Thoughts on Negative Humor

Any of my really close family and friends out there know me well enough to know that I enjoy a good laugh, and if any of you know me REALLY well, you've once before heard my Irish bean soup joke that is sure to please a crowd! We've all heard that stats on smiling and laughing.. How smiling takes far less muscles and less energy than frowning. I believe God intended for us to be happy people and beings. I believe without a doubt the God created laughter! What would you want from the people that you love dearly? Happiness AND laughter of course!

But then we get to a point where we reach a fine line.. MOST jokes are harmless.. but there are those that come at the expense of peoples feelings. This is where negative humor comes into play.

What is negative humor? Simple- Negative humor is any joke or something that passes for humor that is at the expense of another human being, organization, company or group of people. Simple. Easy as that. Now, many people wonder.... How something meant as a joke, could be used in a negative light. Again, not rocket science- making fun of someone, regardless of who it is, is NEGATIVE. Simple. Easy as that.

Growing up my Dad was the youth group leader. I was very aware of his stance on how we should treat others, but one things he absolutely did not tolerate was negative humor. Some people ask why.. My dad always said that along with negative humor there is always a tiny bit of TRUTH in the joke.

I've recently had an issue come into play where this came up. Handling these sorts of issues AREN'T easy. How do you tell someone that what they do or say has consequences and consequently they involve you? OOHHH, it's hard. Without stepping too hard on toes, you have to be open an honest and explain how it makes you and others feel. When negative humor comes into play, without a doubt I am my fathers daughter and can spot it and just want to squash it! It's not fun. Once you explain how it makes you and others involved feel, you have to let it be and the rest is up to them, and you hope that they respect your feelings.

These things are not meant to detriment relationships. Sadly, in my case it did... and honestly I'm still confused as to why..... I am an open book. I am not afraid of confrontation when something truly bothers me in any manner! And especially when I'm faced with constant negative humor. We are created to build people up, but why is it so easy to bring people down? We can stop this. Encouraging words cheer a heart. Negative humor tears a soul.

My focus this week, an for every other week in the rest of the year is to encourage. Encourage, encourage, encourage.


What do you think? Have you experienced negative humor? How have you tried to stop it? Has it worked?



-Ogden Love

1 Thessalonians 5:11

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."