Would you be offended if a comedian made a joke about dwarfism?

[girlfriend44]

Seen a comic in the last few days. Was fairly good although I did notice he made reference to dwarfism? It is acceptable now? Is it even funny?

Well yes.

Odd you are struggling with this concept, my first comment was pretty clear.

Unless this is a sad attempt at a ‘gotcha’

Yep. It’s been a slow creep for decades but is accelerating at an alarming rate.

Free speech warriors, it is time to push back!

@mam0918 funnily enough a hotelier once made this exact joke to my uncle when he arrived to check in. Strangely he didn't find it funny, complained to the local tourist board and got a grovelling apology.

I feel uncomfortable with humour that targets people with disabilities. It is one thing for people with a particular disability to joke about it amongst themselves; that's not the same as an 'outsider' targeting that community with jokes.

Depends on the tone of the joke: punching down is not cool.

Sorry.
Couldn't resist.

I think it utterly depends on the context of the joke itself. Personally I think a lot of ‘dark humour’ or ‘offensive’ comedians are actually not very funny - part of their issue is that they have to shock the audience and be ‘scandalous’ to get a laugh, because their material itself isn’t really clever/sharp/witty. It takes a really good comedian to make you laugh through good social observation and witty wording

But that would depend, as I said, on the joke. Like the John Mulaney bit where he discusses being told the word ‘midget’ is ‘as bad as the n word.’ The joke there isn’t that people with dwarfism should be mocked, it’s the absurdity of saying two words are equally offensive while refusing to even say one of them.

Or Peter Dinklage joking that he was mad they made him be February in the Game of Thrones calendar and commenting ‘why was I selected for the shortest month?’ That’s funny because he’s making fun of himself.

But if it was a ‘point and laugh’ cheap shot then it isn’t funny. Not just because it’s offensive, but because it’s lazy and not well written. And if it’s holiday entertainment I’d take a punt it’s more likely to be lazy and dull than witty.

I think overall you’d need to actually share the joke for people to give good opinions.

I’m not disabled but I could still find a joke about a disability offensive.

@Daydreamer12345 I am not disabled either and I expect I would find a joke about disability distasteful and unfunny. But I am not sure I have the right to say I would be offended. The joke is not aimed at me so wouldn't it be presumptuous to claim I was personally offended?

But its not its at the expense of an outdate old coot who has 'dated' views not the dwarf.

Its the same way the fact a sitcom about hitler got made is funny, its not laughing at jews its at the obserdity of the fact someone even suggested such an odd and stupid thing.

No but i have a disabled child so dont find jokes about disabillity in general very funny ,its one thing disabled people taking the piss out of each other ,quite another non disabled people making jokes at the dispense of disabled people i suppose its like asking if you find racist jokes funny ?
A certain ethinic minority might make jokes about themselves but would rightly find it hugely offensive if others did the same?

It's a bit unclear what you have to vote for.

I’m not struggling with it. I just don’t agree that Down’s syndrome is funny. Or that a kid with downs syndrome is automatically a ‘more funny’ target than a random kid. Can you explain why you think they are?

I don’t think anyone thinks Down’s syndrome is funny.

Some jokes about Down’s syndrome may be to some people.

It depends on the person and the joke

Totally wrong. I'd be reporting.

Reporting to who?

You can be offended whether you are/identify as the subject of the joke/comment or not. It is not presumptious, it is a truth if you are offended.

Saying people can't be offended by something not aimed at them is a well-used/established way of minimising the impact of offensiive remarks - because offensive remarks are usually made about minority groups, with the exception of sexism.

That’s exactly what I thought

But you said it’s the Down syndrome bit that makes it funny. I’m asking you why that is?

@5foot5

Of course you can!

Why would it be presumptuous? Are you assuming the person with the disability is going to be offended?

Not necessarily so, it depends on the joke.

Again, not more funny, if a random kid had something amusing about them they’d be just as funny depending on the joke and the context.

I will also point out that Frankie Boyle didn’t mock a child with Down’s syndrome, he mocked people with Down’s syndrome and a mother of a child with DS got offended and called him out mid show.

Ricky Gervais is just Bernard Manning with a different accent.

It’s punch down comedy, performed by people who should know better, for the entertainment of those that don’t

laughing at minorities is right wing fodder, that should have gone out of fashion with “The Comedians” - but now people see being “political incorrect” is at the forefront of free speech . It really isn’t it’s unpleasant

What kind of thing might a random kid have about them that’s amusing? Just out of curiosity - like what makes someone immediately ‘amusing?’

Sounds a bit like the kind of talk you’d hear sometimes at schools, and it always boiled down to someone having some difference that made them easy to bully.

Depends on the joke and the context. Was it at the expense of people with dwarfism, or was it about peoples reactions to it? Was it a joke that was intended to make themselves look bad? Too many unknowns to judge.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/j6M74DxlTZw

Go for it you know you want to

It's completely different to use humour to talk about your own disability or to joke with peers when you know their boundaries and have that sort of relationship. Doesn't make it funny for a comedian to use disability as a punchline.