Stupid is Not Funny

Cultures change with every generation. Older folk invariably get irritated at the fashions, language and values of the next generation, and by the time we're two generations down, there truly is a noticeable gap. I experienced that from the youth perspective, and now I'm experiencing it from the "oldie" side.

One of the most puzzling things to me is what the next generation considers funny. To be sure, there are younger people who share my sense of humor, and that is gratifying. But more and more I'm seeing a humor I don't understand: the perspective of younger ones that "stupid is funny."

I'll admit, when I first read a list of the Darwin Awards, I found the list funny, in a shocked sort of way. These awards are given to "commemorate individuals who protect our gene pool by making the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Darwin Award winners eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby improving our species' chances of long-term survival."  The criteria are as follows:

• Nominee must be dead or rendered sterile
• Astoundingly stupid judgment
• Cause of one's own demise
• Capable of sound judgment
• The event must be verified

The humor quickly wore off, and the Darwin Awards simply became--in my opinion--one more chance for people to look with disdain on one another, following the "stupid is funny" line of humor.

Some of the oldest "stupid is funny" humor that I remember came from the Three Stooges short movies. I also have noticed it with America's Funniest Home Videos, which has been on air for a whopping 21 years. The producers seem to offer a preponderance of video clips of people doing thoughtless things, getting hit where it hurts most (with gratuitous replays in slow motion), and hurting themselves in various other ways. And people think this is funny? Add to that the reality cop shows that show people making pitifully stupid and sad choices, and getting caught on tape. I've watched people laughing at those. And now YouTube provides a whole new collection of "stupid is funny" clips that people share around.

I suppose that one explanation for the "stupid is funny" phenomenon is that people are unsure of their own value. So when they see someone else do something that causes pain, something they have the good sense not to do, they laugh out of relief because they are reassured that they didn't, as my pastor put it, "fall out of the Stupid Tree and hit every branch on the way down."  But I surely do wish they could progress past that type of humor to something more sophisticated and less hurtful. This world could use a whole lot of non-painful humor.