basically "nerdy" looking. Today they call "teasing", "bullying". I made it thru high school and pretty much ignored the teasing.

    When living/working in Anaheim, California, I was teased about wearing western attire and being involved in rodeo. "Man, you are living in the wrong area!" When I'd go to Norco, California, very well known as "horse country", for a weekend, I wasn't teased.

    Then again, many people get teased for how they look. The teasing isn't verbal, but mental from the person doing it. Sometimes, it seems like some people simply ask (not verbally) to be teased.
     
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  8. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    In red above: I sure wouldn't do that this day and age. Too many people carry a gun and will use it. They either think about the what will happen to them or they simply don't care.
     
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  9. Susan Paynter

    Susan Paynter Very Well-Known Member
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    @Cody Fousnaugh
    Oh yes, this happened in a school. It was peacefully resolved but that girl was being bullied for a long time. No wonder, why the bullied are going on shooting rampages, all because of the big bullies in their school. These young bullies turn into adult bullies. Such a pity some of them were not nipped.......
     
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  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I am all to familiar with sadism disguised as "humor."

    It's not too difficult to spot those who only get a smile on their faces when it's at the expense of another human being. I won't stand for it. I've stepped in the middle where I rightly have no business being when I see it if I think I won't make matters worse for the victim or for myself.

    "Good natured teasing" has this streak running through it, despite the protests of the owner of the mouth.
     
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  11. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I would submit that the school bullying is incremental abuse on top of what is going on at home, and the shootings are out of anger and hopelessness of ever finding a sanctuary from it (especially in those two environments from which one cannot escape as a kid), much less having the meaningful things those around them do. The demeanor that is the product of an abusive household makes a universal target of that person to some individuals.
     
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    Last edited: Apr 11, 2021
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  12. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Teasing about anything at all wasn’t allowed at our house. Dad was teased a lot about the side of the tracks he was born on compared to his cousins and about his height.
    I’ve explained the rules we had about fighting so teasing or bullying someone had all the earmarks and potential of starting a conflict for which the consequences would have been brutal since Dad used a belt and his hands as corrective tools.

    I never really had a problem stepping up to the plate if I or someone else was being bullied which people found out very quickly as I traveled from school to school..
    On the other hand, girls were hands off even though there were many times I believed they needed much more than a finger shaking at them.
    Though some girls were pretty and had everything going for them there was a whole lot of evil lurking in their minds and they knew that whatever they did there was nothing anyone could really do about it.
     
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  13. Nathaniel Merritt

    Nathaniel Merritt Active Member
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    Hello Susan. Niceta meetcha. I agree with what you say BUT the one redeeming feature of this sort of humor is that it made me a stronger person (I was always the butt of these sorts of jokes due to my lack of height) with a good thick skin that is able to not only withstand such humor at my expense but to actually engage in it myself (self deprecating humor) and not be bothered by it by actually have fun with it.
     
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