April Winchell

Ever since the Imus fiasco, I’ve been feeling pressured to accept the idea that some things are universally offensive, no matter who says them or in what context.

Meh.

I’m not buying it. The word “offensive” is defined as “repugnant to one’s taste.” Taste is not universal; a statement borne out by the fact that John Tesh has sold more than five million albums.

Taste is all about who you are and what you believe. And while there may be areas of overlap among us, no two people react exactly the same way to everything they see and hear. So how can we establish a standard for all speech?

Well… we can’t.

That’s okay with me. Personally, I don’t believe we need to be protected from taunts. Seriously, what kind of a pussy needs the government to shield them from jokes about their hair? Am I the only one who went to public school?

Whatever happened to personal responsibility? I realize that’s a tough sell, since we’d rather sue McDonalds for making us fat than stop eating there. But changing the channel is relatively easy, and it doesn’t take the choice away from anyone else.

The only other option is to purge our culture of artistic expression. All of it. Books, magazines, television, radio, film, theatre, art, everything. We’d have to. Because every bit of entertainment comes with a point of view. And whenever there is a point of view, there is an opportunity for an opposing point of view.

That means that even if all we ever watched were happy little videos of otters holding hands, something offensive would come out of it.

Before you accuse me of exaggerating, here’s the video:

And here are some of the actual comments:

Wow.

Impressive, isn’t it? Homophobia, Hitler, blasphemy, animal cruelty, rape, profanity and violence. Screw Imus, we should be going after the fucking otters!

So there you have it. You can’t win. There is no safety zone. Simply by having creativity in our lives, we are guaranteed disagreement.

But you know what? I could give a shit if we disagree. In fact, I prefer it. I don’t see the great value in having the same sensibilities as every human being on the planet. Most people suck anyway.

And as long as I’m still typing, let me tell you something else about offensive humor, and I can’t believe no one has said this yet.

We need it.

Honestly, we need to be able to laugh at things we are not supposed to laugh at. It’s a release. It’s healthy.

Have you ever heard the expression, “gallows humor”? It describes a specific genre of humor, usually involving people who are in life-threatening situations. It’s grim, dark and spontaneous and Freud found that it had a therapeutic effect on people. In fact, medical professionals who work with dying patients look at it as a coping mechanism, and a way to avoid burnout.

I think that should tell us something.

Here’s what I say.

You could be pissed off and hurt your whole life. You’d have the right, believe me. Life is hard, and the world is full of assholes.

But you might as well laugh.

Laugh at all the shit you’re not supposed to, laugh at all the shit that scares you, laugh at all the shit that goes exactly the opposite of how you hoped.

Because if you don’t laugh, you’ll never stop crying.