Madeleine McCann jokes

On a related theme, I used to be part of an email 'group' with some guys I went to football with and they were forever making cracks about somebody, usually the same victim, being a paedophile because he expressed a liking for Natalie Portman, who was quite young at the time. Round about the same time, there was a news story about someone seen hanging around a playground and there was great anger amongst some of the worst bullies (because that's what I think they were), who said that if anyone went near their daughters, they would 'fucking kill him'.
I didn't really get this - how they could be making jokes and calling one of the group a 'pervert' and a 'kiddy fiddler', whilst expressing massive outrage at a real scenario. They didn't see a contradiction and I suppose this is a similar thing. It's not real until it happens to you.

I am reminded of another tragedy leading to jokes:

Q: Did you know that Christa McAuliffe was blue eyed?
A: One blew left and one blew right.

Q: What were Christa McAuliffe's last words?
A: "What's this button do?"

Q: What were Christa McAuliffe's last words to her husband?
A: "You feed the kids - I'll feed the fish."

Q: What does NASA stand for?
A1: Need Another Seven Astronauts
A2: Need Another Shuttle Also

Q: Did you know why there was only one black crew member on Challenger?
A: They didn't know it was going to blow up.

Q: Did you know that NASA has a new space drink?
A: Ocean Spray - It was their second choice because they couldn't
get 7-UP.

Q: When the next shuttle launches into space, what will the senior
controller say?
A: "72, 73, 74 BOOM! - Just kidding guys!"

Q: What do Playtex tampon users and Christa McAuliffe have in common?
A: They both should have stayed on the pad.

Q: What does a sea lion, the space shuttle and Tylenol have in common?
A: They're all looking for a tight seal.

Q: How many people will fit in a Florida Volkswagen?
A: Four in the seats and seven in the ashtray.

Q: What's the difference between the Patriots and the Challenger?
A: The Patriots made it past Miami.

Q: What do Christa McAuliffe and Donna Rice have in common.
A: They both went down on the challenger.

Funny or not?

The subject of many jokes is not funny. There are so many jokes made about death, etc.

The reason is the fact that Komland keeps bringing up my name, even though I am and was not the only woman who commented on the jokes. The reason why they keep picking on me obviously lies somewhere else, and they use this topic to get back at me for something, maybe even make others here dislike me as well, and that is just pathetic.

Hear hear (I couldn´t resist clicking on this again unfortunately). Not that they would care anyway, however certain people´s reactions to these jokes have changed my opinion of them and as for the original poster... .

I think Marshbot makes a good point. Of course there is nothing funny about what may have happened to this individual child, but we make cynical jokes about it for the same reason we make jokes about illness, death, etc. Bad things - very bad things - happen in the world, they always have and always will. We wish they wouldn't, but we are powerless to change the world, so we try to cope by making jokes. I would even say if you can stomach jokes like that, it raises your awareness of the true horror of the worst things mankind is capable of.

As for why Ed Bob started the thread, well I'm pretty sure he wasn't thinking "Ha ha, that's a funny joke, I think I'll share it". I imagine his only purpose was to get a juicy debate going and I bet he's sitting back and enjoying every minute of it now. In fact, it rather reminds me of a contentious image he posted in another thread. It may be just a coincidence, but I can't help wondering if the all-knowing Ed Bob was making a subtle and clever point with his tasteless joke in that thread because he had sussed out that the person in the pic was from the same home town as me, his point there being that if I am amused by stuff that he finds offensive, well then he can post stuff that will offend me (well actually it didn't, and maybe I'm reading too much into it anyway). In any case, do not underestimate TT's leader. Ed Bob moves in mysterious ways.

Marshbot for mod. Ahem.

Congratulations. You've all fallen for the real joke. Nice one, EB.

I've never liked dark humour like this, whether it be about a child, the space shuttle, tsunami or 9/11 etc, but I can't help but basically agree with original posts from Marshbot and ER in a way. I think what gets me most is that many of those complaining are the sort that would usually make such jokes about other subjects involving people dying - so it smacks of double standards to me - people who get too aggressive about and want to lynch 'kiddy fiddlers' strike me as having a bit too much of a mob mentality that usually reminds me of when 'the mob' attacked a paediatrician's house

I for one don´t think I am being hypocritical as I don´t find "bad taste" jokes funny nor participate in those threads. Though it would be hard for me to say I have never laughed at any black humour to some extent (movies and TV shows, thinking of Blackadder perhaps and any movies involving hitmen or death).

Perhaps I am boring or spiessig, but I was brought up in a family that laughed at Fawlty Towers, The Two Ronnies, Are you Being Served, Dad´s Army etc and that is where the core sense of my humor comes from.

That would be the part about the wonky eye, right?

As usual, one can split the responses to this thread into a few groups:

• People who are truly offended by these jokes and are voicing their views
  
• People who feel it is their duty to tell others how uncool or stupid they are for looking at this thread, reading it, feeling disgusted by it and who feel the need to justify their own positive reaction to this thread
  
• People who couldn't give a damn about the contents of this thread or the views expressed on here
  
• People who are using this thread for generating traffic, thus income
  

There are only two things of mild interest on this thread. The fact that once again the different users are behaving exactly the way one expects them to behave and the fact that the majority of people feeling offended are people who have their own children. I think that says more than enough about it.

And this thread would've died like a dog had it not been for all the sanctimonious people in the first two groups clicking on the damned thing and posting their holier-than-thou opinions. It was a beautiful troll from the owner of a generally troll-unfriendly site which exposed an awful lot of hypocrisy. Rather than ignore the thread they thought was so horrible, people clicked on it, read through it, and then felt the need to respond from their ivory towers. As I wrote before, pure comedy gold.

woof.

You forgot

• Those who don't feel duty bound or have a need to justify their own reaction (either way) but who are actually interested in the way people respond to apparently taboo subjects and how people can make claims about others morals and personalities simply based on their own distaste.
  

I must admit, I'm over the jokes. Only read them the once, laughed, cringed and would have forgotten about them probably but this lucky glimpse at reflex behaviour is just too fascinating, well done EB.

I think it's bizarre as well as hilarious... an awful lot of posturing all over a few dark twists on words covering a subject that's been in our faces for the last few weeks.
Btw, the last peg hole is not right either, there are parents who have posted on this thread who can't see what all the huffing, puffing and twisted panties is over either.

I'm sure everyone has laughed at some form of dark humour. Just think about the poor wildlife in the world these days, and how human expansion into their habitat has caused many creatures to die in unnatural and painfully long winded ways. How humans are either ignorant of completely immune to the suffering of these animals, and will happily maim or kill animals they could easily avoid, and go about their business as if nothing had happened...

Or, to put it another way, "Why did the chicken cross the road"...

Wildlife dying is black humour?