Yesterday, as I’m sure you know, was the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centre. As an Englishman, and at the risk of sounding callous, the day has little significant meaning for me. Of course I spare a thought for the victims of the tragedy, but it is not a day where I am to be found mourning the event, as I know many Americans do.
I wanted to touch on the subject of jokes about tragedies such as this. Many find such jokes offensive, and yesterday on a certain facebook fan page there was a great banning spree of those who were telling them, or just generally being insensitive about the whole thing. I found this to be a bit heavy-handed, to be honest. Of course such jokes are tasteless, but… that’s the point, isn’t it? They’re funny not because the idea of death and destruction is funny, but because they are shocking and outrageous. You laugh because you can’t believe that anyone would say that.
Take, for example, a flash animation called 9/11 Marketing. Be warned because it is extremely irreverent and, in fact, just plain offensive when you think objectively about some of the things they say. Certainly if I’d lost someone in the attacks, I’d be sickened. But rather, I just find myself laughing at the sheer boldness of it all.
Anyway, tasteless jokes exist about everything under the sun, from racism to child-rape, and I’m pretty sure that they exist simply to break taboos. Not because the subject matter is funny, because clearly, it isn’t. It’s just a form of humour that breaks barriers for the sake of breaking them.
So, in closing, 9/11 jokes are not funny because 9/11 was funny (it wasn’t). They’re funny because they’re just plane wrong.
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