We Talk Friday
(WTF)
This is a semi-regular series that I will run on Fridays to hold discussions on a current topic from the week gone. The aim is to keep them light and conversational, though some might be heavier - regardless of the content topic itself though, just have some fun engaging and discussing with whoever happens to put in the effort in the comments section below.
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We Talk Friday Ep. 5: No Humour Here
It would be nice to go into the weekend with a pocket full of green
But again, it is red.
Not that it changes anything in a practical sense, but there is that psychological pang that feels better when numbers are going up, rather than down. Well, as long as those numbers aren't my weight or worse - my wife's weight.
That was a joke, for those who can't tell the difference.
Humour seems largely dead these days, because no matter what the topic, or what is said, there is always an outspoken minority that inhabits that space and will take it seriously, as if the words are a physical attack on whatever they identify with, and they are bleeding out from the wound. Thick skin doesn't exist it seems, nor does nuance, or the ability to tell joke from opinion. People seem to behave like children when it comes to humour these days, unable to understand irony or sarcasm, and instead taking everything literally on face value.
Except what people actually say - then they read between the lines to create a personal attack.
The internet discourse encourages the most uncharitable view of everything, and no matter if someone knows they are purposely misconstruing and misrepresenting a statement, they will do it to feel like they are on some kind of moral high ground. The irony is of course, is they ground they are upon is an illusion, because they have deliberately mischaracterised someone's words.
Maybe it isn't deliberate?
Of course, it is possible that they are indeed giving an honest and truthful account of what they believe, and the reason they didn't understand the joke, was because they are ignorant or stupid.
Feel better?
The media can take a lot of the blame, because due to ad revenue being driven by clicks, the model has shifted away from an information source that intelligent people used to stay informed, to one to keeps idiots entertained. It is targeted at the lowest common denominator, and the lowest forms of intelligence, because that is what is going to drive more clicks. It isn't about understanding and nuance, it is about base emotions - which is largely on the negative side with fear, outrage, jealousy and hate being the easiest to evoke.
It gets the clicks.
Back in the day news used to have exposé stories that would take months and potentially years of undercover work to report upon, and they would stay in the news for weeks, or months. Now, the news cycle can be counted in hours, and no matter how scandalous, the next day it is replaced by the next piece to get clicks. This is where Trump excels, because he just throws so much shit into the air, that everyone is dodging for cover to avoid getting smeared, while he is there lining the pockets of his agenda. More clicks for the media, so they encourage him. Right and Left.
What the fuck happened to the middle??
It died with the attack on humour. Comedians have to do entire sets of explaining what a joke is these days, before they can actually tell a joke, because they know that someone in the audience, or who chose to watch it streaming, will have a problem with everything they say. They can involuntarily sneeze, and someone will take to their keyboard and smash out how they should have been wearing a mask, or that the volume of the sound of the sneeze was thoughtlessly not thinking about people with overly sensitive ears.
Hyperacusis
a rare disorder of loudness perception, where sounds that are ordinarily considered innocuous become intolerable. Hyperacusis is rare. It affects 1 in 50,000 people.
There is one in every stadium.
Two in the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium
Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, located in Pyongyang, North Korea, is, by some margin, the world's largest soccer stadium, boasting a staggering capacity of 114,000.
But no one complains about conditions there.
And maybe it is the conditions that people have experienced in their lives that make them so sensitive to triviality and slight discomfort. They have had such comfortable lives that they need to keep lowering the bar of what qualifies as something to be outraged by. Of course, there is also the fact that being a victim is seen as a positive thing and encouraged, as is being an attention seeker who will do anything (except be good at something useful) to get a few more eyes, a few more clicks - a few more cents for their slave masters, their owners - the platforms.
Free to be controlled.
Yet, people think that speaking openly about their misguided opinions is freedom, but in actual fact, they are doing what they have been whipped to do, they are doing what the slave masters want from them - creating more polarisation, and collecting more clicks from the lowest common denominator.
Fucking hilarious.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Past Episodes:
Episode 4: Your Country Sucks
Episode 3: Collapse is Inevitable
Episode 2: Show me the money
Episode 1: Strange bedfellows
I don't know whether to laugh or cry with this text..., well, actually I do know: cry. It's amazing how now everything has to offend someone, and how humour has become as dangerous an art as defusing bombs. I, too, want that power to detect personal attacks even in a sneeze. Maybe if I take more offence, I'll feel more alive, right? Oh, and Trump throwing ‘so much rubbish in the air’ is just chaotic poetry. Although, of course, here I am, browsing through absurd comments, wondering what happened to irony and sarcasm. Is it that no one reads properly any more, or do they prefer to feel like eternal victims? Well, as long as there are clicks, I guess the circus will go on. Heh, heh, heh.
I think if a person spends all their time worrying about what is on their screens, then living is reacting to it, right?
I wonder what would happen to the world if ad revenue stopped.
Comedians actually revealed more through humour than many realized, miss the honesty we had through cracking up laughing, literally at ourselves.
Couldn't agree more with the above statement.
Trust you and the family are well, isn't life strange how 'words can harm, forgot they can also heal', take care.
People are only listening for the harm these days - it justifies their anger.
Too many opinions with little factual evidence, stoking fire for no good reason. Weird world we live in, stay grounded.
The good news is it seems that HIVE is staying pretty steady for now. Not great news for me because I have been waiting to buy more at a certain point and it hasn't hit that point yet!
Pretty steady yeah - would like it to go about 4x before dropping again though! :D
I want it to drop and then go 4x. Then drop again!
On some web-sites, I can't read what is written due to the clickbaits, and sometimes we can't notice how tricky they are put. This is not advertising. I would click if I am interested in that ads.
Pretty much everything is some kind of advert now - every story, every account.
I think I'm having a very different experience to you. I watched Bill Burr's and Iliza Shlesinger's comedy specials in the last week or so and I thought they were both excellent. I don't feel like either of them were holding back or needed to explain their jokes - but I also haven't read any comments or internet discourse on the shows because I'm not interested in that.
I think there was a line in Wreak It Ralph 2 that was something like "never read the comments" and, ah, that is pretty fantastic advice.
Only half way through the new Burr one - it is okay, not as good as the earlier ones though. But, I like him. However, he has never really given a fuck. I think with stand-up, it is starting to turn again, but for the last five or ten years, it was pretty dire. People that don't even go to the shows are commenting on them.
But it isn't standup where people have lost their humour. A lot of what seems to be considered "funny" now is just various forms of cruelty. I think a lot of the entertainment has lowered the clever, or become repetitive. Very few shows/ movies are interesting anymore.
Might just be me. Could also be that your humour has changed too ;)
Yeah, I was talking to a colleague today basically about how comedy is conflict... and so personally what I find really funny is punching up... jokes that try to disrupt power structures and mock the powerful... but comedians who punch down, jokes about the less powerful just seem lazy... and cruel.... and then there is just Jim Gaffigan in his own world doing jokes about hot pockets.
Did you see Ronnie Cheng's stand up special? So good!
I do agree that there aren't as many shows and movies that are really funny, and I think part of that problem is the advertiser/streaming model. Shows used to get 22 episodes a season and could really flesh out characters and jokes but now most shows get 8 episodes. People aren't going to the cinema as much, so the only movies making money are big blockbusters that people want the movie experience for. I haven't looked at any data on this, but I would bet that fewer big name comedy movies are made these days.
My humour probably has changed too... there's way more to worry about now than there was 20 years ago.
Supposedly, this is where "wit" came into the French courts, as you could earn favour with the king by being witty, and essentially outwitting someone above you to gain hierarchy. Not sure if true, but I think wit is something that people are also losing - things are far too blatant to be witty these days.
One of them, but I should check out more.
The other problem with the shows is that I don't want to invest into something that might be good, but gets cut. So many of them get cut because they don't get enough of audience. the problem is - mass audiences can like pretty stupid stuff. Reality television and watching the lives of rich people is case in point. I like the limited series - because I know there is a planned end for it, and it has already been made.
Humor used to be a way to challenge ideas, not just offend. Now, it’s like everyone’s waiting to be outraged. Makes comedy a lot less fun. I hope humor doesn't die 🤣🤣👀
I think a lot of it died a long time ago - these days, what people find funny is often not clever, it is just cruelty.
Total cruelty 🤦 !WINE
I guess the current situation in Finland is very bleak!Dear @tarazkp !
I dunno - what you say about S.K doesn't sound very happy either!
I agree with you!😆
Good news.
What did you hear?