This is something Iāve been meaning to talk about, and I may do a full blog post at some point, but hereās a capsule version:
The Benign Violation Theory of humor, which is probablyĀ the best one out there,Ā suggests that something is perceived as funny when it is simultaneously perceived as violating how the world āshouldā work and as benign. Something like theĀ āgunā meme, for example, is funny because it violates our sense of how a joke should progress, and at the same time itās harmless.Ā
Racist/sexist/etc shock humor violates our sense of how the world workāin either aĀ āthatās not true!ā orĀ āyouāre not allowed to say that!ā wayāand therefore whether you find it funny is based on whether you find it benign, which is to say either you think itās harmless or you donāt care about the people it harms. (This is the root of the punch up/kick down distinctionājokes that punch up are funnier than jokes that kick down because the people they target are less vulnerable and therefore less likely to experience harm.)
So yes, science agrees that if you think racist jokes are funny, the reason is that you donāt care about the feelings of the people the joke is about. Thereās a word for that.
turnnoffyourmind
jacobvanloon
vaporwave
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
dededos
kianamaiart
baratheonpilled
