Why do you find this funny again??

I don't think the response of laughter is just human nature. I personally feel it's socially ingrained. Think about other cultures and wether all would react in the same way. I for one don't think it's funny, nor did I grow up doing cruel things like this to other people. The people who played the mean pranks were always the insensitive jerks who had to prove something or make someone else feel bad or look stupid to boost their ego. It's a "boys don't cry" kind of thing. And if you were sensitive to others feelings,(boy or girl) you are perceived as weak, rather than noble. Pranks that hurt others or make someone feel humiliated, or terribly frightened show a huge disassociation from emotion, as well as a spiritual detachment. No one with a true ability to empathize could do something at another's expense for entertainment.

Think of looney tunes and how those cartoons made hurting others humorous. Thing is cartoons don't feel. We are taught many places in society that this behavior is okay, and are rarely taught empathy. One of the big reasons our society is so jacked up.

Originally posted by smarterthanyou
reply to post by SkurkNilsen

 

Well there is no context to the video, which is why I posted what I did. Without context we are really just speculating. It is somewhat funny, but I think if that were me I would probably be pretty angry. Friends or not, they were still laughing at the other kids expense, they may see him as somewhat of a friend but still consider him an outsider enough to repeatedly do things like this, and because he wants to hang out with them he accepts it and moves on. I know because there was a kid that my friends and I would also mess with, and he wanted to be our friends so he put up with most of it. Now looking back, I feel really bad about it.

edit: The kid was kind of nerdy and what not and wasn't "naturally cool" type of person. But all the same. The kid in this video seems like hes probably not that kind of kid and they all mess with each other, just saying there are limits to how much you mess with someone before they finally snap.

edit on 9/3/2011 by smarterthanyou because: (no reason given)

Now you are adding context that isn't there, how do you know if this is something being done to the kid repeatedly?
The frames we are looking at doesn't say anything about them even being friends. Judging by the size of the kids it looks more like a disgruntled kid brother/sister getting their revenge, or that might just be another context that I'm adding.

Ok so where it comes from? Is it belly or head? What actually emotions are? It has more to do with body than our will, hasn't it? Maybe at first we have to know what body is. We have to dig deeper and see from above.
I had similar questions on yawning and I still don't know. Wow it's strong. I just wrote yawning and I'm yawning like lion lol

Originally posted by Wyn Hawks
...sometimes things are just funny and it has nothing at all to do with some ancient dna coding of how to respond to fear or upsetting situations...

I posted this video awhile back..cause I thought it was cute..

hardly the same context as the video provided in the op.. anyone with half a heart can see the difference.

Personally I find this thread more disturbing than the video clip.

I see things every day that I think are much, much worse (and more nonsensical) than this in society perpetrated against children.

I see parents terrified of teaching children how to safely use a knife (I live in the UK) on the assumption that with the random exception of butter knives the average child is incapable of even holding a knife without becoming a walking emergency. Or parents that teach there kids that if they ask the same question enough times that the parent will eventually say yes. I see kids of 12-13 locked behind doors not allowed to even go to the corner shop unsupervised.

Parents have become so risk adverse with there children that it borders on a form of (well meaning) child abuse at times.

Society is becoming a toxic environment because all bets are hedged and it is becoming taboo to say, think or do anything that isn't seen as completely safe.

Yeah a kid may play a practical joke and have it go wrong but think of the value to society and personal growth of those involved of all of the pranks that go right for each prank that goes wrong.


As for why we find it funny (personally I didn't find this clip that amusing), Why not MINOR suffering is funny that is simply how humanity is. Those who refuse to see little cruelties as funny are all to often those who are most unable to see their own darkness.

I've been pranked from time to time although not usually in such a slapstick manner and as long as it doesn't degenerate to to bullying I don't mind, my ego certainly needs to deflated a bit time to time.

Sorry if this post is a bit rambly I've got a headache and I'm tired but hopefully I've got my points across

It's funny to you for the same reason it's funny to everyone else. Something happened, that the runner, or the viewers didn't expect. Now you get to witness another get fooled. People like seeing others get fooled. It boasts their own ego a little because it wasn't themselves that got fooled. Sure it's harmless to pull a little prank on someone most of the time, but take this same principle to the extreme and you have a major contributor to social and moral value. That being said, if this sort of thing wasn't funny to us as humans, no one would cause harm to another.

Originally posted by Suspiria
Oh wow a teenager belly flopped on grass. I pray he's ok (sarc)
Seriously...

Some people act like they've never horsed around when they were young, pulled silly pranks and were only allowed out in a neck brace, blow up body suit and a crash helmet.

Hurting yourself is a part of life, some of us have ended up face first in the grass THAT'S why it's funny...

edit on 2-9-2011 by Suspiria because: (no reason given)

I second that comment It kind of reminds me of Charlie Brown, where Lucy Van Pelt always pulled the football out from under Charlie Browns foot right before he was gonna kick it! I know that was a cartoon but, we used to do waaaayyyy crazier things when I was a kid. Like get a grocery cart and take it to the top of a hill near the freeway and after the first volunteer signed up, we would push them down a 20 foot hill to see who was the fastest cart racer. LOL, those days hurt like heck, but man were they fun.

Stunts like in OP's video will always be funny to me as I was a rough neck little girl when growing up and did all sorts of stupid stuff that I laugh at to this very day. Except for that time I jumped off my grandma's roof with an umbrella

Aww heck...yeah, it was funny too

ETA: I see someone on the first page already mentioned the Charlie Brown scenario...I had not read down that far......it was still hilarious, especially with the artwork included

A.) That doesn't look much like a "young" kid to me.

B.) It's schtick. It's just funny.

We don't laugh because the man child possibly hurt himself we laugh because there is a little prankster in all of us that makes us laugh at such mischievous acts.

Its like the spoon gag... If you fall for it your a sucker... Especially this kid he fell for it repeatedly....



Grow a sense of humor. Not everything is going to kill you. Not everything needs to be run through the liberal PC machine. It's like the schools taking away dodge-ball kickball and other games that might get you "hit" with a ball... It's just nonsense. Getting creamed with a dodge-ball or thrown out during kick ball is part of growing up learning to cope with minor problems.

We shouldn't bubble wrap our entire planet... You take a risk you might get hurt... These things help us grow character. We already have a generation of kids that feel entitled need nannies and act like completely helpless pansies.

I have had enough of giving every kid a trophy, I'm tired of kids that just can't go on after a little scrape without a lollipop shoved in their mouth. Kids screaming in the floors of the local grocers or at my favorite restaurant. Kids are soft enough and sensitive enough as it is. They need discipline, competition, a scrape here a bruise there. It's life and they need to learn to live it and suck it up once in a while.

Originally posted by confreak
OK, it's funny, I just had to laugh, but what is the deep down reason for it being funny. Some might not even find it funny, so just want to discuss the reasoning.

I wouldn't laugh if that happened to me, but would understand why others would laugh because I'm laughing at this video. So the questions remains, why do I find it funny? But maybe it can help me out if I find out why others would find it funny, if they find it funny. And why wouldn't they find it funny?

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7aef492e1c41.gif[/atsimg]

Edit to Add:
And no, that's not me.

edit on 2-9-2011 by confreak because: (no reason given)

what a stupid thread, i dont find it funny at all. sure theres the possibility it might be funny but only for young kids. what is happining to humanity ps jus woke up

reply to post by constantwonder


Awwww man dodgeball..lmao, I hated that game...lol. The boys were always throwing that ball hard as heck
Remember duck duck goose? When it was my turn I would always slap the kid on the head the hardest if he got me in dodgeball

You have a very valid point...leave the freakin' bubble wrap alone people. Let your kids have fun! Of course my dad was not happy about the minor injury I suffered after my leap of faith off the roof, but he laughed with me just the same

Seems to me people are missing the point.. if the kid had hurt himself by landing on the mat..and it broke..or something to that effect.. it could be considered as horseplay gone bad..and if he didn't get hurt..yeah..it would be funny..

Many of us are not saying bubble wrap your kids so they don't get hurt....what we object to is some kid willfully kicking the mattress out from under him... so that he could fall HARD on the ground.

But I guess being mean is funny to some..so I'll leave it at that.

Just don't try and say I'm an over protective parent that wants to bubble wrap my kids.. because I 'm not.... but I do believe in fair play ...and what transpired on that video wasn't fair.

For all you cool tough people out there..who think this is nothing..and all part of being a kid....and as long as nobody dies..no harm done.... well..I want to hear what you have to say after your child is seriously injured from another child deliberately wanting to cause pain..just for the "fun" of it.

Geez..if no fatalities happen..its all in good fun..yeah right.. what a load of malarky. A kids face could be seriously burnt as well as arms and legs..but its all cool..cause the child that tripped him as he was walking by the fire pit..was just joking around...I mean c'mon lighten up..nobody was killed.

Why do you find this funny? you ask.. A funny theory come to my mind..

Could be kind of a social oil - Think about it for a second, as the boy getting the faceplant, would you be more likely to respond with vengance towards that girl if the crowd was:

a) Laughing
b) Taking it all serious and going, OMG B*TCH, YOU ALMOST KILLED HIM!
c) Very worried mommy style I'm gonna sue for doing that to him

Funny thoughts!

We are programmed to laugh at the misfortune of others. It's especially funny when it's unexpected.

Here's what happened to me...

Some years back I was at a BBQ to celebrate a 30th birthday - we were all about that age and the host had hired a bouncy castle which had a sign on it saying that it's not for adult use (!) It only had walls about 5 feet high with nothing above to the canopy. I was bouncing from one side to the other. As I was flying towards one of the walls a friend bounced off one wall into the wall I was flying towards. The result was that the wall dropped by about 2 feet and I flew right over the top and landed on a fence post and broke two ribs! Everybody laughed!!! Admittedly they didn't know about the ribs at that point! But from a purely slapstick point of view it WAS funny - even I think so and would probably have laughed at the time if it wasn't for the pain!

The Germans have a word for this, it's called "schadenfreude".

There's also a wikipedia article on it. And yes, I laughed at the original .gif post.

Originally posted by gabby2011

Originally posted by ColoradoJens
reply to post by Violater1

 

You are praying for that poor child to be ok? Do you live in a box? Good on her for kicking it away - the kid probably deserved it.

CJ

??? what is wrong with worrying if the child is ok?

Let me ask you this..if that was one of your kids... and you saw some kid do that to him or her, and they splatted on the ground..injuring their wrist perhaps.. would you look at your kid..and laugh.. and tell them they probably deserved it? If you wouldn't do that..you are being a bit of a hypocrite..no?


yeah..its all funny till it hits close to home..isn't it.

I have to add here... I'm very surprised at your response... like its stupid to worry about the kid..?? (shakes head).. go figure.

edit on 2-9-2011 by gabby2011 because: (no reason given)

I cannot believe stuff like this. Hurting their wrist is a serious repercussion when it's YOUR child? Wow, are you also the kind of mother which doesn't let kids play outside and uses far, far too much ant- bacterial spray?

I think his point was that it is ridiculous to take this too seriously/ righteously. I think most people would laugh- sometimes especially because it is their child. It is a silly trick while messing around with friends/ siblings.

yeah..its all funny till it hits close to home..isn't it.

For goodness sake- you say that like it is some kind of edgy joke about cancer.

Oh, and please don't go the whole "I'm a mother..../ You would be a terrible parent" route....

reply to post by confreak


the simplest and best answer?

Because.



Now, why even ask?
You could say the same for almost ANY emotion.
Why did you cry?
Why did you get angry?

Are we supposed to feel bad? feel empathy? Is this a guilt trip/ Are we being scolded, albeit passive agreesively, for laughing at another human being being "hurt"?
You know what the greatest thing about LIFE is? the ability to find humor in even the darkest of things.
Gallows humor.
Laughing at your own stupidity.

Did i laugh at this video. No. I did think it was amusing. But i didn't laugh. Does it truly matter why I found it amusing? Does my finding amusing speak to some dark part of my being?
I think we are overanalyzing it.
We have to laugh at life. We have to laugh at the bad as well as the good.
I , personally, believe nothing is off-limits. You won't offend me. You CAN'T offend me.
Why?
I refuse to be offended.
At the end of the day we are just people. Good things happen, bad things happen. We live and we die.
So what is there to be offended by?
It's the offended, not the offender, who gives power to the offense.
A word? is nothing.
syllabels. letters. sounds. wind.
We take ourselves and our world much too seriously
RELAX.

Now, here is something to laugh at:

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by yes4141



I will not apologize for caring about a kid who gets a cruel prank played on him.. and anyone who can say that I'm out of touch with reality and an overly concerned mother..can kiss my motherly you know what..

I will not back down on my position on this.. and those of you who want to make me out as some hyper vigilant bubble wrapping mother.. .. can go watch your kids get splatted on the ground for a good laugh.

I am shocked...at some of the responses on here... but mostly very very saddened..

Have a good day everyone..I'm done with this thread... (feeling pretty much done with humanity as well)

For those of you who do understand my position..I am grateful..and thank you for being humans with a bit of heart.

I would only find it hilarious if the guy who smashed into the ground was not hurt very much like a rash from the grass or a muddy face

reply to post by confreak


I've noticed that sociopaths who do not seem to understand many forms of humor will laugh at this sort of thing. And even people hurting themselves much worse than this (or getting killed). FWIW.

It doesnt even make me smile.