On Joking

Another from Nyah Wynne to get things started.

Somehow we have gotten this notion in the culture that humor is value-neutral. That something being a joke means it doesn't mean anything, it doesn't affect anything. But it's absurd. Humor has a powerful social function. Several in fact. It can help people bind over shared adversity. It can smooth over feelings of social discomfort around uncomfortable or uncertain events and ideas. In this last, a message about how to think about something is often included implicitly. But it also plays a very large role in social censure and definition of in/out group. As social censure it acts as an attack against people -doing- things that are culturally deemed unacceptable but not so bad that they warrant punishment(or where social systems don't exist to enact punishment). This can be very useful, as mocking those acting rudely or engaging in petty cruelty can help to correct those actions, or can be destructive if the taboos they enforce/reinforce are unjust.

But this same social censure can end up targeting whole groups of people along utterly arbitrary lines. And when they do they tend to create/reinforce and recreate in each new generation systems of social advantage/oppression. Humor is possibly The Strongest Inculcation Tool for teaching prejudice. Because it is a set of social cues we are primed to respond to without thinking. Because humor has such a strong group-bonding component, the social incentive to laugh along with the joke is high. And when you see others laugh with the joke, the incentive to tell similar jokes is high. And the group bonds over it, and the message sinks in without really ever being critically appraised. And eventually that message forms a baseline subconscious assumption about the world unless you run into a strong reason to actively work to weed it out.

It ends up defining on a deep level who is and isn't fully worthy of empathy. Who 'deserves' abuse. Who should automatically be respected and who shouldn't. And these same things end up coloring how we see the world. How we respond to what people in various groups say and how they act. Who is given the benefit of the doubt and who is suspect.

Because the same mechanism involved in many of these sorts of jokes is the social tool we use to single out rude people, or liars, or people who cheat. It's never just a joke. It's a bit of prejudice you learned at some point that you never even noticed yourself learning, which you are passing on without realizing you are doing it.

And the people it targets aren't likely to find it very funny.

In general a useful analysis of joking.

The in-group bonding function of humor is its most important function.  Jokes about the out-group reinforce the behaviors that are unacceptable for the in-group.

Why I am Not a Feminist Part n + 5: Feminism Ignores The Basic Women's Issues

 Motherhood: In most species, including humans until circa 1960 (women controlled contraception) males are expendable protectors and providers for the nest, den, home or whatever. 

Females of all species until recently had no control of fecundity and bred whenever a male was available to protect the territory around the den and provide food for the brood. The female was necessarily preoccupied with breeding and training offspring until they were ready to exist on their own. Males competed for the opportunity to breed by exhibiting the ability to protect a territory and provide resources for the female.  

Unfortunately, from the beginning (I was there as a parent in a dual career marriage with children) “Feminism” had nothing to do with equal opportunity or equal rights for women. It was about not treating women as sex objects and breeders.  News Flash!  Males and females are sex objects in all species that want to survive as a species, and generally only the females are breeders. 

This is what “Feminism” was against and why I am not a “Feminist” nor a “sexist.” I am a human.

If “feminism” were dealing with women’s issues like supporting proper education for young women, supporting working mothers, and supporting mothers in general, note that 99+% of mothers are women, instead of trying to change male humans into something else, I would be an early feminist by definition. “ Feminists” refused to support my circa 1970 case for a full tax deduction for child care expenses to enable both parents to work full time jobs and refused to support an appeal when I lost in tax court. I couldn’t afford the appeal I had to pay the tax and continue working full time to support my family. They were too busy shaming cat-callers and trying to change English from the use of “men,” male pronouns and “chairman” from generic human to specifically male only.

How Elite Rooter San Jose, Ca uses good service to scam.

1.  Use a low price which incorporates a "Senior Discount" (You don't get both) and excellent service on a first drain problem to generate good reviews and call backs.  Use friendly, well dressed people with shiny new equipment on the first call, exact time projections, with office follow up, etc.

2.  On a call back send a typical plumber with well used equipment to fail to clear the drain and generate a need for an inspector/estimator/salesperson with drain cameras and tech tools to find the problem for a $440 inspection fee to be refunded if the job was done as agreed. (Actually added to the bill)  The snake the second plumber used in my second call was, I found out later, only 15 ft. long for a 30+ foot pipe and had no auger, just the bare cable.

3. Have the salesman use both jobs to generate lies about reasons to replace drains under the house camereas and tech tools are replaced with lies and props to justify inflated estimates for "immediately necessary" work, including an inflated estimate for a full job.  As usual both owners had to be present
at the presentation so that the person most affected by the problems was in on the pitch.  Whatever is needed to close the sale immediately is promised, but not delivered.  E.g.  an itemized invoice was promised "As soon as I get back to the office." but the itemized invoice was simply the same job description as provided at the sale. (in an email which somehow disappeared from my inbox.  A call said the detailed invoice couldn't be provided until the job was completed. 

4. Final bill, is not presented until after the 72 hour recision period is closed and is not negotiable in any case.  "We are paid by the job, not the work done." Pay up or I file a lein on your house for the full balance." 

5. Management will agree to negotiate, but are never available for either phone discussion or in person meeting.  Insist on somebody to talk to and the "manager" repeats we are paid by the job not the details, except for insurance companies.      














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