Posted by shar on November 22, 2000, at 15:42:37
In reply to Re: Fair Enough; End of Thread, posted by Noa on November 22, 2000, at 13:37:44
> Shar, I am a lover of dark humor...But good judgment about context and meaning to others here is also important. Dark humor in the form of sarcasm does have its risks in this modality...Noa,
actually, any form of humor in this modality has its risks, as we've seen time and again someone react to something written in all innocence to be humorous, but it pushes someones buttons.Having been the target, recently, of sarcastic "humor" I can agree it is unpleasant--especially when someone goes to the trouble of making it intentionally personal. I suppose I see a place for humor here, and not everyone does. I don't see many people rushing to offer support to the attackee, but instead--and under only certain circumstances--focusing on the attacker who must be in pain. It appears that who is doing the sarcasm makes a big difference, too, in the way people react.
So, really, when considering the breadth and depth of humor witnessed in the time I've been here, there is really no consistency. Sometimes an "attack" is ok, sometimes not, sometimes an attacker is seen as a poor victim who can't express their pain clearly, and the person being attacked is largely ignored or attacked yet again for responding to the attacker.
And, all this whole rigamarole started, in my opinion, because some people were having some innocent fantasy fun, hurting nobody, attacking nobody (except in one instance I can recall, when an attack was launched at a well-meant joke and people responded), but evidently displeasing a vocal minority who felt that the fun should be moved elsewhere, and lashed out at those who disagreed.
I saw a clear goal put forth, a lot of nastiness when L posts were not immediately banished, some celebrating when L posts were restricted to one thread, and the preservation of what I consider to be a questionably supportive milieu.
Well, I think the vocal minority won. As you can tell, posts of fun (as in Lumptonia--and I give myself a demerit for mentioning that name here) have diminished significantly. Restrictions have been placed on where posts can be put, so that others will apparently feel more comfortable posting on important issues. ?? And, if unsupported suppositions are correct, we should see an influx of new posters who stayed away due to the L posts.
This is supportive? Educational? Or a good example of competitive manipulation often found in group dynamics when splintering occurs?
Shar
poster:shar
thread:3070
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001117/msgs/3162.html