I work for a newspaper. I’m a journalist

No. I don't find it funny in either case.

Humor is subjective, just because I don't find it funny doesn't mean it isn't funny to someone else. However, some things are intended to be more cruel than funny. It is difficult to judge intent... which is why I asked.

When I was a kid, the standard ethnic joke was a Polish joke. The Poles were, at the time, the epitome of stupid.... pretty much every joke targeted them. It is funny how much that has changed since the 70s and 80s. I asked my kids, they have never heard a Polish joke nor do they have any idea why such a joke is funny.

Strangely the same dumb jokes are being told. Only the targets have changed.

I agree.
As a young man I once came across a book in a big open stack public library (remember them?) entitled "An anthology of 13th Century Islamic Literature", which I then found irresistible. I thumbed through it and found a section of short pieces which I began reading. It turned out to be a collection of "Frank" jokes - their term for the Crusaders then occupying parts of coastal Palestine. The themes of the various jokes were already very familiar to me as they were the same as all the Polack, Dago, Mick, Jewish jokes I had been hearing for years (Where do you hide your money in a Frank house ? Ans. "Under the soap" etc. ) I suddenly realized that this stuff was probably already old in the 13th century and probably started as Hittite jokes told by Egyptians.

Some of us remember Slappy Doo Hoo. I remember once in a while scolding him for a scorching joke that bothered me, which sounds like I make it my role in life, but not really. In time, though, I changed my mind to anything possibly being joke material and fully agreed with him and told him so - not sure if in a post or a PM. Well, pretty much anything. I still have personal limits.

Anybody know how Slappy is these days?

So : I agree with Carlin that putting it in a joke context matters.
I agree with myself, that people often have suffered in life and can be wounded anew by rough reminders.

I dont think that teaching in a Uni requires any more of a uniqueness of intellect than any other vocation. I dont think thats even relevant to the discussion.

You sorta sound like some Monty Python charcter who writes into the program after a sketch bout some kind of "lternative behavior" is pummeled. The letter purports to be from some high military officer who says that
'The actual prcentage of transvestites in the military is quite below 4% of the officer corps"

NOW THATS FUNNY

Henry Miller wrote about a friend of his, who had uneducated friends of the sort who would ridicule high end discussion. In order to introduce more intellectual material into a conversation, he had to begin it by saying something like, "You know who wasn't such a dumb bastard? Plato." Then he would explain bits of Plato in the crude language they understood. Much the same technique as wrapping it in jokes.

"society at large" has no really clear way of identifying the felons. Suppose 4% of surgeons were engaging in embuggery with their anesthetised patients, wouldnt we want to root em out?

As I said, this is non-negotiable with me. Its a system that since the time of"Jerome the Diminutive" had required the priesthood of the Catholic Church to engage in Piety, Chastity and Obedience in their offices. Its a bizaare practice that stresses the libidos of the clergy and caused many many tals of "lusty priests" and "Prists embuggering little children"

The system is outdated and is the cause of much of the problem with immorality in the priesthood. 3 or 4 out of one hundred is too much. I ay take whtever i availble to us, including irony litotes and slapstick to shame these felons to jail and to correct an unholy system.

finis

see dale, unfunny. I understand your attempt, but it fell short.

“A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.” (Ludwig Wittgenstein).

Not surprised he feels that way. Anybody named "Ludwig" IS a joke, eh?

You're pretty blase about all the folks who have been raped, murdered, gassed, scorched to death, ... in fact you defend such evil actions.

Which one of you jokers is the one who started the shtick about "that's not what this thread is about".

Claims to morality for you fall far short, farmerman.

This is so nonsensical. It's the old lazy teachers' ploy; give them a bunch of silly research to do because I'm too lazy to create real lessons.

The student will learn fastest by doing the same thing parents do with their children and that doesn't mean hiding the language from them, it means reinforcement thru usage.