Hitler’s camps. An eclectic collection of Holocaust humour can be found in Steve Lipman’s
1991 book , Laughter in Hell: The Use of Humor
during the Holocaust.’
What makes them funny is that the comedian in
cases like that isn’t taking a shot at the victim.
They’re punching up, addressing the obvious
imbalance of power provides relief in the audience of the shere absurdity of the imbalance of
power.
Punching down is a concept in which you’re assumed to have a measurable level of power and
you’re looking for a fight. Now, you can either
go after the big guy who might hurt you, or go
after the little guy who has absolutely no shot.
Either way, you’ve picked a fight, but one fight
is remarkably more noble and worthwhile than
the other. Going after the big guy, punching up,
is an act of nobility. Going after the little guy,
punching down, is an act of bullying.
Reverse racism.
We cannot ignore the act of punching in the first
place is the act of picking a fight. ‘Reverse racism’ seems to be a recent glitch in our language
which acts as a synonym for justifiable hate.
Many are comfortable with this notion, restating
the case that all powerful institutes need to be
brought down a peg or four.
‘Paradoxically, reversed
discourse also contains
a polemic element that
can, at time, reproduce
racism.’
We often criticise our politicians for not having a
stance… We live in an age where social media
is the petri dish which breeds some pretty ‘out
there’ comments- surely our comedy scene can
be just as thriving? It’s a fine line. Comedians
are trying to make it, become more popular, sell
more tickets.
Humour is provocative and gets you thinking- avoid if sensitive. Comedians can feel like
picking your political party e.g. the greens, the
sex party or liberal. Representations are often
stereotypical- they don’t actually represent us.
Research, blogs, forums, sociologists, psychologists continue to deconstruct… Go out there,
think, come up with a stance, continue listening
to others and don’t be afraid to readjust.