Stop The Judgement

A lot of times, when a person, makes a joke about a difficult subject, such as rape or suicide, they are making this joke to help them deal cope. You are entitled to not enjoy these kinds of jokes and you have the right to leave when they are made, however this does not give you the right to try to control another person’s coping mechanism. Two studies were conducted by Stanford College in which disturbing imagery was showed and viewers were asked to make jokes about the imagery. Andrea Samson, a student at stanford college and the leader throughout the project stated, “If you are able to teach people to be more playful, to look at the absurdities of life as humorous, you see some increase in wellbeing,”. This proves that some people use comedy to cope with things. These things might be small or these things might be large and difficult to comprehend. In coping with big things, comedy is used as a tool to turn the topic into an abstract idea with many different parts. For many people this can help them cope because it reduces the topic into smaller pieces which are easier to handle. Putting a pet down is universally one of the worst experiences out there, even if it is best for the pet. Chris Distefano, a well known comedian who has done many specials on comedy central, and who has also performed all over the world frequently tells a joke about the dog he grew up with, Larry, who had to be put down. When Larry was supposed to be put down, the vet accidentally injected him with the neighboring dogs electrolytes instead of the deadly anesthetic. While Chris and his family were crying, and holding the dog’s paw, Larry looked as happy as ever. The vet saw this and instead of acknowledging her mistake, said “This happens sometimes”. A little while later the vet injected Larry with the correct liquid. He fell asleep peacefully. Chris Distefano stated on his podcast “Hey Babe” that this was a difficult experience for him. This would be a traumatic experience for anyone. Chris Distefano has used comedy to cope with this event by making a stand up routine based around it. I ask, that if you offense to jokes like these, don’t make the person feel bad for telling them because most of the time, they are telling these jokes to cope with their own experiences. All that making them feel bad does, is belittle their difficult experience. 

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