Did I offend you? Good!
2/9/2007
The rights and freedoms that Unites States citizens have, and often take for granted, help to make this a great country. Countless people in this country’s history have fought for equality and justice to ensure that the groups they represented were treated fairly and equally.
Largely, these advancements in equality were great achievements not only for the individuals directly affected, but the country as a whole. It is healthy for individuals to accept and respect other individuals’ rights. Sure, there are still vast areas for improvement in certain areas but we have made measurable progress. There is no other country that shared and prospers in such a diverse society. Our differences are often some of our largest strengths.
Respecting people’s rights and humor do not often play nice together however. There are countless examples that illustrate this that most of us encounter in some form every day. Go into any comedy club and you will likely here jokes centered around stereotypes and prejudices. Jokes that rely on stereotypes are funny because they are “widely accepted” generalities. It is also widely accepted that humor is a good way that people relax and enjoy themselves. Why is it then that people have forgotten to laugh?
Recent Super Bowl ads illustrate this very well. People have historically looked forward to the game’s commercials for entertainment just as much as the actual game; perhaps sometimes more so. Yet less than 12 hours after the game ended there were calls for several advertisers to recall their multimillion dollar ads. Why? People have forgotten how to laugh at themselves.
Someone that laughs at a stereotype is not automatically discriminatory. Seeing an advertisement and thinking it is funny is not going to “create” a bigot, racist, chauvinist, or anything for that matter!
The first ad, a Snickers commercial, depicted two manly mechanics that kiss after eating the same candy bar. After realizing what they had done the men proceed to rip their chest hair out to show their manliness. Gay rights activists jumped all over this and demanded that Mars Inc., remove the ad and apologize to the gay community. Why do they feel they have the right to dictate what others watch?
An anti-suicide organization also asked that General Motors Inc., stop airing their Super Bowl commercial about a mechanical arm that dreams about jumping off of a bridge.
Get off of your hyper-politically correct pedestal and enjoy the commercials for that they are, a humorous attempt to brand their products. No one was intended to be offended by the ads and yet people have found a way to take them too seriously. No one that saw the Snickers commercial became anti-gay because they watched it. No one decided that they were going to take their life or think that suicide was a funny issue because of that commercial.
If you do not appreciate the ad in question, let the company know or individually boycott their product, but do not try to convince others that they should not watch or, heaven forbid, find it funny.
The problem is that people think they have the right not to be offended. Why can’t people take things as humor anymore? You cannot do anything without some group objecting. You cannot and will not make it through life without falling at the short end of someone else’s joke at some point. Everyone needs to learn to laugh at themselves and not take something as stupid as a commercial so seriously.
Why? Just Because!