Transgender

Thanks for giving me some room to explore this a bit.

Humor is such an interesting topic that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I giggle at the dumbest things but also find jokes requiring specialized knowledge funny, too.

Two distinctions I'd make when it comes to what I find "acceptable": using humor to cope with ones own trauma vs humor about other people's trauma and what the audience is.

One thing that sticks in my head as an example is Lindsay Ellis's rap; it may have been cathartic for her to have made it, but it's not something that I'd encourage for public exhibition (regardless of her intent to publish it or not or all the rest of the drama surrounding it). Disempowering trauma through absurdity is very different than making light of a serious topic that too many people experience.

Audience: people are mind numbingly dumb. For every person that notices Carlin's commentary on rape culture, there's a dozen people that think a celebrity saying rape jokes are funny means they can make them and everybody else just doesn't get it, etc. That's the usual context I see Carlin referenced in, defending what he was saying "Doesn't seem right."

I'd say humor to cope with trauma is best reserved for the people you would also feel safe having a serious conversation about it with, taking into account their boundaries as well. That almost never includes the general public.