Current Events > Judge my sociology paper?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Topic was Comedy and Social Inequalities, essentially to discuss whether comedy dealing with social issues (like racism or gun control) is a positive or negative approach.

Some things to note, teacher is more concerned with content than anything else. So formatting and what not doesnt matter, so long as its not horribly misspelled.

Anyway, dont post yet as its rather long.
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ok
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The Dead Baby Joke, or, why everything should be absolutely hilarious.

One of my favorite jokes of all time is that the best way to save a choking baby is to unclench your fist. The reaction to this particular joke will naturally vary from person to person. Some will be disgusted. Some will recognize the humor, but feel ashamed to admit. Some, will be clutched over in stitches at the mere thought of it. Some, like me, will not only find just the joke hilarious, but also the other reactions to this joke hilarious. If someone calls me sick and/or demented for finding the idea of baby strangling hilarious, it makes it even funnier.

Now, are they wrong? I would say yes. While I find the joke very funny (and indeed, every time in this essay that I have had to write the words baby stranglingor some other variation, I cannot help but giggle), it does not also mean that I condone the choking of babies. What I believe it does say, however, is that I recognize the absurdity of actually being someone who condones baby strangling. By recognizing the absurdity of this person, I can then comment on who and what they are without any real bias. When the mere thought of this person is absurd, then the real person is also factually absurd. If this person exists, then they are truly sick, demented, or what have you. And this line of thinking can apply to anything in our society, in particular the most heated topics of our time. Be it politics, religion, racism, or indeed, baby strangling. Finding the humor in all of them can help us eliminate the bias from our viewpoints.

But we must also be careful when we do this. Namely because it would be all too easy to offend someone in telling these sorts of jokes. While I am firm in the belief that anyone who does get offended by, anything really should develop thicker skin, in modern society that belief does not change reality. As unfortunate as it is, there is a significant amount of people who, no matter how much you can rationalize what you are doing by telling the joke, will never accept it as anything other than an attack. This is especially so when you were not even making a point in the first place. Nobody wants to be like Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld), who went on a racist tirade during a show in 2006 and made no point to anyone. Shock value just reinforces all of the negatives of these concepts, and makes a point to no one.
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Even when you are making a solid point, not just being offensive to shock your audience, it is very important to maintain context when having a conversation regarding the material. Comedian Jim Jefferies is very good at this sort of style of comedy. Taken out of context, most of his sets can be incredibly offensive. But when taken as a whole, his points on social issues are very profound. In his special Bare from 2014, he has a bit on gun control. He begins this by very clearly defining the context of what he goes on to say. Making it clear it is his opinion, and backing up how he feels with facts regarding gun control in his home country of Australia. In Australia, there was a mass shooting in Port Arthur where 35 people will killed and 23 wounded. Jefferies then goes on to explain that the Australian government responded by saying Okay, no more guns. And he then says that Australians responded Yeah thats fair. He then proceeds to compare this to the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting, where he says the government in the United States responded May be we take away some guns? and Americans promptly responded Fuck you, dont take my guns!. Pretty funny stuff. And then he even goes on to explain the reactions to this, just as I did with my dead baby joke. Where most will agree with him, some will be on the fence but see the logic, with a certain percentage being downright angry. While there is little to be done with those that cannot see or will not accept the logic of approaching a subject in this way, for everyone else, it opens the rest of us up to a discussion that objectively looks at subject, and finds either a solution or, if nothing else, a compromise that best suits both sides of the argument. And all the while, without having to resort to logical fallacies to try and win the argument.

Essentially, it makes it easier for an argument to be civil and productive when we can quickly identify the absurdities on both sides, and eject them entirely from consideration. This is why everything should be hilarious. It is why everything is hilarious. Because while we must still recognize that the extremes of a subject exist, we must also still recognize that extremes should play no part in solutions. After all, the nuclear option will always equal a nuclear response in turn, and mutually assured destruction does not give us progress. It simply maintains the status quo. As such, when we apply this logic to all facets of society, we find that by refusing to eject the extreme, to recognize its inherent absurdity and find it hilarious, we find ourselves in deadlock.

Ok now posy
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Seems like pretty standard sociology, in the sense of not being worthy of discussion.

/topic

KhanJohnny posted...

Seems like pretty standard sociology, in the sense of not being worthy of discussion.

/topic

Huehuehue
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Is this for high school or college?
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MonkeyBones23 posted...

Is this for high school or college?

College. Intro to Sociology
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Pretty sure your professor just gives away A's to anyone.
Cuz no one in the world of science takes sociol...
*gets shot*
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Darkrobotisback posted...

Pretty sure your professor just gives away A's to anyone.
Cuz no one in the world of science takes sociol...
*gets shot*

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CommonJoe posted...

MonkeyBones23 posted...

Is this for high school or college?

College. Intro to Sociology

I can't speak to the specifics of what your professor is looking for exactly, but overall I'd say it's pretty short. Your basic principles and argument is pretty good and supported well by specific comedic bits, but there isn't much use of specific sociological terms/vocabulary or research/statistics.

Just briefly reading through I did notice May be we take away some guns? 'May be' should be "maybe"
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MonkeyBones23 posted...

CommonJoe posted...

MonkeyBones23 posted...

Is this for high school or college?

College. Intro to Sociology

I can't speak to the specifics of what your professor is looking for exactly, but overall I'd say it's pretty short. Your basic principles and argument is pretty good and supported well by specific comedic bits, but there isn't much use of specific sociological terms/vocabulary or research/statistics.

Just briefly reading through I did notice May be we take away some guns? 'May be' should be "maybe"

Gotcha. Its short as he only wanted 1-2 pages double spaced. (Pretty much the only requirement beyond actually putting thought into it)
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Any other thoughts CE peeps.

Besides the sociology jokes that is
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