Subject:
|
Re: Calling it Quits
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.admin.general
|
Date:
|
Mon, 26 Mar 2001 14:47:07 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
307 times
|
| |
|
|
Jeff Stembel wrote:
>
> In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Frank Filz writes:
> > Tim Courtney wrote:
> > >
> > > In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Eric Kingsley writes:
> > >
> > > > I can't believe there are so many sucker's out there... ;-)
> > > >
> > > > And to think we have only seen the begining.
> > >
> > > I think what's funnier is people are still falling for it, even though
> > > several have posted acknowledging it is a joke. :D
> >
> > These stupid jokes are starting to get on my nerves. I'd also say that
> > this topic is entirely off topic for this group. It isn't fun (if it
> > wasn't a joke, it's not fun, if it is a joke, it's sick, it's definitely
> > LEGO related and therefor off topic for lugnet.off-topic.fun).
>
> Oh, come ON! You're getting angry because someone has a different sense of
> humor than you? I thought it was funny, even though I was suckered by it, as
> well.
Yea, and racial and ethnic jokes are funny too...
I'm not saying that we should eliminate humor and jokes (I'm not even
truly convinced that all racial and ethnic jokes are absolutely bad).
Some folks have compared the jokes to various other media. One thing I
would like to point out is that most of the parody stuff occurs in known
places, Saturday Night Live, Mad Magazine, Tabloids (1), etc. These
venues can really dig deep and sharp because people know they are venues
for parody.
My point (and I will mention that I wasn't actually taken by Mark's post
because I saw the revalations before the original post), is that there
is some risk that as these hoaxes continue (and we are definitely seeing
more, and earlier this year, we've already had two and it isn't even
April yet), people will take Lugnet less and less seriously.
There certainly are several things which have raised my awareness
recently. Not only do we have the two instances here, but in the sermon
at my church Sunday, our minister made a comment (which I suspect many
of the congregants missed) that when we don't take ourselves seriously,
we diminish our own cause (2).
> > Are we now to be subjected to this crud for a whole month? Are we going
> > to start having these jokes all year round? Think carefully about how
> > easy it is to keep a straight face in a post. I wonder how much of this
> > kind of crud Lugnet (or any other online media) can withstand before
> > collapsing because no one can trust anything which is said.
>
> Well, since the rest of the year isn't near April Fool's Day, I highly doubt
> it.
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
> > And I also don't think its "funny" that people get suckered in (for one
> > thing, remember people often read from the start of a thread and post
> > their reply immediately, sure, folks should wait until they have read
> > the whole thread, but even those of us who have been being trapped by
> > not reading the whole thread before responding for 15+ years still
> > forget sometimes).
>
> I think it is funny that some people get suckered in, because I was suckered
> in, too! Did I get mad at Mark when I realised it was a joke? No, I didn't.
> In fact, we had a good laugh over me being fooled by it. So, lighten up, and
> don't take things so seriously. Life will be more enjoyable that way. :)
It is good when we can laugh at ourselves. I am certainly not one to
never laugh at myself, but humor is a very subtle and tricky thing.
What's funny to one person is a grave insult to another. It all depends
on our life history. Perhaps the people who were offended at being
laughed at because they got suckered by Mark's post are folks who have
not completely come to peace with their engaging in a hobby which would
gain them much ridicule from many of their friends (and I'll raise my
hand as one of those folks who has not completely come to peace, but
then pretty much all of my hobbies are fringe).
I must say that I sometimes wonder about the humor I use here. How many
people are offended by my calling Larry on his "misteaks"? It's also
interesting to me that the level of humor seems to be way down. The
humor of a year or two ago seems to mostly be dead now (the Spamcake
signature lines, The Great Larry, misteaks, and all of that). One factor
is almost certainly that with a larger community were are not so
intimate and people are less willing to be so open, and of course in
jokes are rarely very funny to newcomers (and I have seen folks get
offended when a new comer tries to participate in the same ribbing of
someone all the old timers are).
My point in all of this is not so much that Mark's post was terrible in
and of itself, but that there is a disturbing trend, and that trend
seems to be towards a less friendly Lugnet. I worry about our community.
(1) Of course I realize a certain population believes the tabloids, I
wonder how many people take Mad Magazine or Saturday Night Live as
truth?
(2) For those who don't know and perhaps care, I am a Unitarian
Universalist, and I have heard far more Unitarian jokes from the pulpit
than any where else (I've seen perhaps a handful in the popular media [I
was actually amazed we were featured in one of the "church basketball"
strips of Kudzu]).
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
|
|
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Calling it Quits
|
| (...) Oh, come ON! You're getting angry because someone has a different sense of humor than you? I thought it was funny, even though I was suckered by it, as well. (...) Well, since the rest of the year isn't near April Fool's Day, I highly doubt (...) (24 years ago, 26-Mar-01, to lugnet.admin.general)
|
3 Messages in This Thread:
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
