When faced with bad news, what is your reaction?

I got into a discussion with someone about all the jokes about Japan that are being made right now. I said there was no respect and she defended by saying, “My friend told me her dad had died and the first thing I did was laugh. I didn’t mean to, it was out of nerves and not knowing what to say. Sometimes humour is a defence.”

My problem with this is, is the earthquake and tsunami wasn’t something you were just told about on an intimate level with a friend. It’s in the news. Of all the things to joke about, I couldn’t understand that someone would carefully construct a joke about it to the world online, instead of have a giggle in the privacy of his own home.

I’m aware humour can be a defence mechanism for bad times, but why at the expense of the ones who’ve been hurt the most?