Making fun of people?

I normally draw the line if it is something that they can’t help. I’m not going to make fun of the kid with down syndrome. But I will make fun of the drunk guy at the party acting like a fool.

I only tease friends of mine, and only in such a way that I won’t offend or hurt them. I agree with johnpowell, but I don’t make fun of the idiot drunks either because I have to deal with so many of them at the jail. Too many gross situations… it’s not funny anymore.

Well, after it becomes a “war story” it’s funny. Is it still making fun a couple of days after the fact? :-)

Diva, do tell!

personally, I’m astonished obesity is as much a problem as it is. Something I’d say around about 98% or plus have the ability to diet themselves, or simply not eat junk food. They probably should be ridiculed (perhaps it would help them motivate to lose weight). Or even give them special parking spaces far away from entrances in parking lots so they must walk farther to get inside, instead of encouraging them by letting them park in a handicapped spot (what they did is more than likely self-inflicted). Sadly, it isn’t socially accepted, so I only ridicule them with my thoughts (not outloud). Handicapped people…never would I think of making fun of them (however I might call a friend a retard from time to time, but I mean no offense to an actual handicapped person).

“There are limits to my comedy. There are things I’ll never laugh at. The handicapped. Because there’s nothing funny about them. Or any deformity. It’s like when you see someone look at a little handicapped fella and go, ‘Ooh, look at him, he’s not able-bodied. I am, I’m prejudiced.’ Yeah well, at least the little handicapped fella is able-minded. Unless he’s not… it’s difficult to tell with the wheelchair ones.”
– David Brent

The only people I “make fun” of, are those I have personally known for many years, because they know me, and know that I’m not being mean-spirited, if I tease them about something.

A female co-worker and I, who had attended grade school together, used to tease each other mercilessly on the job, to the point where a new employee in the company said, “I wonder why no one has mentioned ‘sexual harassment’ to either of them.”

When we found out that he had mentioned that, we both laughed out loud, then took him out to the parking lot and shot him.

September 1, 2008, 8:44 AM EDT

How about, before they open their mouths!

I make fun of those who make fun of the mentally handicapped. I think it’s abhorrent.

J.A…..I too had a friend in high school. Several actually. Hell, I was friends with everybody. Not to a saccharine sweet level. I certainly didn’t go around ‘pawing’ everybody…or did I?????
O.K., perhaps I did….a few times…Maybe….Don’t know…..Memory….hazy..
.
C’mon man…it was the ‘70’s…._

I was teased mercilessly while growing up. Simply because I was (and thank God still am), considered different. Different in a non-conformist way.
It was a malicious, daily jab at my soul and rendered me a cry-baby for the better part of my life.
Society’s morality police have not the time, nor the resourses to effectively deal with the abuses that they cannot see. Which leaves the suffering in a continuous state of shame and torment. The bitter irony being the labelling that becomes afixed to the abused, while the abuser(s) continue.

I have grown through the experiences and (fortunately) had the mental stability (surprisingly enough) and fortitude to understand myself, and that it was not my problem to begin with. Not all of us though, are enabled with such insight. So where does that leave them? i’m quite certain we all know the answer to this question.
Nobody deserves such indignities. Regardless of their mental, physical and spiritual capabilities.

Plain and simple…..It’s abuse. It’s cowardly and it’s wrong!

When is it “OK” to make fun of a total stranger?

When that person is someone like Rush Limbaugh or the Supreme Doofus in Chief or any other public figure you can think of mentioning.

They have no feelings for anyone or anything, so it won’t matter to them, anyway.

September 1, 2008, 10:20 AM EDT

….It’s positively inhumane when they keep comin’ at ya…...guns-a-blazin’.
And to add insult to injury, ‘mock cry/laugh’ at you while they riddle you with more ‘choice’ nom-de-plumes….

Priceless….

I fully support mee_ouch.

I have defended people on fluther who have been ganged up on by people as well. One circumstance suggested that the person was either very young or mentally slow. I suggested as such to the two individuals who were all over the guy and they just kept on him. Turns out he was 14.

What is to be gained by it. How fragile or incomplete a person are you that you have to defile another human’s dignity in a vicious manner.

I am not talking good fun and sarcasm either. I am talking about hurtful personal stuff.

Fortunately, the moderators seem to be very good about removing/deleting offensive/hateful/hurtful posts.

Sometimes, you have to request it about 3 or 4 times, to get them to act, however.

September 1, 2008, 11:39 AM EDT

You must be able to laugh at yourself, before laughing at others….

Because I laugh at myself I laugh at others in hopes they will learn to laugh at themselves. Sometimes all one can do is laugh. Existence itself is ridiculous.

I work with individuals with mental and emotional “handicaps”. My clients love when I make them laugh, especially when the laughter is directed at themselves. When a client is in crisis, and I make light of the situation or their behavior in some irreverent manner, the result is often an abatement of the overwhelming emotions causing the crisis.

I am a really sensitive person and I always have been. Unfortunately, this marked me as a target when I was a kid. As someone who was made fun of her entire career K-12, I think I may be more reactive than other people to making fun of someone.

That’s not to say I don’t do it on occasion.. sometimes someone will have a crazy outfit on or look interesting, and I can’t help myself. However, I think it’s one thing to laugh at someone’s overall “look” or at their drunken behavior than it is to make fun of something that is obviously a personal struggle. I get a bit protective of people, even complete strangers, when it seems someone is exploiting a personal struggle for a few laughs.

I get really angry when people are making fun of someone for their weight.. yes, RandomMrdan, that means you. Do you think overweight people like being that way? Granted, some may not care, but trust me, the majority of them have poor self-images, thanks to everything we’re fed every day, telling us you have to be skinny to be beautiful. Don’t you think that if it was easy for overweight people to lose weight, we’d all make that decision and be a perfect size? It’s so much more complicated than exercising and cutting calories. Yes, those things are at the heart of the solution, but they don’t address the root of the problem. Until you have an eating disorder, or body dysmorphic disorder, or suffer through a lifetime of what it’s like to be overweight.. please don’t judge. You have no idea.

I also get pissed when people pick on mentally-limited people. I realize I was given a gigantic gift when God gave me my brain and that some people were not as lucky. You have to realize when someone has limited capacities that that’s what God gave them. It’s like I got the keys to a Ferarri and they got the keys to a Geo Metro. They’re glued to the seat for life and they can only drive at the speed their car will allow. I hate seeing people making fun of “dumb” people, when instead they could be working around the perceived obstacle to reach the person.

The line is determined by the person and your relationship to them.
When it comes to my close friends, I can make fun of everything; their appearance, their parents, their choices….there’s really no limit, just timing, it’s not always the right time to make light of things.
When it comes to colleagues, it’s similar situation. You get a feel for what they will let you get away with without getting seriously upset about it. A while back I managed a team of German speakers – for Germans, they had a pretty good sense of humour and some of the jokes thrown around in that team could probably land you on the wrong side of the law in certain places…....

@randommrdan I’ve been overweight all my life, tried countless methods and have accepted the fact, I’ll always be large as my parents and siblings were. I am in need of knee replacements (due to arthritis as a result of an injury) am in constant pain and asthma. I have a handicapped placard. So you’re saying I should suck it up? Don’t assume all overweight people pull a chair up to the buffet line everyday.

I think people make fun of others to make themselves feel better.

I love to people watch, for the simple reason, people are so funny. I do laugh at others, but I’m sure they’re laughing at me as well.

@deaddolly blaming genetics is a cop out I feel, everyone has the choice of what they eat day to day. What do you eat daily? And how much physical activity do you do daily?

@Random – Do a bit more research. Not all overweight people are lazy gluttons.

Trust me, having a slow metabolism sucks. I eat like a normal person, sometimes less, but I have to be routinely expending considerable energy to keep myself at “even”. Working in restaurants helps, actually, I get sick of the smell of food and am running around like a headless chicken most of the time.

I never said anyone was lazy, I’m just saying…most of the problem I’d say is within someones control.

@ randommrdan It’s really none of ur business what I eat daily or how much exercise I get. I’m not questioning how you got to be an ass, am I? Are you just jealous cause you can’t get a good parking spot? You’re a sad case. Not everything is within control. Broaden your horizons.

I never said everything, I said most.

@ randommrdan Do not generalize unless you can back it up.

@AlenaD Thanks for your comments. Ppl like random are the reason for many of the predjuices that larger ppl have to deal with on a daily basis.

I know from a statistics course I took that heart disease is one of the leading preventable causes of death, right behind smoking related deaths. all I know is that it is PREVENTABLE. whatever excuse you may have for it, chances are, there is a way to fight it.

ok, what do you suggest? Gastric bypass doesn’t work. diets don’t work. Overweight ppl are constantly surrounded by food. It’s a social thing. It’s not like quitting smoking. I firmly believe some ppl are just destined to remain large. And, as long as your healthy, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t like the way someone looks in a bathing suit—don’t look.
I personally wanna puke when i see men w/o shirts who have hair all over. I just walk away and gag quietly.
I suggest you do the same.

since when do diets not work? society is another excuse (seems like a lack of will power). I’m not saying I don’t have the ability to look away, but it sounds as if you’re telling me that there is nothing you can possibly do to change it, when there is.

omg….i’m done with you.

Why people are obese.

@tinyfaery…excellent! Thank you!

You are very welcome!

somewhat of an old article, but I guess if you are really having problems losing weight, you should seek him out, or get his book. sounds like it could work.

yeah, maybe I skimmed through it too quickly, but it looked like that link was explaining how most overweight people can lose weight…. sooo it looks like most overweight people can loose weight, its just a matter of working smarter not harder.

like I mentioned earlier, it is the second leader in preventable causes of death…preventable

Yes, whenever it is a prank or something ON the elderly, blind, handicapped, disabled, ECT., then it is NOT funny. And it is not funny when it has anything that happened on accident like they fell down a hill and hit there balls on a tree. It is also NOT funny when it has a near-death experience or someone gets hurt.