Think of your favourite jokes, comedy sketches or scenes from a funny film….
What is the one common thread that ties those chuckles together?
May I suggest, “laughing at someone’s expense”?
At the root of every successful form of comedy is some level of poking fun at someone else or oneself.
Comedy needs a victim.
The victim is seen to be deserving for various reasons; hubris, pride, arrogance, stupidity, aggression, etc. but, for whatever the reason they have deserved to be the butt of the joke, we find it amusing.
The acts of smiling, chuckling or laughing at joke, sketches or slapstick are completely involuntary, it’s almost impossible to control in advance what one finds amusing.
Yet, apparently, “Food allergies are not a punchline“.
Bill’s Opinion
Be very, very afraid of the joyless people who require us to not laugh at a joke.
As P.J. O’Rourke explains, they’ve confused the fact that they would prefer it if we didn’t find something funny with the reality that we still do.
He gives the example of Helen Keller falling down the well and breaking 4 fingers shouting for help. We know we shouldn’t laugh at that but we still do.
Q. How do you know if someone is gluten-intolerant?
A. It’s the first thing they’ll tell you.*
* also works for vegans, boot camp participants or people from Yorkshire.
There is in fact a little more humour to be extracted from this situation. It lies in the fact that KFA thinks that children with food allergies actually constitute a “community”. From the linked site:
“KFA believes that food allergy “jokes” are harmful to our community.”
Just like the “Gay Community”, “Black Community”, and “Criminal Community”, presumably. Although the kids are probably more of a “community” than the others, as they haven’t yet learnt to hate other members of their community.
“Community” is such an hilarious concept in these things.
There are far more variations within a group than between groups. Someone at risk of death by anaphylactic shock has less in common with someone who gets a bit grumpy on gluten than you or I do. Lobbying for policy change therefore is never going to be satisfactory to the “community”.
Works for……..and atheists.
And people who attended Shore college Sydney.