Baby squirrel - Page 5

DanaC · 09-05-2007, 06:45 AM

Some of them. But not if it involves deliberate cruelty to animals or callous disregard for their well being. There's a big difference between showing a video where a cat has tried to leap to a shelf only to catch it with it's claws then fall down, and seeing someone set up a trap which will have potentially frightening or injurious effects on a wild creature.

Don't mistake me for humourless I just don't find this kind of humour funny. If we all had the same sense of humour, ity'd be a strange world. Of all the LOL pics the only one so far that I have found distasteful is the 'Get outta here!" one that shows a dog flying through the air with what looks like serious distress/fear in its eyes. Didn't find that funny, not until I can be sure it was set up and that dog wasn;t actually afraid. I don't find fear funny.

DucksNuts · 09-05-2007, 06:57 AM

What about ones where little kids get smacked in the face by another kid on a swing?

Or a guy who's ex wife lights his genitals on fire?

:p

I dont like cruelty to animals either, I think I have proven that over and over again with the strays and neglected animals I have taken in.

I'm not doubting your sense of humour, of course we dont all have the same tastes.

DanaC · 09-05-2007, 07:45 AM

I don't actually find the idea of someone setting fire to their husband's genitals funny. The only thing I found amusing about that story was the mental image of this divorcee living with his ex for three years, sitting naked in front of the telly with a vodka in his hand and wondering why she was upset.

If a kid gets smacked in the face by another kid on a swing? I've seen those and mostly i didn't find them funny. If the kid just looks startled maybe, but if the kid is actually hurt I am not laughing.

I don't in any way think you like cruelty *grins* you're far to nice for that shit.

DanaC · 09-05-2007, 08:06 AM

At the risk of total and utter threaddrift...I've been thinking about this since I posted that and actually, it isn't really the cruelty or pain that stops it being funny, for me. It's more the power differential between the two sides of the joke.

If a guy is stood by a pond and his mate walks past and pushes him in that would be funny. If a kid is running about like a mad thing and then bumps heads with another kid, there's that momentary shadenfreud laugh that comes before wondering if they're okay.

That's because there isn't a stronger and weaker protagonist. What upset me about the squirrel is that the human who made the trap is the stronger element, inflicting something onto a weaker element for their own entertainment. I had the same problem with deriving humour from the plight of Palestinians whose village was swept away by mud and shit because they'd dug away at the dirt for their own needs. I didn't find it funny, because we priveleged westerners were deriving humour from their 'stupidity' without taking account of the measure of desperation which may have led them to endanger themselves in that way.

It's all about the relationship between the strong and the weak for me.

HungLikeJesus · 09-05-2007, 08:17 AM

So, if it were a 400 lb bear, then it would be funny?

DanaC · 09-05-2007, 05:30 PM

Nope. If you'd managed to train a bear to lay traps I'd be impressed.

monster · 09-05-2007, 07:55 PM

Some things are just funny, no matter how unpleasant or unfair they are. that's life. I saw the clip, I laughed, even though I knew I shouldn't, even though I slam the breaks on everytime a squirrel runs in front of me regardless of what's behind me and even if it's a leaf that looks a bit like a squirrel (squirrels are the most common roadkill here and probably average about 1 per 10 feet in cities -they are that prolific) ((yes, sorry other drivers in AA -that is me)). I buy only free-range. I actively campaign against battery farming.... yada yada yada

But that clip is still funny.

lumberjim · 09-05-2007, 07:56 PM

ah.....honesty.

Flint · 09-05-2007, 10:42 PM

It would be funny to see the same thing, if it were somehow accidental. The problem is, as soon as I saw the complex rig this guy constructed, it took me about half a second to wonder "During the time it obviously took to plan and execute this elaborate design , why didn't he, at some point, know how wrong that is? What the fuck is wrong with this guy?"

A squirrel getting accidentally, or even impulsively, brought into comical peril, would be funny, yes. But the subject of this video isn't the squirrel, it's the guy who had all this free time, and this is how he spent it. That isn't funny, that's fucked up.

If you're the kind of person who can casually digest images, without wondering any deeper than the utmost surface, then I can see that this could be funny. If you put zero thought into it. Is that honest enough for you?

lumberjim · 09-05-2007, 10:54 PM

if by honest, you mean judgmental, yes.

Flint · 09-05-2007, 10:56 PM

If you find it funny, even after putting some thought into it, then that's even worse.

lumberjim · 09-05-2007, 11:06 PM

and it still doesnt change the fact that what monster said was honest. you can pretend to be above that kind of thing if you want to. congratulations on being so evolved.

Flint · 09-05-2007, 11:11 PM

I didn't say I was above it, I said my natural progression of thought moved faster than the video got to the punchline. It didn't have a chance to be funny. As I said, the same thing could have been funny, if it had been accidental or even impulsive, but the elaborate planning involved ruined that.

lumberjim · 09-05-2007, 11:16 PM

yeah, sure. ok.

Flint · 09-05-2007, 11:18 PM

Oh, please, please God, let lumberjim believe me. So much is riding on this.

09-05-2007, 08:17 AM	#65
HungLikeJesus Only looks like a disaster tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: above 7,000 feet Posts: 7,208	So, if it were a 400 lb bear, then it would be funny? __________________ Keep Your Bodies Off My Lawn SteveDallas's Random Thread Picker.

09-05-2007, 07:55 PM	#67
monster I hear them call the tide Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Perpetual Chaos Posts: 30,852	Some things are just funny, no matter how unpleasant or unfair they are. that's life. I saw the clip, I laughed, even though I knew I shouldn't, even though I slam the breaks on everytime a squirrel runs in front of me regardless of what's behind me and even if it's a leaf that looks a bit like a squirrel (squirrels are the most common roadkill here and probably average about 1 per 10 feet in cities -they are that prolific) ((yes, sorry other drivers in AA -that is me)). I buy only free-range. I actively campaign against battery farming.... yada yada yada But that clip is still funny. __________________ The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart

09-05-2007, 07:56 PM	#68
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	ah.....honesty. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

09-05-2007, 10:42 PM	#69
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	It would be funny to see the same thing, if it were somehow accidental. The problem is, as soon as I saw the complex rig this guy constructed, it took me about half a second to wonder "During the time it obviously took to plan and execute this elaborate design , why didn't he, at some point, know how wrong that is? What the fuck is wrong with this guy?" A squirrel getting accidentally, or even impulsively, brought into comical peril, would be funny, yes. But the subject of this video isn't the squirrel, it's the guy who had all this free time, and this is how he spent it. That isn't funny, that's fucked up. If you're the kind of person who can casually digest images, without wondering any deeper than the utmost surface, then I can see that this could be funny. If you put zero thought into it. Is that honest enough for you? __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio**

09-05-2007, 10:54 PM	#70
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	if by honest, you mean judgmental, yes. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

09-05-2007, 06:45 AM	#61
DanaC We have to go back, Kate! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 25,964	Some of them. But not if it involves deliberate cruelty to animals or callous disregard for their well being. There's a big difference between showing a video where a cat has tried to leap to a shelf only to catch it with it's claws then fall down, and seeing someone set up a trap which will have potentially frightening or injurious effects on a wild creature. Don't mistake me for humourless I just don't find this kind of humour funny. If we all had the same sense of humour, ity'd be a strange world. Of all the LOL pics the only one so far that I have found distasteful is the 'Get outta here!" one that shows a dog flying through the air with what looks like serious distress/fear in its eyes. Didn't find that funny, not until I can be sure it was set up and that dog wasn;t actually afraid. I don't find fear funny.

09-05-2007, 06:57 AM	#62
DucksNuts Bitchy Little Brat Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Queensland, Australia Posts: 5,067	What about ones where little kids get smacked in the face by another kid on a swing? Or a guy who's ex wife lights his genitals on fire? :p I dont like cruelty to animals either, I think I have proven that over and over again with the strays and neglected animals I have taken in. I'm not doubting your sense of humour, of course we dont all have the same tastes.

09-05-2007, 07:45 AM	#63
DanaC We have to go back, Kate! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 25,964	I don't actually find the idea of someone setting fire to their husband's genitals funny. The only thing I found amusing about that story was the mental image of this divorcee living with his ex for three years, sitting naked in front of the telly with a vodka in his hand and wondering why she was upset. If a kid gets smacked in the face by another kid on a swing? I've seen those and mostly i didn't find them funny. If the kid just looks startled maybe, but if the kid is actually hurt I am not laughing. I don't in any way think you like cruelty grins you're far to nice for that shit.

09-05-2007, 08:06 AM	#64
DanaC We have to go back, Kate! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 25,964	At the risk of total and utter threaddrift...I've been thinking about this since I posted that and actually, it isn't really the cruelty or pain that stops it being funny, for me. It's more the power differential between the two sides of the joke. If a guy is stood by a pond and his mate walks past and pushes him in that would be funny. If a kid is running about like a mad thing and then bumps heads with another kid, there's that momentary shadenfreud laugh that comes before wondering if they're okay. That's because there isn't a stronger and weaker protagonist. What upset me about the squirrel is that the human who made the trap is the stronger element, inflicting something onto a weaker element for their own entertainment. I had the same problem with deriving humour from the plight of Palestinians whose village was swept away by mud and shit because they'd dug away at the dirt for their own needs. I didn't find it funny, because we priveleged westerners were deriving humour from their 'stupidity' without taking account of the measure of desperation which may have led them to endanger themselves in that way. It's all about the relationship between the strong and the weak for me.

09-05-2007, 05:30 PM	#66
DanaC We have to go back, Kate! Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 25,964	Nope. If you'd managed to train a bear to lay traps I'd be impressed.

09-05-2007, 10:56 PM	#71
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	If you find it funny, even after putting some thought into it, then that's even worse. __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio**

09-05-2007, 11:06 PM	#72
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	and it still doesnt change the fact that what monster said was honest. you can pretend to be above that kind of thing if you want to. congratulations on being so evolved. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

09-05-2007, 11:11 PM	#73
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	I didn't say I was above it, I said my natural progression of thought moved faster than the video got to the punchline. It didn't have a chance to be funny. As I said, the same thing could have been funny, if it had been accidental or even impulsive, but the elaborate planning involved ruined that. __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio**

09-05-2007, 11:16 PM	#74
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	yeah, sure. ok. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

09-05-2007, 11:18 PM	#75
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	Oh, please, please God, let lumberjim believe me. So much is riding on this. __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio**

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