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Inappropriate Humor

I was surprised by the disgust that I generated with my post about Saddam’s execution. People said they’d never read my blog again. Other people said they had lost all respect for me.

My reaction to this disgust was “Someone once respected me? Cool!” But I also spent a lot of time trying to understand exactly what the issue was.

Judging from the comments, the problem had something to do with the fact that killing a human being is not funny. At least not right away. You have to wait. Some of my favorite jokes involve people who got killed a long time ago:

“Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”

“Easter is the day we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead, seeing his shadow and forecasting six more weeks of winter.”

The “killing” part of those jokes doesn’t seem so bad now because a lot of time has gone by. I’ll still burn in Hell for comparing Jesus to a groundhog, but that’s an entirely different issue.

You can also make jokes about generic people who might be dead soon. Here’s one of my favorites:

A moron calls 911 and says in his moron accent, “My wife just collapsed!”

The dispatcher says, “Calm down. Where are you located?”

The man says, “I’m on the corner of Eucalyptus and Pine.”

The dispatcher asks, “How do you spell Eucalyptus?”

There’s a long pause and then the moron says, “I could drag her to Oak.”

I’m assuming I won’t have to wait too long before it will be okay to make light of Saddam’s execution. Five years, tops. I suppose it’s the economist in me that wanted to get some immediate value from it. I’ll put it on my calendar. I like having things to look forward to.

Comments

Any leader who causes the deaths of innocents and his own people. deserves the death penalty. The real irony here is that it was done under a country with a leader/administration that is guilty of the same. I dislike Saddam. However, We invaded on a lie. If he weren't found guilty by kangaroo court, by our own law we would have been forced to restore him to power and pay reparations to Iraq. In all fairness, I believe the people responsible for the start of this njustified war need to be tried in the same court system Saddam had faced. Undoubtably, they would be subject to the same penalty. Of course, This won't happen as they creators of this war, as well as, the complacency/assistance of Osama/Bush team in the creation of the "New Cold War" with no clear enemy and no defined enemy in a world with only one superpower, have exempt them selves by law from procesution for their actions. Why do you suppose such a document would be created? New World Order is not created without bloodshed.

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i must say i am Glad to hear that you are feeling a bit better. I see that the pirate theme is back!
While I was in Disney World, I got a chance to ride the new revamped Pirates of the Carribean (sp?). It was really cool how they worked Captain Jack Sparrow into the ride. They even had a guy dressed up as him outside the ride giving tips on how to be a pirate. The kids seem to love that character!
http://www.gordoniihoodia.net

i must say that I'd say the value of a person's life is commensurate with the respect they showed for other peoples lives; therefore aborting and unborn fetus would hardly be the moral equivalent of hanging a psychopathic genocidal dictator.

Speaking of tasteless jokes about the dead, this has to be near the top...

Roman Soldier to Jesus: "Put your feet together, we're running out of nails."

http://www.gordoniihoodia.net

how many people mistake your and you're ?

No such thing as inappropriate humor, premature or poorly timed, of bad taste maybe but not inappropriate.

Lots of people inappropriately self-labeled as having a sense of humor though. Liking to laugh does NOT mean you have a sense of humor.

Most jokes or humorous situations have a least one victim. The detachment or empathy to the victim or situation will influence the perception of the joke or humorous situation. e.g. I break my femur while slipping on a banana peel and tumbling down stairs while juggling booger balls. While extremely funny for unrelated onlookers, I’m pretty sure my mom wouldn’t laugh, nether would I. A few weeks later I’m sure my mom and I would certainly find the situation funny but that’s not the point. Now for the good part; my mom would probably get angry at the laughing mob as I would not. I have a sense of humor, she likes to laugh.

The best comedy is tragedy... plus time.

I like giraffe jokes too. I was talking to a friend about the South Park movie and the line about what noise a dying giraffe makes. His response:

"I don't know. Probably something like: Timber!"


Saddam was guilty.
He paid for it with his life.
Mocking someone's death is inhumane.
Even if it is Scott

Saddam might have enjoyed taking life ....
stop and think
Do you enjoy seeing someone die ...
Saddams animal instinct saw light ...
But there are millions who didn't get an oppurtunity ...


Two wrongs won't make a right.

it's called a "sense of humor" for a reason. It's like the other senses we humans have. Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, etc. Some of these comments just go to show that some people have the humor sense a little stronger than others. Humor just happens to be my strongest sense!


Keep up with the jokes Scott, they're all good!

Dude, I so totally liked those Saddam jokes. I wish he was like Jesus, and came back after 3 days - so we could hang him all over again. Then he'd be dead, but his legion of sicko fans (syncophants?) could say at least he was well-hung.

(rim-shot).

Man, if you can't crack wise over the fumbled execution of the bloodiest mass-murderer since Pol Pot (or since Michael Moore cannon-balled into a pool filled with anorexic super-models), what's the point of humor?

I mean, "what would Dogbert do?" Any of your readers who can't go along with your efforts to channel Dogbert (who clearly would be making sick jokes about Saddam and his new nickname - "Stretch" Hussain - ought to go read Nancy cartoons ...

"People said they’d never read my blog again. Other people said they had lost all respect for me."

I had a similar reaction to your post about Steve Irwin. Judging by the fact that the post was removed very quickly, I guess I wasn't the only one.

I still come back now and then, but you're not in my RSS reader anymore.

I can't read the Saddam post anymore though, so I can't say anything about it or compare the two.

This is the funniest thing I have read all week.

Adrian D. posted:
*******************************************
"[TrickyPickle wrote: Execution has NOT proven to be any form of deterrent for any crime.]

"True enough, but it's done wonders for the recidivism rate among those subjected to it... :)"

Oh, you must be supportive of Saddam's death camps, then. After all, none of the bodies went on to commit further crimes. As for the fact that many of them hadn't done anything wrong, that's just the way the death penalty works.
*******************************************

Which I have to say is a classic example of reading a fairly cogent post, hallucinating its meaning and replying to that hallucination.

Sweet Jesus, I was making a joke about his statement about the death penalty. That's what the smiley-face emoticon is supposed to infer, you nitwit. In no way did I make a statement one way or another about the death penalty. You inferred that erroneously. The subject is humor and when it may or may not be appropriate at a particular moment.

See if you can unwad your panties and have a semi-intelligent conversation about the subject. That, and go find that post Scott did a couple months ago about arguing on the internet.

*I* still respect you Scott! Just ignore all those other stupid lemon eaters.

"No-one deserves a death-penalty, and everyone deserves respect for being basically human throughout their lives."

Whoa! I think if one of the thousands of people who sadam had tortured and butchered had been YOUR mother, father, daughter, or son, you just might have a different opinion on the extermination of sub-human vermin like sadam hussein.

I have more respect for a cockroach crawling across my kitchen floor.

They should have used a bungee.

"Why should anyone who deserves the death penalty get any espect just because they are going to die?"

What a stupid fallacious question. No-one deserves a death-penalty, and everyone deserves respect for being basically human throughout their lives.

People seem very quick to take offence. It always sounds feigned to me - an affectation of offence, made because they feel it is expected of them.
"I've just seen your casket... and it's made of ham."
It's funny on so many levels, from vitriolic sacreleige (I approve) to the pythonesque... Perhaps the coffin would be better made out of Spam - Spam is more mouldable, although of course you could use thinly sliced reformed ham, and build it up in layers like paper mache... heh heh heh. Spam.

Hi Scott,

The truth is, they were not upset because your comments were inappropriate. They were criticizing you because they are suffering from self-destructive delusions of moral superiority. Loss of humor, selective memory, and undeserved mercy are common problems among the pantie-waste of the western world. These mental midgets couldn't think their way out of a paper bag, much less through a witty blog post.

Saddam was as evil as any man who ever walked the planet. His death was way too easy, and way too fast. We should ridicule that piece of s*** and his memory whenever possible. I spit on him and all of the jackasses that defend him. They are the same ignoramuses that supported "Tookie" Williams and have repeatedly tried to pass laws defending pedophiles.

Humor is a weapon against the rising tide of stupidity and evil (aka anything politically correct). The world needs talented mockers like you to belittle deserving targets. Don't let troglodytes deter you. Evil and defenders of evil deserve no respect. Our best course is to mock them at every opportunity. Thank you for performing this public service. Who's next on your list?

Looks like lot of people have misunderstood what the inappropriateness is all about ...

Lets get some points straight:

- I don't think there is anyone among the fervent bloggers who believes Saddam Hussein is not guilty.
- There may be some among us who do not accept CAPITAL punishment. I may be one of them, but in this instance I wholeheartedly accept it. Noone deserves it more than Saddam Hussein. This is a case of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".
- I mean if USA catches Osama and orders him to be hanged given that he has already taken responsibility of the crimes, will THESE so called humanitarians march from New York to DC praying for life sentence to Osama instead of Capital Punishment??? Give me a break

The following is considered ISLAMIC law:
- If you have VOLUNTARY sex outside your marriage, YOU WILL BE STONED TO DEATH
- If you steal something, YOUR HANDS WILL BE CUT OFF
- If you an unmarried adulterer, YOU WILL BE GIVEN 100 LASHES
- Its a right of the heirs of the person murdered to take the LIFE OF THE MURDERER
- If you do something which causes an permanent injury to a limb, THE SAME WILL BE DONE TO YOU
- If you speak against ALLAH, the following may be mercifully done to you
(a) CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
(b) HANGED TILL DEATH
(c) ONE HAND OF ONE SIDE & ONE LEG OF THE OTHER SIDE WILL BE AMPUTATED
(d) EXILED (If you are so very fortunate .. read rich)

So, whatever was done to Saddam was proper Justice.

If there is anyone here who believed Saddam is innocent or have the opinion that he has been dealt a sudden and unwarranted injustice or he doesn't deserve hanging, YOU ARE BASICALLY SHIT! Even though we all have opinions and they are compared to arseholes, this particular opinion STINKS!

Saddam deserved to die the most painful, excruciating, agonizing, humiliating death that his mind and body would have taken. Many of us (including me) will feel that he got off lightly- just a pull of the lever and he is dead. What about the pain he caused all those years to the people?? I know some people will talk about the barbarism involved in such activities and we are human and blah blah blah ... Tell that to those victims of Saddam's machinations. JUSTICE is best served SWIFT & COLD!

Now IMHO, the INAPPROPRIATENESS was all about the hanging video.
- Is it good taste to make fun of death? I don't mind. People have the right to make fun of anything they find suitable. I don't care if you make fun of Gandhi or Jesus or your neighbor's dog.
- Unfortunately, humor is something best perceived by the individual. No two people have the same taste and all good things might offend a few. So its obvious that death jokes might often tickle people in the wrong way.
- IMO, (correct me if I am wrong) even the most vocal supporters of death jokes won't make fun of a death in the family. Will you make a video of your mom dying and put in you tube? The case if not about the innocent and the guilty but about death itself. So, where's the logic?
- I would have cared less if Saddam had been stomped to death by an angry (rightful) mob or beaten to death with stones or bones dug from the mass graves.
- I don't care if his casket was made from Rasputin's extra large penis.

Most of the bloggers either felt that Hussein was guilty and deserved to die or that Hussein was guilty but he didn't deserve the death penalty and should have been dealt a more humane punishment. This is totally beside the point.

- How many of you meat eaters have watched the videos of animals (poultry, cow, pigs, sheep) slaughtered?
- How many of the morons who watched the Hussein video with/without audio have recorded the death of a family member or a pet dog?

I felt the HUSSEIN HANGING video to be inappropriate. Is there something different or inappropriate in making fun of an Innocent's death (say Theresa or Jesus or Gandhi or your mother) and say someone like Hitler or Saddam or Idi Amin? I don't see any difference as long as you are NOT showing me the death videos of any of them.

- Ashok

"You think the only governments the U.S. should deal with are the one's that are moral bastions of goodness?" -jim
No Jim, I think that if we want to have any moral authority to say that something is right or wrong then we MUST show consistency in dealing with any situation. While it is true that each situation is unique, there are certain basic underpinnings that shoudl be handled consistently. e.g. Sudan currently has a serious genocide going on and the government isn't doing everything that it could to take care of the problem. WE just say hey you shouldn't be allowing that. Then we turn around and invade Iraq and try Saddam for genocide that happened in the past. We are not effectively dealing with the deaths that we can prevent.
Yes we do "use" people to accomplish our goals, but in order to be a respected and productive member of society you ahve to adhere to certain standards, and prevent greater harm if you can.
We can't tell others not to do horrible thing while we still do it ourselves, no one is going to listen to use. You can't tell your kid not to do drugs while you've got a line of cocaine going up your nose and expect them to respect what you say.
You can't say that freedom is important while taking away liberties to make us safer. Nothing that the government does is going to truly make us safer. Removing dictators or "Rouge" nations (a nation that does what it wants regardless of the general world concensus - i.e. America, N. Korea, China) isn't going to make us safer, just shift the threat somewhere else that we then have to ferret out.
If someone is going to commit an terrorist act they'll have planned it in such away that the worst ones won't be found out, but the little pissant ones will. Fear doesn't make us safer, intelligent and well thought out plans do.

[TrickyPickle wrote: Execution has NOT proven to be any form of deterrent for any crime.]

My favorite line from Dennis Miller (I am paraphrasing) is when he is debunking people that say that we are lowering ourselves to the level of the terrorist when we do things like this (ignore, for a second, that it really isn't "us" doing this). If we do this they win. His line is

"Well, at least there will be a lot fewer of them at the awards ceremony!"

I was once told that the only thing funnier than seeing a guy dressed like a little old man fall down a flight of stairs is seeing a real old man in a wheelchair fall down a flight of stairs :)

"[TrickyPickle wrote: Execution has NOT proven to be any form of deterrent for any crime.]

"True enough, but it's done wonders for the recidivism rate among those subjected to it... :)"

Oh, you must be supportive of Saddam's death camps, then. After all, none of the bodies went on to commit further crimes. As for the fact that many of them hadn't done anything wrong, that's just the way the death penalty works.

I think your sense of timing is perfectly fine.

Even David Letterman and his corporate television network bosses at CBS were poking fun at Saddam's corpse' expense last night (Wed. Jan. 3rd) You're no worse than network television, and if the FCC is still practicing muscle-flexing, you've nothing to feel guilty of unless they slap CBS with a beefy fine.

Let all the overly sensitive folk buy helmets already. It's a joke, people. You can like it or dislike it, but to criticize to the point of censorship is THE slippery slope that we dare not move down, lest we become the very thing we're supposed to be fighting against.

[TrickyPickle wrote: Execution has NOT proven to be any form of deterrent for any crime.]

True enough, but it's done wonders for the recidivism rate among those subjected to it... :)

i'm still waiting for the dead gerald ford jokes.

I wonder if the people complaining about the Saddam jokes are the same those who support the American invasion of Iraq.

No offense, but it seems to me that to an average American mind it's a bigger sin to tell a joke than massacre a nation.

I blame it on the television.

Why is it "Saddam" as opposed to "Hussain"?

We don't call Hitler "Adolf". We don't call Bin Laden "Osama", so why do we call Saddam by his first name?

The thing that did surprise me is I felt slightly sorry for him as he was taunted before being hanged. Oh well, get on with day...

The blog offend me compared to the reality? Nope, not going to happen.

One jem from Terry Pratchett springs to mind though:

- Yes, it seems he was strangled before he was hung.
- Hanged.
- What?
- Hanged. Men are hanged. It's dead meat that's hung.
- Ah I see. Beg pardon. First he was strangled, then, he was hung.

It's funny that people reacted that way. Just before Halloween, I got into an online "discussion" about the appropriateness of some costumes. For instance, one person was strongly opposed to a child wearing an Indian (Native American) costume. I asked, would it be appropriate to dress as, say, Ghengis Khan? I went on to ask at what stage would wearing a traditional Indian head dress be NOT considered racist.

Having red the PC 'all viewpoints must be respected' I could not resist this one.

My viewpoint is that all other viewpoints should not be respected - should that viewpoint be respected?

Funny, I thought everyone was so sick of the war that nobody even cared anymore. I didn't even watch it, but really enjoyed the post.

By the way, you're on my favorite author's list, up there with John Donne, Robert Frost and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. There's a little respect to brighten your day.

perhaps if you'd phrased it in the form of a 'they killed kenny' joke?

and as a side note.. are there any truely bad giraffe jokes?

Well, jokes should not be made on reality as the truth and life is not just a mere passtime,we should tend to take it seriously.

I just wish that all these uptight people would get their pink panties out of a wad...

HALiverpool wrote: "NOTE: many commenters would have used the word loose in the previous sentence instead of lose. Read a frakking dictionary, morons."

He is the only person on this page who used the word loose. What a fucking weirdo.

NOTE: HAL would have used the word frakking in the previous sentence instead of fucking. I guess frakk the dictionary.

[On a side note - killing people and not getting punished for it is wrong, but here's a scary thing to think about - what would have happened if Saddam had become one our good friends, again. We would have forgotten the whole mass murder thing, or at least our government would have.]
- white tiger something or other

So? You think the only governments the U.S. should deal with are the one's that are moral bastions of goodness? Good luck with that. America is going to have to deal, real soon, with Syria, Iran, probably Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, China, and others that do some horrible things. That's what the world has dealt us. You gotta play the cards in front of you. And, if you really think Saddam was our "friend", you are nuts. We used him. We'll use other leaders. That's what we do. That what you do in your daily life. You have to balance feeding yourself and your family with a ton of things. I may think my boss is a pig (i.e., screwing someone who is not his wife, drinks too much, stealing office supplies or petty cash, or whatever), but until I can find a better job, I don't think I'll march into his office and let him know that I can't work in such a rathole. Its impossible to get around. Hopefully you and I do things in a way that is morally acceptable.

Oh my god (I don’t actually have one, it’s just an expression), the hypocrisy of the people who make comments on this blog is driving me crazy. I sure most of the offended parties laughed at all the jokes while this asshole was alive.
Now, suddenly that he is dead, he is off limits!
Get a grip on reality here, the jokes were about how hated this guy was and not about some philosophical discussion on human mortality.
But alas if you buy into Scott’s free will theory, these people have no choice but to be hypocritical, it seems to be a genetic defect in all humans.

The death penalty serves no purpose other than to satisfy ambiguous feelings of revenge. Execution has NOT proven to be any form of deterrent for any crime. The big factor in crime deterrence is rate of detection. If there's an 80% chance of being caught, with a penalty of only 1 year in prison, then you'll see few people attempting the crime. If, conversely, there is only a 10% chance of being caught, with a penalty of death, you will see some people taking the risk. Killing Saddam wasn't necessary. Sure, a lot of folks felt some measure of satisfaction but that amounts to little more than having the average Joe say, "Serves him right." then immediately getting on with his life. It's not as if he was still dangerous in any shape, form or fashion. And for the folks out there who seem to think the Iraq war has been such a disaster for the US in terms of life loss, kindly note that such numbers (3,000 or so)would have barely added up to a proper skirmish in any of the great wars. I also keep hearing people jumping on those americans because they found no WMD's andtherefore there were never any. For heaven's sakes they knew he had 'em 'cause they sold some of it to him. The UN has a listing of them, google it yerself. They were there then, and are not now. No evidence has been found to say they were disposed of. Ergo they may still exist. How much ordinance do you think could have been moved out of Iraq in the 4 or 5 years they spent refusing weapons inspectors? I suspect a search of Syria may prove educational. And yes, I think Iraq now is better than Iraq then. Remember the Iraq/Iran war? Now THERE were some serious casualties.

Dwayne's comments are interesting for a variety of reasons, mainly for the ways in which those who wish to can take offense at them.

1 The joke about American Soldiers killed by a roadside bomb is easy to take exception to.

2 The comparison of American Soldiers with Saddam is likely to cause upset.

3 Attributing such a casual attitude to death to muslims can be seen as offensive

I am sure there a hundred other ways to get hacked off at the post but my point, and I do have one, is that Dwayne's post, taken as a whole does not, endorse any of the views above but uses them to, rather confrontationally 'appeal to the better angels of our nature'. Because of this I find myself questioning my attitude to the conflict.

Thank you Dwayne and Scott for providing a forum that has allowed this 'moist robot' to be partially reprogrammed

There was nothing wrong with your post. It is YOUR blog, Scott.

Jeffro

I didn't realize humour could ever be considered inappropriate.

Ho hum.

You are wrong

[You totally convinced me with that argument! please let me adore you!-Scott]

Shame on you Scott Adams !!

Surely given the seriousness of the situation you could have come up with some better jokes !

(In case you didn't like my wtc jumper yokes)

An US general said to the press:
"Our bombing campaign had some really positive effects on the Iraqi economy. All over the country warehouses are popping up and therefor we are increasing the bombings"
-"But general, that can not be true!"
-"Of course, it's true. Ask any Iraqi. He will point in any direction and say: 'There were houses, there were houses and there were houses'"

Completely unrelated to this post: I found an article on the NYT that seems to have been written for (by?) Scott:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/science/02free.html?pagewanted=3&ei;=5087%0A&em;&en;=1fb04ffddd27042e&ex;=1168059600
It's entitled: "Free Will: Now You Have it, Now you Don't"

"Surprised?"

Your humour was "offensive humour". Like toilet jokes, jokes about jesus or jokes about the recently deceased.

The main reason offensive humour is funny (to those amused) is that it is risque.

If no-one was to be offended at all, it wouldn't, very likely, be funny.

This, unlike sarcasm, is ACTUALLY the lowest form of wit. If you don't find said thing offensive, because you aren't easily offended, then it is very hard not to see such humour as puerile. I didn't laugh, but I wasn't offended. It just asn;t actually funny, separate from the subject matter being slightly "wrong".

One thing unarguable about that type of humour is it betrays the opinions, and certainly the lower-offensive-threshold, of the joker.

I'd bet I could offend you in ways that I, and others, would think were ridiculous.

I won't though cos it would be mean! And I love you, you are Godbert. Dilbert probably secretly prays to you, although Dogbert is an obvious devout athiest.

Jon G

Keep up the sick jokes, Scott.

I am amazed that there is so much shock that the people in the execution room taunted Saddam.

It seems it's OK to hang some one if you are respectful but not OK to hang some one if you taunt them to their dying breath.

Personally, anyone who has done some thing that deserves capital punishment...ooo...like, say, gassing Kurds, genocide, state-sponsored torture etc should be hounded and taunted constantly all the way to the execution chamber and through out the execution.

Why should anyone who deserves the death penalty get any espect just because they are going to die?

Apparently Letterman thinks that Hussein jokes are fine. Last night's Top Ten was things overheard at his execution.

On the day of the London bombings, barely even an hour after the first reports about the underground came in, in our office we were cracking jokes about Mornington Crescent and other such things.

I work for the British Railways, we were setting up an incident control room at the time.

There are many people I spoke to after that day who practically condemned me and my co-workers for our dark humour, but what they fail to realise is that here in the UK this is an accepted way of dealing with things. We don't wail, we don't engage in public grief, we stick our middle fingers up, curse, and get back to what we were doing.

Saddam Hussein t-shirts are on ebay now.
It says on the listing that the neck's a bit tight but they hang well.

I'd got that by text within an hour of the execution.

Just link back in five years. It will be like getting a free post :)

Personally I think that a whole new world of Saddam's scrotum jokes is just waiting to be opened up...

Is that your new coin purse?

I like to think of it as a coin "sack"!

Nice, that is twice as big as the one I got off of Hitler!

Hitler? I don't believe in him. The satanic Americans made him up. If he is real then show me your sack.

Um, I am not showing you my sack.

Ah, HA! I knew it. The holocaust was a fake publicity stunt!

-----------

This could just go on and on.

I quite enjoyed your post about the execution. It actually inspired part of my post yesterday. I guess some folks just have no sense of haha.

Sorry, this may be a little late (or off-topic) but...

Prior comments criticized the the video of the execution and suggested that this was evidence that it was a staged event. I watched the video, and obviously (to me) this was an unauthorized capture, probably through a cell phone.

I wouldn't post without sources, though: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070104/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
Read the story yourself on Yahoo! homepage.

On another slightly off-topic note, I've recently heard that President Bush has killed more people than Saddam Hussein did--can anyone verify this (with evidence)?

Thanks--keep blogging :)

I'm suprised to see that people were offended by your Iraq post, I actually had to go back and read it again to see what was offensive...still can't tell though. I guess my sense of humour is as dubious as yours.

I'm trying to think why people would get upset. I know from experience that someone is more likely to feel offended over something they have an insecurity/fear about. Iow, they fear death. Whereas I see death as a natural part of the circle of life, it's neither good nor bad, it just is. When someone dies, the pain of no longer having them in your life is horrible, but it doesn't make death itself horrible. I'm not afraid of death. I'm cautious of it though, as I am of all things when I don't know what's waiting on the other side of the door.

People also get upset because they feel it's an inappropriate joke. Iow, they reckon they "SHOULD" feel upset about it, that society "Should" frown upon it so they'd better get out there and register that they're on the side of good moral values, so society will accept them, and they'll be one of the popular crowd. And in the process they start believing their own bull*****, and when they do they become even more self-righteous thinking they have to convert the rest of the world.

People lie to themselves about their reasons for doing things. They think they do a think because they've decided to do it, but they haven't. A lifetime of social conditioning and belief systems creates a failproof system where they will always react in a predictable way as the alternative suggests that their earlier beliefs are wrong. And it's close to impossible for most people to admit to themselves unconditionally, that they were wrong about something.

If only people will take the time to wonder WHY they get upset about the things they do, maybe they'll be able to work through their issues.

Then again, my argument about wanting to work through your issues again proves my belief system, that the reason for my existence is to grow wiser, to evolve spiritually.

We are nothing but moist robots after all.

i don't see any point of joking about the dead of any 'living' thing at all, not even animal, not to mention human, be it a good, bad or evil human. What's so funny about that ? furthermore, the 'Bushes' killed many many more human in both gulf wars, including maaaannny sacrified young american soldiers. Now, the enemy is hung, and that's not funny. Anyway, this is just me. Others can joke and laugh about it, i won't.

OK, Saddam was a sadistic oppressor. Now he's dead.

HOWEVER, while he was in charge, there were no car bombs. Iraq was far from free - just like today. It was far from a save country, but not as far as it is today. Bush Senior left Saddam alone - why was that? Was daddy somewhat smarter then his (formerly) drinking son?

The killer is dead, heil to chaos.

OK, Saddam was a sadistic oppressor. Now he's dead.

HOWEVER, while he was in charge, there were no car bombs. Iraq was far from free - just like today. It was far from a save country, but not as far as it is today. Bush Senior left Saddam alone - why was that? Was daddy somewhat smarter then his (formerly) drinking son?

The killer is dead, heil to chaos.

Scott, I was deeply offended by your desecreation of former President Abe Lincoln. Your insensitivity towards his wife is utterly appalling.

What does a kebab and beautiful girl jumping from the burning wtc have in common?
You wouldn't eat either of them once they touched the ground.

How did the firemen react to the jumpers when they were inside the tower?
They were crushed.

How did the surviving firemen react to the report from the EPA that the asbestos laden smoke was safe to breath?
They coughed at its efforts.

If you are serious about your argumentation I'm sure you can come up with something a lot more funny than this. You used Lincoln instead. So I'm guessing it has to do with something more complex than just yokes about death. I think it might have to do with your target audience.

Funny's funny, and for every pucker-mouth that felt compelled to post a complaint, there would be umpteen (maybe more) readers that sat and sniggered, then sent a link to their friends, who told their friends, who told their friends and so on - and more of them will have laughed than complained...

The only time I find that a sick joke isn't funny, is when it somehow relates to me or someone I know/care about - but for my one puckered moan about it, loads more will laugh.

And while it's true that perhaps time makes it more acceptable to make and appreciate such jokes, the fact that they're no longer topical takes the humerous edge off - you've got to strike while the iron's hot! Recently when a well known wildlife expert lost his life in a tragic marine-based accident, I first heard about it on the car radio on the way into work. When I arrived minutes later, there was already an message in my inbox containing a faked up still from a news show involving the denial of involvement by a member of a well-known 60s puppet show - now that was fast! Poor taste, yes....but it was still funny, not because it was a humerous event (it wasn't!), but because it was clever.

I'm so agains death penalty, so I tried to call them to complain. But they hang up on me..

Here when we don't want to speak to somebody on the phone anymore we now say.. I'm gonna 'Saddam you'.. which is hanging up ofcourse.

Mr. Adams,
yes you are going to hell for inappropriate humor about the hanging of Saddam Hussein, and I will be right next to you for laughing at it. "No noose is good noose", that ought to be a new classic.

We had the same BS here after princess Diana died. You coudn't joke about it for weeks. I find some jokes not funny but I don't remember ever telling someone off for trying to make a joke. Very sad, but I suppose someone has to work as a school teacher.

"I’m assuming I won’t have to wait too long before it will be okay to make light of Saddam’s execution. Five years, tops. I suppose it’s the economist in me that wanted to get some immediate value from it. I’ll put it on my calendar. I like having things to look forward to."

Thats a good way to plan your retirement... HAHAHAHAHA!!!

I liked the thing you wrote about Croc Hunter's death. Too bad you gave in to "ethics" and removed that.
It was a nice sparkle of fun in all that sadness that his death caused.

I think death jokes are like ethnic jokes. You know how it's okay to, for example, tell a racist black joke if you yourself are black? Well, I think it's fair game to tell jokes about death if you yourself are mortal. I'm going to die someday, so I claim the right to make jokes about death. Scott, I assume, is also going to die. QED

One reason "nobody cared" when we bombed the bejeesus out of Afghanistan was that there was at least some evidence that Osama Bin Laden was there someplace. People were pissed about Iraq because Bush claimed it was connected to 9/11, even though it was no secret that this was a lie.

You never read Dostoyevsky Scott. Thats why you could make such a comment on your blog. The problem not many people will tell you what it feels like to be standing there, about to be executed, about to see the end of your life, about to pass away into oblivion, as if you have never been. Most people won't tell you, coz the people who can tell you will be dead.

Dostoyevsky faced the firing squad. He escaped luckily, when a rider on a horseback riding at full gallop came and shouted the executioners to hold fire. He had a letter from the Czar to change the punishment to hard labour in Siberia.

Don't worry Scott, I found your Noose from Iraq post funny. Those that didn't and found the time to complain specifically (why come to this blog then?) have both a sense of humour failure and too much spare time.

Saddam is dead. Ha ha ha.

Scott, lets have a series of jokes on the holocaust.. why don't you mock the Jews dying in the gas chambers .. if you have the courage...?

Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck

Here's the thing about the current American involvement in Iraq. Regardless of one's personal feelings about everything that has happened to this point, it HAS happened, and thus we must work from the vantage point of what we've been given/what we've brought into being. Yes a civil war would be a tragedy. But, by nature, it is not ours to stop. Our own civil war was a necessary part of building the nation in which we live today. Not to say that I think Iraq should plunge full-tilt into a civil war, to the contrary I wish they would perhaps see some form of reason and act civilly. However, this may be impossible. At any rate, the American presence there has done all it could do, which is establish the ability for Iraq to develop its own democracy. We should not expect an entire culture to be capable of suddenly turning around and listening to our logic. From here, it is really on the Iraqis to come to terms with each other. The American presence merely directs violence toward our troops. Saddam's death means that the era of that dictator now has final closure. Personally I really don't have a problem making fun of the man or his death, because his actions displayed a clear disregard for human life, and thus he deserves the same. The truth of the matter is that we must learn that we cannot hope to control all the problems of the world, and no matter how you spin it, that is what America attempts to do. And no, I do not just mean the government or the current administration. We as a nation try to conform the world to our image, and that is an insane goal on two levels. First, some cultures simply won't function well in our way of life, regardless of how they function in theirs. Second, there's absolutely no way that one country can possibly deal with all the problems EFFECTIVELY. We undertake all these great causes on a grand scale somewhere far away, and consequently can ignore any problems in which we can actually affect change. All of this was really just a long-winded way to say that, in reference to the scale of the problem, making fun of Saddam is really insignificant to the outcome of anything to do with Iraq. Let the man degrade a mass-murdering dictator so he has not even the infamy he would wish in death, but rather lives on as a joke of a man, so his actions are not just frowned upon, but ridiculed and seen as a state of the lowest low.

It's always funny for me to see how people tend to ignore one thing and blindly focus on another. Nobody had a problem when America bombed the bejeezus out of Afghanistan, but as soon as Iraq is mentioned everyone has an opinion. I guess I'll side with no-one on this and decide that maybe I'm just too ignorant too really have an opinion. I just don't see why the execution of a mass-murdering asshole is less acceptable than the execution of a serial killer.

Or, the one that came out hours after Sonny Bono had his skiing accident.
"ski area weather report. generally cloudy, but sunny around one tree."
Even Cher laughed.


I don't like the death penalty too much (my worry is if they execute someone who turns out to be innocent), but I wasn't offended by your jokes about Saddam. Seemed fitting. He did so many awful things, it seemed well-deserved.

Reminds me of a joke that Spike Milligan wrote for the Goon Show (which later morphed into the World's Funniest Joke [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5064020.stm]):

Bentine: I just came in and found him lying on the carpet there
Sellers: Oh, is he dead?
Bentine: I think so
Sellers: Hadn't you better make sure?
Bentine: Alright. Just a minute
(Sound of two gun shots)
Bentine: He's dead.

You have a lot of defenders, Scott. There seems to be some confusion over whether it is politically correct people who objected to your Saddam post or Christian bible thumpers (surely these tend not to be the same people?). Given that they are nice, easy pigeon holes that relieve us from the pressure of thinking, the hard-of-thinking are putting things in such simplistic terms.

Of course, you have supporters that aren't hard of thinking. But the idiots are a vocal minority, aren't they?

I stand by my objection. Given the horror of the worsening, ongoing situation in Iraq, and how this is a symptom of an ever-spiralling crisis, it's kind of like making fun of September 11 while it was still happening.

Yay! The shi'ite guards of Saddam chanted the name of a shi'ite warlord as he was hanged! Yay! His execution provocatively took place on a Sunni holy day! Yay! This will probably exacerbate sectarian tensions and lead to many, many more tortures, mutilations and murders! Yay! Maybe we'll get a civil war!

(This is all on top of the regular not-making-fun-of-dead-people-immediately taboo.)

I hope your supporters realise that this is not just about political correctness, or any other ideology (not for me, and I'm assuming not for most of the "objectors"). This is about people who are concerned about laughing at a horrific situation, a nasty execution, and a man's death.

Give it time, and wait for it to be less real and relevant, and I'm sure some of those people will feel differently (I don't mind morbid humour with the benefit of time and distance-from-the-events), but that doesn't make their feelings and concerns less authentic or less worthy. The tone of your post implies you think that it's somehow hypocritical.

You got a shock over the Steve Irwin thing, didn't you, and took down your post? You can't be so surprised that people objected to this. Although, Steve = Fun! and Saddam = Brutal Tyrant (albeit at times supported by the West), so the two cases have that major difference.

(For the record, keep blogging! I enjoy it, and if I ever object to something, I don't think that you should remove it. It's still food for thought, after all, and I don't want you to feel like you have to restrain yourself.

(I'd rather persuade you round to a more natural understanding of what may be appropriate - so instead of saying "hmmm... maybe I shouldn't write this, I'm worried about what X, Y, and Z might think", you instead might say, "that particular gag is a bit nasty". In other words, your own sense of appropriateness changing out of something other than worry about what others might think.)

I just have to smile and laugh at all the neigh-sayers and "goodie-two shoes" that inhabit. They get pissed off at all the wrong things and when someone does things the exact way they want it they get pissy cause you think they're mocking you, and nobody is immune from it. Everyone in the world in some small way is a bigotted, stereotypical, close-minded, hypocritic, little asshole even the Pope, Mother Terresa, and possibly Jesus himself, he can't have carried only the burden of sin of other men and not himself. But no everyone only execpts the truth that fits into there narrow worldview, others are a bit broader than others but still you can't escape it these people are people who think that everyone thinks like them and if everyone thinks like them than they must be right about every issue and everyone needs to know it and everyone who doesn't are either lost sheep that can be brought to the "light" or horrible monsters that should be butchered and may there soul burn in hell for eternity. There I done, this is too depressing. Oh and Scott people still respect you but they're the ones that are like you and don't see the need to say so that if you just meet them you could see it without speaking words, or that it will transfer through their comments unfortunatly(for them) the tone is lost in the translation and it could turn up as mockery.(Like now but you could never know unless you meet me or I told you)

You have a lot of defenders, Scott. There seems to be some confusion over whether it is politically correct people who objected to your Saddam post or Christian bible thumpers (surely these tend not to be the same people?). Given that they are nice, easy pigeon holes that relieve us from the pressure of thinking, the hard-of-thinking are putting things in such simplistic terms.

Of course, you have supporters that aren't hard of thinking. But the idiots are a vocal minority, aren't they?

I stand by my objection. Given the horror of the worsening, ongoing situation in Iraq, and how this is a symptom of an ever-spiralling crisis, it's kind of like making fun of September 11 while it was still happening.

Yay! The shi'ite guards of Saddam chanted the name of a shi'ite warlord as he was hanged! Yay! His execution provocatively took place on a Sunni holy day! Yay! This will probably exacerbate sectarian tensions and lead to many, many more tortures, mutilations and murders! Yay! Maybe we'll get a civil war!

(This is all on top of the regular not-making-fun-of-dead-people-immediately taboo.)

I hope your supporters realise that this is not just about political correctness, or any other ideology (not for me, and I'm assuming not for most of the "objectors"). This is about people who are concerned about laughing at a horrific situation, a nasty execution, and a man's death.

Give it time, and wait for it to be less real and relevant, and I'm sure some of those people will feel differently (I don't mind morbid humour with the benefit of time and distance-from-the-events), but that doesn't make their feelings and concerns less authentic or less worthy. The tone of your post implies you think that it's somehow hypocritical.

You got a shock over the Steve Irwin thing, didn't you, and took down your post? You can't be so surprised that people objected to this. Although, Steve = Fun! and Saddam = Brutal Tyrant (albeit at times supported by the West), so the two cases have that major difference.

(For the record, keep blogging! I enjoy it, and if I ever object to something, I don't think that you should remove it. It's still food for thought, after all, and I don't want you to feel like you have to restrain yourself.

(I'd rather persuade you round to a more natural understanding of what may be appropriate - so instead of saying "hmmm... maybe I shouldn't write this, I'm worried about what X, Y, and Z might think", you instead might say, "that particular gag is a bit nasty". In other words, your own sense of appropriateness changing out of something other than worry about what others might think.)

I'm surprised that these people are still around to complain. The style of humour in your blog is pretty consistent, yet it seems every day there is somebody complaining, often about elements that are true of most of your entries. (it seems comments on bathroom humour and foul language are pretty much daily affairs)

you know I saw the video, and it looked and sounded like there was gonna be some head shrinking later in the after-hours party.

Scott,

I wish there is a way to track the % of negative vs positive feedback. Since we know some (a percentage) people always complain - tracking an average get us a better grasp if there really is an abnormal high number of negative comments than "normal".

What do you think your normal negative feedback % is..?

Take heart, Scott. You're in the same boat as Mark Twain. Pretty good company.

Humorless PCers lambast Twain today for Huckleberry Finn, too ignorant and pissanty to see Twain's satire of racism, condemning him for the same thing he was condemning.

Talk about your irony.

BTW, I've coined a new term: Goldwinger.

Read all about it at (shameless self-promotion):
http://samthornton.blogspot.com

I think maybe the fact that people didn't like the Saddam post is that he died in a violent and barbaric way. That's why making fun of Jesus is OK. He only died after being whipped, tortured and nailed to a.... oh, I don't really have a point here.

Jason Allen, I agree. FTR, I oppose both.

So Jesus walks into a hotel. He hands the guy at the front desk three nails and asks "Can you put me up for the night?"

Too soon???

I dont see what all the fuss is about, its just a joke right? i'm sure that soon enough a video someone took with their phone will pop up on youtube (if it hasnt already) and have 1 million views ... in the society we live in today i find it hard to distinguish fact from cartoon strip... it dulls the pain of watching a televised execution.

RPK sez: " I still haven't heard any jokes about the JFK assasination."

My favorite goes along the lines of when someone asks a question with an obvious answer and I reply, "Are the Kennedy's gun shy?"

What I find amusing about the reactions to the post are that the same people that constantly harp on about "defending their freedom of speech" seem to not believe that it should apply if it happens to not agree with their point of view.

Most people are more than happy to defend what they call a "civil liberty" when it is convenient for them, but then complain the loudest when that same liberty is used in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable.

As a truly great Australian said only the other night: "You only have the right to be offended once, if you continue watching (or in this case reading) what offended you all the way to the end - shut up, it's your problem" (Rodney Rude, Jan 07)

Heaven forbid we disrespect a Genocidal Maniac.

Whats the difference between Saddam and a giraffe?

The Giraffe's neck can hold his head up!

Scott,

I actually thought the post about Saddam was hilarious. After all, there's something very satisfying about the death of a ruthless tyrant dictator.

The complaints are from bleeding-hearts who think death penalties are inhumane and can't accept that Iraqi's don't give a rats ass about what WE think is humane.

to Billf:

Q: Where did Christa McAullife spend her vacation?

A: All over Florida

Remember the "I'm Batman" commericals from a few years ago...
New one for the WTC...
MAN on 33RD FLOOR: (Rock has just hit him on the head, acting a little confused) I'm Superman!!! Look ma' I can fly...........

No, to much?

What do Christopher Reeves and WTC victims have in common? None of them could really fly either.

RE: Elizabeth Baker
"I for one think that he got off easy - they should have shoved bamboo shoots under his fingernails and made him experience the things that he forced others, who were innocent, to undergo."
Hmmmm, you seem to be the reason that the Geneva convention was made. As a human race we have to have certain standards in order to live together somewhat harmoniously - killing regardless of whether your victim is unknowing or has been convicted by a court of law is still wrong. Just because your enemy is brutal doesn't mean that you have to stoop to their level.
Hey the jokes were funny, the death wasn't.
As for making people undergo things what about what our own adminstration has forced "detainees" to undergo. No nation has the right to call itself just and honorable when it is hypocritical. Even if they're just toeing the line, or saying I'm not going to let the rest of the world tell me what is acceptable. Or how about the thousands that have died because of war, or because we didn't go to war, or the fct taht we still haven't caught the "Mastermind" behind Sept 11th Mr. Osama.
To condone torturing a human being, regardless of the circumstances begs the question, Where do you draw the line, why should you be treated any differently - a person who thinks it is quite capable of it.
Maybe we should follow the Bush doctrine and start punishing people because of things that they might do in the future, or have the capacity to do. How about the minority report, you haven't done the crime but you'll do the time. We know that you will. Even if we drive you too it.
Mainly I feel sorry that you can't even find in your heart to say that you'd rather watch the man hang rather than rot in jail for the next 30 years, unable to go anywhere or do anything. Locked in a little room with a cot and a toilet, let outside for 1 hour a day...for the 30 years.
It's also a little scary that attitudes like yours probably start a couple of neighborhood fights back in the Dark Ages - a couple of tussles called the Crusades. Remember, keep your enemies closest - which doesn't typically involve insulting them or their religous beliefs.
Eaten anything other than Fish on Fridays latley? Or how about something that isn't Kosher, or maybe you're a vegan and think killing plants to eat is better than killing animals. Everyone has beliefs that should be respected.
[On a side note - killing people and not getting punished for it is wrong, but here's a scary thing to think about - what would have happened if Saddam had become one our good friends, again. We would have forgotten the whole mass murder thing, or at least our government would have.]

Jason Allen commented:

"I've noticed that people who oppose abortions generally approve of executions. Many of them support public executions and some of them seem to get off on the idea. People who support abortion rights generally oppose (sometimes rabidly) the death penalty.

Either life is a miracle that is too precious to end, or it's not. Make up your mind, people."

Jason, I can't pass your comment by without pointing out a very obvious flaw in your comparison between two types of people. There is a VERY big difference between:

a) approving of the death penaly for people deemed by society to be convicted of terrible crimes against society, while at the same time disapproving the aborting of the life of a completely innocent unborn baby, and

b) approving the aborting of the life of an innocent unborn baby, while at the same time opposing the death penalty for guilty mass murderers, etc.

Position (a) at least makes internal sense, even if you happen to disagree with either one or both of its two stances, but position (b) just makes no sense whatsoever.

Take it easy. Actually nobody is reading anybody's blog anymore because of that video. It doesn't mention which side the blog's author is on - it's completely enough just to mention that video to piss everybody off.

If you can't laugh at inciting a civil war, what can you laugh at?

"It's Scott's blog. Why should he even give a damn what people think about his posts?"

Right.... I say what I want on my blog and if others don't like it that is just too damn bad. But, Scott is trying to make a buck where I could care less.

In fact pissing people off may be a way to make more money.
Billy B

I mean seriously! Politics is about polls. Worldwide,
you know. Anyone heard of Richard Nixon in gayfans,
er, I mean Yesfans? He was the kind of guy that won
national election with over 60% of the vote. Hello?
Anyone remember that? Sometimes like 70%.... He was
not the type of man to quibble over details if you
were in a personal conversation. He could make just
about any interlocutor seem dumb and silly in seconds
if he wanted to. Plus he was a multiply published
author. He did NOT listen to Mohammed. As to whether
or not he was crook? So what. His stance on literacy
is more important to me. And I’m sure my man
Shaquille O’Neill would say the same thing. He
has a Master’s degree you know.

Nixon’s margins were high. Kind of like George
Bush and America in the U.N. when taking a V-O-T-E
about whether or not to enter Iraq because of sanction
violations. They don’t really give s&%t what
morons like us say in blog-o-sphere. If it starts
making a difference I’ll move the moon. (The
internet is playtime, not decision time.) In the U.N.
the Iraq war was approved kind of like the way Richard
Nixon was elected in 1968: a huge margin of approval.
Isn’t that COOL!?

The Archangel Michael reminded me of the seriousness
of Mohammed and his manhood, and told me to sober up
and ‘cool’ it. I looked in the mirror,
praised the Creator that I don’t look like the
damn gossip rag specialists on Comedy Central and knew
exactly what the Archangel was talking about. Michael
reminded me that mistakes can be costly. He pointed
that Mohammed was illiterate and misspelled the
Qu’ran and gave me the responsibility of
conveying the REAL message to a modern literate world.
He missed the ‘L.’ You see, it
wasn’t the Qu’ran, pronounced
“Koo’ran”, it was
“Kool’ran”, or in English, the
Coolran. He also reminded that “L” stands
for “Literate.” I told him I knew how to
spell literate, and if he kept teaching me things I
already knew I was going to send him packing with a
black eye.

So before I publish this important work at Barnes &
Nobles (and maybe send a damn copy to Congress
C.O.D.), I thought I would share my revelation with my
benevolent and mindful LITERATE friends at
Yesfans.com. When I was given the full text of the
Coolran, it was music to my ears. I’m sure you
will agree, once you read it’s Verses.

Hooray! Saddam is dead!!!!! Up with Iraq! Arriba,
arriba!!! May their government flourish and prosper
with grass roots leaders! But now to get the real
source of the infection over there: Mohammad and that
lump of camel poop he sold to ignorant people as
scripture. I have a college degree and score in
the 93 percentile in GRE in the U.S. I say exactly
what I mean. I say down with the Qu’ran once and for all.

Re: the retarded joke above -- just be sure you don't let the illiterate kid beat you in a game of "Mousetrap." He will get superior on your a$$ for no reason.

The Humor Test

Well you got the part about 'rising from the dead right.' I think it is spring by easter time, truthfully. Religious jokes are hard to make. Listen to a good one I heard from the Archangel Michael. He says the Archangel Gabriel is a drunk. LOL. Pretty funny.

Read the following out loud to a friend and test how funny they think it is. Pause every time a point is made.

A few nights ago I was visited by the Archangel
Michael (and although I might have an acid flashback,
I thought I heard sounds resembling ‘St. Matthew's Passion’ emanating from above). If you are an art
aficionado, you may recognize works depicting him as
dealing Death to Satan. Pretty tough stuff. Now, the
Archangel Michael is pretty near and dear to me, just
so you know. And the Archangel Michael said to me many
things. But the one thing that caught my ear off the
bat was that the Archangel Gabriel was a drunkard and
an opium connoisseur. And all the angels and
archangels laughed their asses AT HIM (not with him)
because He stooped to hiring illiterates. They would
say that anyone entrusting the holy Divine scripture
to the incompetence of an illiterate concerned only
with the persistence of his manhood in the pages of
history, and endless virginal houris must be totally
off his rocker. I was riveted immediately.

He described to me the scene in that cave in the
outskirts of ancient Mecca, in which Mohammed first
assembled the suras communicated to him. I could
envision him shouting with INFINITE passion as he
dictated his words to lesser beings holding the stylus
and writing inks. Yes, Mohammed alone understood the
full grammatical outpourings of the Suras. Lesser
fools who spent time with their noses in papyrus and
inks were obviously not man enough to be responsible
for the Archangel Gabriel’s message. Michael
described to me the way in which Mohammed fabricated
more than 60 % of what he FORGOT about Gabriel and
inserted a blended mishmash of his versions of Persian
Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity. His version
being the one he picked up hangin out in the public
places of Mecca. You know, like when someone really
HAS something to say, you kind of imitate them when
you want attention like they are getting.

Well the Archangel Michael also reminded me that Islam
is an expansionist FORCE. Most religions are like
Euclid’s elements. There are certain prime
axioms layed down, and once accepted, conclusions are
based upon them, and a structure emerges. Geometry is
pretty abstract. But Islam is about many things, but
most often the words that keep being repeated are the
following:
1) The Qu’ran is sent from Allah for the
betterment of men.
2) The Qu’ran is superior to and supplants
previous religions. And why? Well, because the
Qu’ran says so.
3) Anyone who says otherwise is subject to an
ass-whoopin. You can’t be allowed in the way of
serious Muslims. Either everyone they are friends with
is converted to the Qu’ran or they become
enemies. (Kind of NOT American but that’s beside
the point…. Er, maybe that IS the point…
We accept all ideas and ideologies providing they file
for tax exempt status.)

That’s a vast oversimplification. And the good
news is, American high school Muslims sometimes say
“God, Allah, it’s all the same” as I
saw quoted in the Houston Chronicle. However Michael
reminded me that people in my country sing about how
“God shed his grace on [America] “ before
“crowning [America’s] good with
brotherhood.” And that if I didn’t want
that grace taken away, I’d better come to grips
with the fact that Mohammed made up just a little too
much for someone as illiterate as he was. And that the
very force of his will to unite his little Mecca under
one God, was quickly mistaken to mean everyone on
Earth. He told me he wanted to talk to an American
since we say what we mean and we mean what we write,
and that we write our laws in English and make sure
illiterates stay out of government. And he charged me
with a mission.

I was told by the Archangel Michael that Mohammed was
an illiterate fool who had few, if any, complex
concepts of government and society in his conscious
mind when he was quiet. Most of the stray thoughts
which ran through his mind were bits and phrases he
picked up in the market place and if he misunderstood
them he would have to ask a scholar for clarification.
(Which we know he did not do at first. He later
consulted some Jews to keep from losing popularity in
town. This I know from reading, not from the
Archangel.) Great men rarely ask stupid ----ing
questions from lesser men in the market place, except
“what is your price?” He WAS a businessman
after all and what he knew best was how to talk with
and motivate men. And he felt his Qu’ran to be
the ultimate spiritual commodity.

Well my father is a businessman too. And first of all,
I call bull---- on the Muslim view that they are
TOUGH. Real MEN charge interest in the world economy.
They don’t GIVE things to others. That’s
what a zero interest loan is. Take the simple example
of two men walking into each other in the wilderness:
one is armed and has food and the other has neither.
If one man lends food to the other he had better
expect one thing – that the man in need is going
to work for him or help him in some way. Period.
That’s how loans work. They are spelled out in
advance how much work or “repayment” is
expected before the loan is ever made! There is no
problem with interest. It is a matter of choice. The
man with food is in the bargaining position and if his
requests are not met there is no deal. That’s
simple business.

In addition, every good Muslim knows that those
Islamic men who have power and a high place in
business are trying GLORIFY Allah. Allah doesn’t
give a DAMN about anyone’s “life.”
As a matter of fact, it is considered a high act of
religious piety to KILL one’s self in the name
Allah, purely so he may be glorified. Isn’t that
special? (Church lady smile…)

You see, this is what Mohammed is selling. He has lots
of followers. He is [still] selling you on the fact
that Allah is the only one to be glorified, not YOU
the follower. Your glory, or your freedom mean nothing
to him.

The Archangel Michael spoke to me, and told me it was
high time I took a good look at Mohammed’s
illiterate marketing scheme, and poke a few holes in
it. He made it clear to me, that Islam harbors NO
jokers. Humor is a non-commodity. He IS serious. And
ever since the 20th century oil boom, he is now
actually gaining in the PROFIT sector in the world
economy. As an international businessman’s son,
I’ve got to tell you I still don’t buy it.
And what’s more the Archangel Michael visited
ME, and charged me with running it out of the market,
because no other religion on earth is that intolerant.
So I figure, since everyone is obeying the Mohammed
fruitcake, if I make it clear how uncool he is, then
that should just about do it. I mean after all, how
cool can some illiterate, Bedouin with a baked brain,
sitting a dirty cave, wearin white P.J.s be? I mean
who on earth is GENUINELY amused by a suicide bomber?
Except maybe 7 year old children who want to tell you
how REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY
passionate they are about their REALLY REALLY REALLY
REALLY REALLY cool and dedicated (& opiated) Muslim
older brother.


i've found a cool test question

"Q.when an electrode is placed in a particular region of the brain of a rat and is stimulated when the animal presses a bar for food there reaches a point at which the rat will press the bar for el.shock to this region and ignore the food entirely. what structure is being stimulated?
A. median forebrain bundle(a pleasure center)"

does this exp say something about free will
pro - humans'd behave differently from rats, they'd be able to interrupt the activity to feed themselves from time to time in order of course to continue
BOCTAOE drug addicts, gamblers, Dilbert blog readers
contra - people will behave same as the rat and starve happily to death f.e drug addicts, gamblers etc

http://fun.banjig.net/pindex.php?page=7

It's been a while since I've communicated with you. I still keep an old "E" Mail (and show it to my friends) that you sent to me directly after I had an exceptionally good entry for your "Induhvidual" blog.

Well, I'm back and back to stay - keep up the good work. It's rare to hear a humorist with such profound intelligence and though some of our political opinions differ, I can't criticize you.

By the way, I spent an entire afternoon at work catching up on all the blog postings. OOOOOHH I am so naughty!

I can't feel sorry and funny at the same time. I don't feel sorry for saddam, so it can be funny. Christa McAuliffe jokes = not funny.

"Either life is a miracle that is too precious to end, or it's not. Make up your mind, people."

Some people don't believe that you can call a couple of cells that are smaller than a dot on a page a "person". Other people believe strongly in "an arm for an arm".

I like the Lincoln joke. Macabre, but it fits so many daily disruptions. That one-liner fits right up there with 'Happy Monday!', only doesn't take as much explanation.

I think more people today are conscious about how the things we say and think affect us as well as others. To many, even petty, spiteful heckling is much less revenge than is deserved against Saddam. For others, though, the heckling, rudeness belittles all of us. I suppose good manners will always pay off. The good manners are about who we are, not who we deal with. So acting petty belittles us more than Saddam Hussein.

And I think part of the reason it is too soon for Saddam humor, is that people are still shooting each other over whether Saddam was a good guy or a bad guy.

Scott,
Remember: It's not funny until someone loses an eye, then it's a scream.

Great blog YSLE,
It's appropriate now. Screw the pretentious self-rightous wussies without a sense of humor looking for an excuse to be indignant.

Saddam was a murdering scumbag, but heaven forbid we should LAUGH at the man!! {rolls eyes}

The rule is that you can't joke about any death that's still making money on TV news magazine shows for women.

Or rather, you can joke about it, but only away from people who care what other people think of them.

It's really them you're joking about, incidentally. They make every death an entertainment for themselves. ``Entertain'' doesn't mean make happy ; look at soap operas. It means interest, or engross.


Not only is outrage humor the current cultural favorite, but (like anything controversial) it provokes more interesting discourse than safe topics.
Myself, I like to take prejudice jokes (such as blonde jokes or polish jokes) and turn them into jokes on the latest politicians that have been caught being naughty or stupid...Not because it's P.C., just because it's funnier that way
("George W. Bush goes ice fishing...He has all the latest gadgets. He starts up his little electric chainsaw and cuts a hole in the ice, sets out his folding chair, switches on his heated boots, baits his hook, drops his line, and hears a voice seemingly from nowhere: "George W. Bush, there are no fish in that hole" Looking around, he doesn't see who spoke, but he moves on down the ice, cuts another hole, sets up, sits down, and hears the voice again "George W. Bush, there are no fish in that hole either" "Lord, is that you?" "No, this is the ice rink manager!"...Oh well, I guess you have to tell it right)
D. Mented

With regard to humour, is there anything that you think is out of bounds? and why/not?

Sure, Scott. You must be 10 times more guilty than the ones who orchestrated his execution. How dare you.

Funny thing is, the people who fervently supported Saddam's execution are probably the ones most appaled by your humor. That's so neat. There were probably also some appalled liberals, but they really need to set their objectives straight. If they feel like flaming someone, there is really a wide choice of appropriate targets. And you would be on the very bottom of the list.

Well, whatever. This blog needs a cleanup once in a while. The readers have been piling up from all over the place, really.

Ham coffins are funny, for a lot of reasons: A very ugly man hung out at the bar every night. One night he came in with a shit eatin' grin on his face. The Bartender said hey buddy, what's up with you? Well, last night on the railroad tracks near my house I found a girl all tied up, just like in the movies! I untied her, took her home and had the best sex of my life! Wow, said the bartender, you lucky son of a gun, tell me, was she pretty? I dunno, I never found her head!

I think Saddam's hanging should have been broadcast live on television. If as a society we're going to condone executions, that I think we all need to be prepared to face the reality (and this extends to making light of it) of what is being done in our names.
========================================================

I wholeheartedly agree. I am 100% in favor of Capital Punishment, but anything that our government does in secrecy to "protect" us from the truth is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Apparently the rule is,..
Comedy is tradegy plus a week.

Perhaps you should have waited until the sixth.

When something really big / bad happens, everyone starts talking in this weird way and anyone who fails to conform to the language of shock and grief looks like some kind of uncaring maniac.
http://www.natural-herbal-products.co.nr/

[ Either life is a miracle that is too precious to end, or it's not. Make up your mind, people. ]

I'd say the value of a person's life is commensurate with the respect they showed for other peoples lives; therefore aborting and unborn fetus would hardly be the moral equivalent of hanging a psychopathic genocidal dictator.

Speaking of tasteless jokes about the dead, this has to be near the top...

Roman Soldier to Jesus: "Put your feet together, we're running out of nails."

HMMMMMMM I thought USA invaded Iraq because of WMDs and Al-Qaida connections ... DUH. All they needed to send was Dick-shotgun-Cheney on an official quail hunt to Iraq.

What I didn't know was that Saddam had been torturing, maiming and killing innocent civilians ever since he came to power and they tried to kill him in an attempted coup way back. Maybe CIA wanted to save the millions of innocent Muslim civilians and the WMD was a decoy ...

What I know is that ever since US forces have landed there, peace has been flourishing. Sunnis and Shiites are eating from the same plate and shitting in the same pot. In fact, lot of US Soldiers have tried to get acquainted with Iraqi girls and their family ... OOPS ended in rape & killings, but HEY, atleast they tried. Fortunately, No civilian has been killed since then (don't count those infidels & TERRORISTS). Rummy has a good chance of becoming the next president of ... USAQ. Guantanamo bay is the second most sought after tourist spot, only after Monte Carlo.

FYI, The civilian casualties of the US Invasion according to Iraq Body Count Project are somewhere between 43000 & 49000 while Lancet Surveys put the figure around 600,000.

Next in line to be hanged and you-tubed:
(1) Pervez Musharraf (he is a friend of George W, so, maybe we will wait a while)
(2) Fidel Castro (when he dies, Bush will ask his body to be deported and then hanged and you-tubed)
(3) No 2's brother ... Brothers in arms albeit dead.
(4) Hugo Chavez, does he have oil except his body fat?
(5) Ahmadinejad .. now here is one guy who is bloating that he has nuke but we attacked IRAQ. As Jon Stewart said, hey they missed only by one letter .. shit happens. Or maybe someone fooled Halliburton saying there is no Oil in Iran.
(6) Osama whats-his-name Laden (he will take the Fidel route). Osama must be waiting for US army to catch him to get a free shave ...
(7) Kim Jung Soo II or something like that from North Korea OOOOOPPS no oil in North Korea, so he must be safe till he nukes South Korea.

BUT WHO CARES, SADDAM HUSSEIN is dead!! Hail the victorious dead troops and the amazing achievements of the honorable living.

Q:Why did the man jump down from the burning WTC tower
A: Because of the fricking Newton apple theory

-Ashok

It's a matter of taste, Scott. Taste changes with time, as you've pointed out. At any given moment some have it, others don't.

Satire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public, the reviewers will allow you to satirize it. Which is rather ridiculous, when you think about it. - Lenny Bruce

I think public hangings would be good for the USA. Get away from that lethal injection crap. That's like saying "We're gonna kill you, but we're going to be really nice about it." Humane killing is an oxymoron. I think you can have an inhumane death if you torture someone (like being drawn & quartered or soemthing) but from what I know hanging is fairly quick and painless if you do it right.

It makes for better TV, though, and that's my point. People assume it's inhumane because it's more graphic to see a body drop and hang lifelessly than to see someone fall asleep and simply not wake up. I would think that people might think twice about committing murder if they knew there was a decent chance they'd get hanged.

What do you guys think? Would violent crime slow down if changed our method of execution to public hangings? Would people eventually get accustomed to the violence and it would have no effect? Or would it never effect anything, violent people will be like that no matter what the punishment?

South Park had Steve Irwin appear in their program with Satan just a week after Irwin's death, and Satan looked at the Crocodile Hunter with a sting ray stuck in his heart and said, "No. It's too soon." Hey, in the past hour it was reported that Terri Irwin was given the only video (so they claim) of her husband's moment of death. We'll probably see Bob Sagat making terrible jokes about it one day.

[rant] I was entertained by your post on Saddams hanging Scott. See now, making a joke of Steve Irwins death is bad because he was a good person full of life with a loving family. But making fun of Saddam is perfectly fine, because he was a psychotic prick who was defiant to the end, with two equally psychotic sons who liked to throw humans into shredders and assault women for fun.

Make as much fun as you like. Here in Oz since hearing some 5 or so weeks ago that he was going to the gallows, i'd been waiting for the day to arrive. My new years was prettier than fireworks when i heard he was dead.

And to those 5 year old Iraqi boys who look up to Saddam as a hero, you should be ashamed of yourselves. He was a martyr and had the death of many people on his hands, is that who you want to grow up like?

*grumble*

[/end rant]

Beautiful response Scott...
But I live in Oak St... and there's a knock at the door...

I agree, that Saddam post was disgusting and insensitive. Please, keep that filth coming! Incidentally, I loved the humvee one.

A true economist however would way the marginal cost of offending some people's sensibilities against the marginal benefit derived from the humor. The amount of the cost accruing to you is very low: the drop in readership from the three people that boycott the blog for a week; and the benefit is very high: not having to waste another blog idea that day when you already had a funny one, and the more dedicated readership of those who did enjoy it. A good decision. However, much like the typical consumer you are risk averse, and therefore willing to pay the small cost of apologizing in order to offset the risk of the three offended people doing any harm.

It also seems bizarre because (correct me if I'm mistaken), but life seems pretty cheap over there right now. The casualness with which they are beheading hostages, and the fact that their law assigns the death penalty to a lot more crimes than Western law does, kind of implies that it's more acceptable to kill someone in the name of justice.

Kind of like Texas.

How many people did Saddam actually kill himself? The rest were killed on his behalf. That's what he hanged for, the ones killed for him.

Now, how many has George had killed for him? And how soon does he hang?

I think it's something else - not recency of the death. I thought the Saddam post was OK funny, the al-Zarqawi post was funnier, and the evanescent Steve Irwin post was the best of these three. All of these were posted shortly after the subjects' demise. Was the reaction more or less consistent between these three? Why don't you repost the Irwin one and see what reaction you get now?

Why do you mock me? I was helping out the world by reducing overpopulation. It all depends on how you look at things.

I pause to ask this.

If this were an Iraqi blog and those posting were saying how right and fitting jokes about American soldiers being blown up by a roadside bomb how appropriate would that be. After all we are as demonised to them by their media as Saddam was to us.

Let's not guess let's try (in the unlikely event this gets posted)

What do write on an American Soldiers gravestone?

Rest In Pieces

How funny is that?

Ha ha ha. You think making jokes about me is funny!

I wonder how long it will take before it's ok to make fun of the people who jumped off the wtc while it was burning?

I'll start practicing:
What does a kebab and a wtc jumper have in common?
(hmm, that won't work..)

If you can't take the heat, jump out of the tower..
(nope..)

Why did the chicken jump out of the burning tower?

I think Saddam's hanging should have been broadcast live on television. If as a society we're going to condone executions, that I think we all need to be prepared to face the reality (and this extends to making light of it) of what is being done in our names.

Don't worry Mr Adams, at least you have one Constant Reader whose respect for you cannot possibly diminish. Ha !

And don't let 'em censor you, this ain't network TV for godsake.

Humour is a great psychological defence against disturbing events. Perhaps the disturbed choose more readily to take offence.

If you don't like it peoples, fare thee well.

1. It's Scott's blog. Why should he even give a damn what people think about his posts? There's a lot worse out there. People need to get over themselves.

2. I assume the people who were outraged at Scott's comments expressed equal outrage when then candidate G W Bush publicly mocked a female death row inmate who pleaded with him for her life.

3. I've noticed that people who oppose abortions generally approve of executions. Many of them support public executions and some of them seem to get off on the idea. People who support abortion rights generally oppose (sometimes rabidly) the death penalty.

Either life is a miracle that is too precious to end, or it's not. Make up your mind, people.

As soon as I saw the title of this post; I had to say "Inappropriate Humour? That's the best kind!"

I read each post of your blog, and I remember that Saddam one. And guess what? I found it funny, because it was. If someone respectable; an all-round good guy was killed(ie. Bono or perhaps one of The Wiggles...) then of course it wouldn't be funny.

But that was good. Don't listen to those whiners, they don't have to appreciate your humour. But others can. x3

My only problem with your Saddam post was that I expected the Guards taunts to be meaner. I would have found that funnier.

IMO, terrible people don't deserve respect, not even the general respect given to dead people.

But, maybe that's just me.

Fuck the fuckers if they can't take a joke. Or swearing...

Screw inappropriate. I loved the Saddam post, especially the ham casket joke. Thats classic.

And so is this:
http://trampolinelol.ytmnd.com/

Can we please stop all this bickering and get back to more serious topics like automatic "unit" shakers and cloned supermodels?

I thought the Saddam comments were funny enough I sent it to several friends. Keep up the strong work, and eff the rest of the people without a sense of humor. =D

This is in no way related to this topic, but I had to share. Check out the "Jesus and Mary" toaster on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item;=230073470366

I think that this blog is also making fun of Saddam's death, but I'm cool with that. I say that people who deserved it are fair game for ridicule immediately after death. On the other hand, if you were to make jokes about Gerald Ford right now, that would be really wrong ;)

I am also reminded about how quickly jokes sprouted up about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster...

Of course, I was in Junior High School - so perhaps "Inappropriate" is not just time-sensitive but it's also age-sensitive.

Q: What color were Christa McAuliffe's eyes?
A: Blue. One blew this way, one blew that way...

Q: How do you get rid of your Social Studies Teacher?
A: Challenge her.

Ah, the white, middle-class Christian fun police strike again!

I only hope that I'm well-known enough when I die, that people can make jokes about me. That's a form of flattery, I think - unless you die trying to make it with a porcupine or something...

i agree with that post about sick jokes Garin made. Beat me to it... Even though I find the death penalty wrong for several reasons, I still thimk your post was funny. I have several reasons for my standpoint on death penalty, but you might check this out: Every once in a while, you find a story about a botched execution in the paper. The person survives, and THEY HAVE TO KILL HIM AGAIN. To me this just kind of brings home the horror of it. Read one of those articles and tell me what you thought about it. I find it creepy. But your point was, of course, the fact that the guards were taunting him, and what they might have said, and that was funny. After all to quote the hangman from "Men in Tights": 'No noose is good noose' but that doesn't mean there aren't funny aspects in it...

Q - Where did Christa McAuliffe spend her last vacation?

A - All over Southern Florida.

Life is short, make fun of it.

I'm still waiting for someone to put the whole Saddam hanging event into context. From what we've seen in the media, it appears that all manner of executions are fairly common in the mideast. My guess is that there is some sort of unwritten - or maybe even written - code of etiquette for Arab hangings that covers everything right down to what kind of clothes to wear and what kind of refreshments to serve afterwards. Perhaps it's normal in the moments leading up to a hanging (even a "properly" managed one) to taunt the condemned man. To people in many parts of the world, our American system of very solemn orderly executions probably seems rather incongruous, since the outcome is still the killing of a person. Does anyone know what Emily Post's Arab counterpart has to say about how to have a proper hanging?

Death is the equalizer that none of us escapes. The high, the mighty, rich, poor, every ethnicity, every species. It's never a case of who or what deserves it--nobody gets off this rock alive, so it ain't really a punishment, it's an inevitability. Therefore, I find black/gallows/so-called sick humor just freakin' funny. Period. Those who experience human behaviour at it's most unvarnished and basic know we moist robots are utterly laughable in every possible way. I have been asked to leave funerals because I was cracking jokes(Friend: "He looks so natural" Me:"Only to a necrophiliac"); I have assisted surgeons who have done and said things with patients on tables that I can't repeat anywhere (and that drives me nuts cuz it was all freakin' hilarious), and on and on. Rock on unafraid, Scott!!

What's the world coming to when you can't point and laugh at someone else's misfortune? Isn't that what life's all about? I'm sure Saddam would have had a little chuckle if it had been George W on the gallows exchanging insults with the guards...he always struck me as someone with a great sense of humour.

What strikes me as odd Scott, is the seemingly vast amount of holier than thou folk that are reading your blog at least often enough to be getting upset by what you write. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who once said, "Consider how hard to change your own habits, and then consider how impossible to change someone elses." I guess my own rant here could almost put me in that same catagory. But really I believe in Live and let live. If you dont like what you see, buy your own island and go live on it. If people are so ignorant that they cant see the obvious benefit of humor, timely or not, then they are the parasites of our generation. Me, I find most of what you have to say clever and funny. Some not funny but still clever. But Im not getting my pants in a bunch over it. What does get my pants in a bunch is these religious fanatics that think that they can impose thier rules on the nation. I guess that makes them very much like Saddam. No wonder they sympathize with him.

Now I have voted.

Like most of the people that have already posted, I think you're funny and still respect you. The people who cannot make light of things like executions are morons beyond their own imaginations. If you cannot laugh about death, what can you laugh about? Don't let the pessimism of these individuals keep you from telling the great jokes that lighten the hearts of all of your fans!

Btw, if those people think that death isn't funny, they should listen to ICP. http://www.insaneclownposse.com Maybe that will give them some perspective.

I would like to quote your post from June 10, 2006:

----
I heard on the news that terrorist al-Zarqawi didn’t die right away from the bombing. Apparently he turned and muttered something incomprehensible to the police before he died.

This got me wondering what he muttered. I’m sure you can come up with some good guesses.

My best guess is something along the lines of “Man, I didn’t see this coming when I started my career as a terrorist.”

Or maybe he had cheated death so many times he was getting blasé about it. He might have said, “Tell my 2 o’clock victims I might be late. I have to first escape from the infidel hospital.”

What do you think?
----

This is followed by 307 comments, and most of them are very humorous sayings. Very few of them accuse you of being insensitive.

I find it odd that when a bomb is dropped on a terrorist house killing him it is OK to have some fun, but when a dictator is arrested, put on trial, sentenced to death and hanged it is in bad taste.

Don’t get me wrong; I like to imagine Saddam's last line being something like “No! I am invincibaaaggghh . . .” I just find this to be one more example of how hypocritical people can be; you can poke fun at their religion, just not mine. You can joke about that stereotype, just not this one.

Again, the problem with humans is that they are only human.

I thought you were making fun of the guys that were taunting Saddam while he was being hanged rather than Saddam himself. I sorry I missed the opportunity to be truely outraged. I will try to pay better attention next time.

I'm more upset over the Autopee image in my head.


Thanks to all who giggled and spit about my bush.

Perhaps we can persuade all the murders and pedophile rapists to relocate to France to practice their craft so that we can test William Skyvington's theory of an enlightened land.

I would have sold tickets. Then made a killing (haha) on the merchandise. T-shirts, trucker hats, wife beaters, mud flaps etc.

The doorbell rings and it's Jesus standing there with some nails in his hand.
"Can you put me up for the night?"

A rich guy is dying and he calls in his best friend, his priest and his lawyer. He hands them each $10,000 in cash, telling them each that he is conducting an experiment. He wants to see if he can take a little of his wealth with him, so he wants these guys to throw the money in as they pass the casket at the funeral.
The day comes and after the services the three are standing there talking by the grave.
The friend sez, "I admit that I didn't throw it in. I kept it."
The priest pipes in, "Well I kept half as a final tithe for the church."
Lawyer indignantly exclaims,
"Shame on you both! I threw in a check for the whole amount!"

I thought that your post on Saddam was hilarious. Anyone who thinks that it is wrong for a man who tortured and killed thousands of people to be hanged needs to re-think their priorities. I for one think that he got off easy - they should have shoved bamboo shoots under his fingernails and made him experience the things that he forced others, who were innocent, to undergo. Go ahead and joke... now. It's funny now. And it will still be funny in 5 years when that date comes up on your calendar. I hope they did make his casket out of ham. And bacon. And pork.

Oh please, I doubt these people have been consistently reading your blog if they are only just now offended. I think most humor is offensive - it wouldn't be funny otherwise!

Frankly, I think anything should be allowed to be funny. Sometimes it’s the only way to deal with tragedies. For instance, as a cartoonist yourself, have you ever noticed how much the White House luminaries act like Chuck Jones or Tex Avery cartoon film characters, only nastier? Take bald headed VP Cheney. He is surely Elmer Fudd, but with expletives inserted. His Chief of Staff Rove, so large of mouth so full of teeth, could give the Tasmanian Devil lessons in rapaciousness.

If (now thankfully former) "Ambassador" Boulton and his UN sized mustache is not cantankerous Yosemite Sam, then he must be at least his offspring. Meanwhile, over at the Pentagonal Building, Rumsfeld, who is also now thankfully a former official, as Secretary of Defense (Secretary of Offense? or, perhaps Secretary of Awful Defense?) is the obvious reincarnation of Wile E. Coyote. Sadly, our boys in camo are apparently is still being supplied exclusively by ACME Manufacturing Company, no doubt a wholly owned subsidiary of Halliburton.

Cheering them on is Henry, the minuscule Chicken Hawk, who could be played by any of the draft dodging, but war mongering, minuscule pundits on Fox News. Loud mouthed pipsqueaks by any measure.

The good name of Daffy Duck is being besmirched today by Preacher Pat Robertson. If Daffy had been holding a bible in the Oscar winning "Rabbit Season" cartoon when he kept yelling "Shoot the Duck," it would have been an even more perfect impersonation. Crazy is as crazy does.

Foghorn Leghorn? Why, pompous (now thankfully former) Senator DeLay of course (whose new moniker probably should be "The Chiseler" rather than "The Hammer"). He even uses some of the same "fowl" play on opponents.

Indicted "undisclosed informant" Libby could be Froggy from "One Froggy Night" who only sings when the public is not around to hear.

Dedicated Warner Brothers aficionados will easily recognize Attorney General Gonzales as Gossamer, the dungeon loving hairy beast. Boy, do we wish he was the former AG instead of still filling dungeons.

Thankfully former FEMA failure Brown did a heck-of-a-job moving even slower than Beaky Buzzard.

And seriously, are we sure Secretary of State and former National Security Advisor Rice isn't really Marvin the Martian in drag, still out to destroy Earth "cause it's in the way."

Hanging around the edge of the set and the closest to a cartoon "hero" (now that he is no longer acting the Pepe - grab anything female that moves - LePew role) is former President Clinton. He still reeks a little though.

Well, Th, Th, THAT’S AWFUL, FOLKS!

[although there is more irreverence at resistence-is-possible.blogspot.com]

Your blog is one bright spot in a world that has been darkened by the spector of political correctness. The whole notion of freedom of expression is meant to protect those ideas that may not be popular with everyone. (Universally popular ideas don't need such protection, do they?) As the saying goes, 'I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.'

Public figures are always going to be subjects of ridicule, it comes with the territory. Just look at he comments about G. W. Bush here. When he dies, how many of the bloggers who are upset about Saddam jokes will be laughing hysterically at Bush jokes?

At least that's better than being hypocritical. I was sickened by everyone saying what a great person Nixon was when he died...he was hated by everyone at least as much as Bush is now.

So when is the right time to start making jokes about the dearly, (and not so dearly), departed? I guess it depends on the person in question. I still haven't heard any jokes about the JFK assasination. (He was a mediocre president, but loved by all.) In Saddam's case, the guards who were with him had the right idea...start the abuse while the hanging was in process.

Guard 5: "When Scott Adams hears about this, you'll be doing backflips in your mass grave."

In retrospect, we'd have been a lot better off if the soldier who found him in the hole had just dropped a grenade in there.

The fact that he didn't was actually proof that the Bush administration actually believed he had WMDs. The only reason to take him alive was to find out where they were hidden.

Not too soon to joke about his death, IMO, it just would've been funnier if he'd have died sooner.

Now the question is with the next public death will you still go for immediate value or try an investment strategy?

The death of Mussolini, machine-gunned by partisans and hanged by his feet, is the Model.  

Judicial involvement should not extend beyond identifying the accused, reading the bill of charges against him, donning a black cap, and solemnly pronouncing the sentence.  By this rule, Saddam should have been hanged within twenty-four hours, and his bloody head left to rot on a pike in central Baghdad.  He should not have been permitted to preen for court cameras, insult his judges, and encourage his Ba’athist loyalists.  The American soldiers who captured Saddam did the world a great disservice by not shooting him in his spider hole.  “Shot while trying to escape” was, I believe, the useful WWII euphemism.  Instead he died nobly, a paragon of defiance.  -Hilaire de Sauveterre

Scott - Bravo for denigrating the Butcher's demise.

I'm really not sure that I understand the concept here.

For years, we supported Saddam, while others of us were pointing out that he was a monster. Ditto the Taliban, but that's another story.

OK, so we suddenly decided that, since he'd incurred our disfavor, the fact that he was a monster was now relevant and even important.

We bombed his country. We invaded it. We drove even the elite of his army back. He continued to resist us. We imposed sanctions on his people. He continued to defy us. Or, at least pretended to defy us, so his enemies wouldn't chew him up. We engaged in a second war. We bombed, we strafed, we used weapons that I probably don't even want to imagine too vividly. We chased him and threatened him and eventually hunted him down like a rabid dog. We pulled him from his hidey-hole and plastered his disheveled face all over the front pages of the world's newspapers. I don't remember anyone talking about preserving his dignity then.

We tried him for a small fraction of the crimes he'd committed, long after he'd ceased to be a human being in all but form.

We sentenced him to death, condemmed him to be hanged by the neck until dead.

But heavens, Scott! We mustn't laugh at him!

Me? I'm a coward. I want to live as long as possible, even if that's only 7 extra minutes. You want to taunt me or my family? Go for it! As long as you're mocking us, I'm still alive. Go ahead, tell another one! Say, did you ever hear the one about... I'm no Scheherazade, but at that point it's worth a try!

People are so freaking PC these days and so sensitive.

Paraphrasing;
'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.' Matthew 5: 13

In other words, LIGHTEN UP!

Love your stuff Scott, don't censor yourself for anyone at any time.

Yeah, too close for comfort right now. But I appreciate that you have a different take, and may you always express what you feel like expressing.

"he didn't really mean to hit the building, he just thought it was crowding the East River and was trying to brush it back a little".

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! For the record I thought the Saddam post was a riot. All the actual facts surrounding the thing were awful of course. That's why we make jokes about terrible things; because it's better to laugh than to cry. Those who took offense have their priorities wrong. Be upset that your government attacked another country and executed it's leader without international support to do so. No one is upset about that seemingly! At least not enough to do anything about it. But let a cartoonist crack a joke about it (however tasteless) and OH THE HUMANITY! STFU and GBTW morans. Yes, morAns.

Dear Scott,

You should not apologize, be embarassed etc about making fun of Saddam's death.

If this was your try to apologize, then it was very inappropriate.

"What's up with Saddam? I haven't heard from him in a while."
"Oh, he's just hanging out."
Cyrus (please throw tomatoes softly)
http://blogging4burgers.blogspot.com

some people get offended by nothing. I thought the post was great scott.

Being offensive is one thing, but I prefer a good defense.

Q: What is the difference between a Mercedes and a BMW?

A: Princess Diana wouldn't be caught dead in a BMW.


(is 9 years long enough, or is this still in bad taste?)

What's blue and white and comes down you chimmney on Christams Eve?

A Pan Am Jumbo Jet.


Apparently first heard within a week of the Lockerbie bombing. Saddam was not a nice person. Surely the approriate day for jokes about his death was, in fact, Saturday?

The funny thing is that the people that were disgusted by your previous post are most likely bible beaters that apparently have never read all the violence and killing that occurs in the bible. I guess that's all OK in the name of the lord I suppose. Of course, killing Saddam was likely God's work anyway, so I'm not sure what they would be upset for. Religion is so confusing with all these silly rules...

Hah. Your inappropriateness pales in comparison to any given Fark thread with respect to death. Go to the front page and search for Saddam. My favorite, though, was when Cory Lidle (yankees pitcher) was killed when his plane hit a building in Manhattan. Said one Fark commentor, "he didn't really mean to hit the building, he just thought it was crowding the East River and was trying to brush it back a little".

In 60 years Iranian Shiites will have a conference discussing the Sunni fabrication of Saddam's execution.

You are funny as usual, and as usual I respect you. Leave those hypocrit sanctimonious morons to their complaints.

I wouldn't worry about the uproar of disgust over your joke. Most of those folks I'm sure downloaded the Saddam execution video.

Can you guess which I find in poorer taste?

I wonder why we hanged him at all. There was so much good for humanity that could have come from keeping him alive.

What if we gave someone in his predicament a choice of four punishments such as:
1. Dig up those mass graves by hand and re-bury them in a proper grave: OR
2. Send on missions of hard labor such as to Somalia to plant gardens; OR
3. Volunteer to be a part of the scientific testing alliance. Subject takes the place of an animal being used for scientific research. The advantage here is the subject can talk! OR
4. He can be given a cyanide tablet to take care of relocating his body to the non-living status.

Just a thought of how to turn a negative into a positive.

The funniest thing about your post was that you were spot on. The 'official' video WAS released without sound. And as we know from the 'unofficial' video, the soldiers in the room WERE taunting him to try and get a rise out of him. In terms of the comedy, I think here in Britain we have thicker skins. I heard jokes about the London tube bombings a day after the event, jokes about Diana's death immediately afterwards, in fact the only time there was a pause before anyone dared was after September 11th. That was, I dunno, a week or so.

I think the funnier line from Stalin was "One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic", 1st person perspective is the only thing that differentiates it.

Let's not get too deep into the "meaning and basis" of humor.

I don't know what is funny, I just know what I like. Thanks for doing it most every day, Scott!

Scott, you get serious about superficial non-problems such as the apparent existence of something we call free will. But you then take the liberty [a senseless expression, in theory, for somebody who doesn't believe in free will] of being superficial about the serious problem of the all-too-real existence of a barbaric process called capital punishment, practiced not only in Iraq but in your own cherished land... about which you never seem to complain. As they say in France [an enlightened land that has abolished capital punishment], you should tune your violin.

What's the problem? People make jokes today about 9-11, and have done so for a while now. Not jokes about the deaths of the people per se, but about the attacks. Either way, a joke's a joke and if 6 years is all it takes to start making jokes about a few thousand innocent lives lost, then one evil life being snuffed out should be fair game in about 5 minutes.

(I don't care what side of the political spectrum you are... a dictator who ordered the slaughter of thousands and thousands of lives is evil. Period. And yes, I'm a Democrat.)

You didn't offend me one wit. Like I keep saying, it's just a bunch of monkeys fucking around.
Billy B

Sorry, but in my opinion the guy didn't do enough good during his time on earth to deserve a dignified passing. As a matter of fact, I think they should have gone the extra 10 yards and dressed him up in a clown suit as a warning to tyrants (and clowns) everywhere.

Scott, you made the same mistake talking bout Lebanese during the last war. Though Lebanese deserved sympathy. Yes timing is important.
I think a gentleman shouldn't say what you said about Saddam Hussein at the time.
Haytham
http://haythamaa.blogspot.com

Saddam was a dictator, but nevertheless a Head of State. Psychotic yes, but no mans fool.
He condemned many many innocent people to horrific deaths, but showed no small amount of dignity and courage at his own.
He received an infinitely greater amount of 'due process' than he ever accorded any of his victims, - but 'fair trial' no way.

The effects of his execution, and of the invasion itself may yet be felt in many ways and for a long time to come.

I have no problems with such forms of humour, nor did I get upset about it. But I am not yet ready to laugh.

I believe my exact response was 'never send to ask for whom the bell tolls..."

It's interesting how many people peg you as "liberal" and how many others say your "conservative" while what you really are is opportunist.

If an event can be presented in a funny way, or can infer something funny in another environment, you're all over it, regardless of the political characterization.

I respect you for that. I hope it helps.

After reading the comments, I find myself in error. I would like to apologize to you, Scott, for belittling you over that post.

While mocking the execution of a human being still is upsetting, as you say, with time, it loses sting. Death is a hard thing to deal with. (I admit to telling a few "Challanger" jokes)

And while you joked about the manner of his death, his guards were truly crude, to interrupt his prayers as he was about to die. I still believe it wrong to laugh in the face of the death of your enemies. Would you want to hear awful stories of how your great aunt Matilda died that day?

On the question of how his punishment was handled, I always thought that crimes against humanity should be dealt with in a global court at the Hague. If the crime is against all of mankind, the representatives of all people should conduct the prosecution.

I also have to agree with Jaxim, anonymity would have been the most fitting end for someone like Saddam Hussein.

Not only should you not worry
about anyone who says they'll
stop reading your blog, but
there's still another 20% or
so that have got to be weeded
out, so that you can feel less
inhibited. I'd just love it
if you'd post on your blog
some of those incredibly funny
(but utterly tasteless) jokes
you send by private e-mail.

The one about Mohammed, Jesus,
and the banana was absolutely
priceless. A real classic!

It was OK Scott. Really.

If this is the first thing you have done to offend these people maybe their moral compass is just out of whack altogether.

Q: What do you call {insert number} {insert race/ethnicity/gender/species/age/profession/physical ailment/mental ailment} at the bottom of the {insert body of water}?
A: A good start!

HAHAHAHAHA!

Seriously though, societies have become way too politically correct for their own good. I believe sometimes it's ok to laugh at tragedies, as long as you're not doing it with malice. Saddam's execution, however, is no tragedy.

I have to say that if no one makes a joke about me being dead when I die, I'll be pretty pissed off.

People need to learn to lighten up.

An old guy is sitting in a bar reading the newspaper. He
finishes his article and tells the bartender, "Says here
that Saddam Hussein was hung." Immediately a gay guy who
is also sitting at the bar chimes in, "Definitely not. I
gave that photo of him in his underwear a close look and
he wasn't bulging in the slightest!"

Since when do you care what people think? That's why I read your blog - You say things other people are afraid to. Plus, your morbid death jokes are saddam funny!

I once spoke to a friend of mine and managed to slip in a clever one-liner.

F: Did u hear about the person who died on a football pitch?
Me: Yeah, OMG, did they use his head as the ball?

Of course, this is distasteful but IMO there is never a better time to improve your conversation skills.

Now I feel a bit of a hypocrite because I did post a negative comment re your Saddam blog but I laughed like a hyena at the Darwin awards.

I don't think it's the time that matters but the manner of Saddam's death - state sponsored murder with jeering bystanders vs doing something really silly like flying a kite with a copper string in a storm, even though you are an electrician.

Therefore what seems to matter is HOW someone died - not how long ago.

The people complaining about 'too soon' humor are the types who will probably snap and stab a cashier when they forget twenty five cents in change.

Besides, it's not like Saddam was any sort of a decent person

As one who objected to the humour I feel a need to reply.

1 Saddam's execution was arguably a necessary evil in the circumstances but if it is merely necessary, and even assuming it was fully justified, it should not be an occassion for gloating. I say arguably because now instead of being a pathetic loser living out his days in a 8ft by 10ft box without the luxury, power and influence he so enjoyed Saddam will become, to those who will choose to see it that way, a martyr who died still praising God with cruel taunts of America's stooges in his ears. With this in mind any sign of triumphalism would clearly be taken by some in the Arab/Muslim world as provocative.

2 Possibly as a result of the above by the time I read your blog a number of people, I think the final number was 77, had already been killed that day in reprisal attacks and in the following days and weeks there are likely to be more.

3 I, like many, am opposed to the death penalty on principle and fear a slippery slope when dealing with questions of who 'deserves it'.

For all of these reasons I thought that many replies to that post to be inappropriate, however, one does not foster tolerance with intolerance. I do not accept that their humour was funny but equally I do not think you, the people of the USA, are sadistic trolls who generally take pleasure in the suffering of others.

Quoting Billf:

"How will history judge G W Bush's future death?

Will history giggle a little when they plant a shrub in his honor?"

Thanks a lot. I have coffee all over my monitor, desk, keyboard, mouse, and window.

As for the Saddam stuff. Scott, I found that post hilarious. Ignore all the tight-ass pansies around here. Saddam was a douchebag. He'll always be remembered as a douchebag. Whether I agree with it or not, he's dead now, and it's pretty tough to argue that he didn't have it coming. It might not have been the most politically prudent thing to do, but that's a whole other can of worms.

All this respect for the dead thing, while understandable, is a bit much in my opinion. When I die, I don't want all my loved ones to sit around crying about it forever (some crying would be preferred, though). At my funeral, I want my corpse to be set up like a marionette(sp?) puppet, and have some famous puppet master from Aachen make me dance the charlston. Ideally, one of my limbs will rip off, and everyone will have a good laugh. I'll even have someone invite my enemies, so they can all give me a kick in the nuts. Little will they know, I'll have someone fill my nuts with lead.

I think, most likely, the very ones that are offended by your humor (because life is sacred) are the very ones that will say it is perfectly acceptable to kill a human; as long as the umbilical cord hasn't been cut.

Why didn't Superman save anyone at the WTC?
Because he was in a wheelchair, moron.

Now that's tasteless.

Scott, two things: First, your jokes were funny. Yeah, sad things happen, people die, but if we can't make jokes about them, but does that mean we shouldn't laugh at the humor in them? I hope I eat it in a way that makes people laugh.

And Second, There's no free will, so it's not your fault you compared Jesus to a groundhog.

Side note to Billf: With parades.

Ah yes, of course there's always Sickipedia for more "inappropriate" humour: http://www.sickipedia.org

The only joke about Saddam's death is it was to easy. He should have been dropped into the middle of a mob of Kurds who would have ripped him limb from limb.

billf: Will history giggle a little when they plant a shrub in his honor?

I giggled a little already.

Speaking of poor comic timing, I'm reminded of a comment made: "Your excuses are lamer than FDR's legs" that was met with reproach.

I like the hunter one better.

"911, what is the emergency?"

"My pal and I were hunting and a bear mauled him! I think he's dead!"

"Calm down sir. First we need to make sure he really is dead."

*BANG*

"Ok, now what?"

-Adam

I believe it was Mel Brooks who once said that the only way to really get to maniacs like Saddam, or Hitler, is to humiliate them, even after they're dead. These people base their entire lives on the assumption they're better than others; it's a pride/hubris thing. Scott, I applaud you for making a mockery out of Saddam's now-over life. He deserved no respect while he was alive, and he deserves no respect now. We should have just made a big marionette with his body and put on a burlesque with it or something.

Sick twisted jokes are sometimes the only way to deal with the horrors of reality. He took pleasure in killing, I think it is only fair that the world gets a chuckle or two at him.

I'm not worried about burning in hell. I made my reservations a long time ago. I'm renting a party bus. Anyone want a ride ?

Blah, blah. blah, blah..

Humor is the ability of humans to heal themselves. That why right after the Challenger accident we had this joke.

Why does Nasa drink Pepsi? Because they can't get 7 up!

On the Saddam front, there is a whole cadre of folk that say it's a hoax.

After 911, you could not make too many Bush jokes, let alone 911 jokes. It was all "you are with us or against us." Which is rubbish.

I tried to call Sadam for a comment, but he got hung up ...

Saddam t-shirts for sale! bit tight round the neck but they hang well........

sorry....

Scott,

OK only in the vaguest sense do I remotely understand the Jesus Christ joke.

I realize that its a very old joke, and in the comedians inner circle it would be considered "a classic"

In the same way that Shecky Greene would bash on jews, or Kramer would bash on blacks.

But that is why those kind of jokes are reserved for the comedic inner circle- they cant be consumed by the general public.

Just as an fyi-

I had no problem with the jokes. I personally thought the jibes that Saddam got at his hanging didn't go far enough. Burying his body at his hometown was being too good to him. I think they should have put him in a mass unmarked grave of other bad guys.

I think the problem is that some people just value human life too highly.
Seriously.
I mean, they assign the same value to Saddam's life as they do to Mother Theresa's. Maybe that's God's way, I don't know, I've never met him. For me though, some life is precious and should be respected, even when it's over. Some, like Saddam, should be ended as quickly as possible so the jokes can begin and at least something good can come of him in death, since certainly nothing but pain and suffering followed him in life.
Heck, I try to live a good life and I hope someone has the good sense to tell a bad joke at my funeral. If the last thing I inspire before I'm forgotten is a little giggle, that'd be great.
So, thanks Saddam. You were an evil son of a bitch in life, but at least now you're dead, and we can all get a good laugh out of that.


I have yet to be at a funeral during which I did not (quietly) giggle about something.

The whole "respect for the decaying, lifeless corpse" thing has always evaded me.

I do subvert the giggles by reminding myself that every person is someone's relative; and somewhere someone is sad and missing them:

even the Hijackers of 9-11
even Saddam
even Hitler
even G W Bush...

Wait; is it OK to laugh about the potential/future death of someone?

How will history judge G W Bush's future death?

Will history giggle a little when they plant a shrub in his honor?

iggsy -- I don't think he was joking. :D

I'm not sure why anyone would be disgusted. When I try to figure it out, I have to remind myself it isn't a joke - and its scary to think that something that is so stupid it could be funny is, in fact, actually real.

The people that carried out Saddam's execution believe in the new and fledgling democracy. They are the same people who were under his tyrannical rule and are the same people who took their shoes off to slap the face of Saddam's toppled statue on international television, when just baring the sole of your shoe towards someone is a highly insulting action in the Muslim culture.

The guards probably were saying things to incite rage in Saddam. Wouldn't you? You're about to hang the man who terrorized the region, and your family and friends, for decades. Would you be able to keep yourself from taking advantage of a moment to have your say? To be able to vent your anger and break his undeserved confidence before he dies?

A terrible dictator is dead, finally. One that killed thousands. He doesn't deserve the kind of dignity the "disgusted" blog readers are trying to defend. And those were just jokes, at a terrible dictator's expense. And people are disgusted for the terrible dictator's sake? That's asinine.

If our society was a person, the person is fighting to protect itself and its friends from some of the most dangerous people in history. This out of control "political correctness" is akin to brain cancer. It is slowly taking away our ability to protect what makes our society worth protecting. The person is starting to get distracted from protecting itself and its friends by having to address some internal problems first. But, like some smokers, you can't help yourselves. You insist on being "politically correct" which in fact has been way too far over the line in recent years with politically correct Christmas, politically correct caroling, politically correct holiday statements, and now politically correct executions of terrible dictators. You're only making the cancer, and therefore the distraction, worse.

Saddam deserved to die, I shed no tears over the execution. But I was disturbed by the celebrations conducted by the former Iraquis in Michigan. Almost as disturbed as by the protests conducted by Sunnis around the world.

I'm not much for making dead people jokes, but I'm still giggling about the ham coffin.

I thought the joke was more about idiots who are stupid and mean-spirited enough to taunt someone about to be executed, than the execution itself.

I was still promised a pack of wild boars.

There is no such thing as 'inappropriate humor'. Every joke ever to be told will have some sort of 'insulting' load to it to someone somewhere. And even 'insulting' is very subjective to every individual.

I'm not going to tiptoe, and I surely hope that Scott is'nt going to either.

I think the proper length of time is about 30 seconds.

"Mr. Jones, come quick." They said,
"Your servant's cut in half, he's dead."
Mr, Jones replied, "Indeed? And please",
"Send me the half that's got my keys."

http://marksbarks.blogspot.com/

I remember a lot of discussion among psychiatrists and counselors and media mavens and what-nots about when the late-night comedians could even mention the attack on the Twin Towers - to say nothing about how long they would have to wait before making any kind of jokes about it. I agree with you: If it's going to be fair game in the future, why not make it fair game now?

Out of respect for the dead -- especially the recently dead (and even despots such as Saddam Hussein) -- I don't generally joke about death. But it's not a strict prohibition. I certainly understand why lots of folks react to tasteless jokes about the dead, both positively and negatively. However, I prefer a little decorum. Except for fart jokes. Fart jokes are always funny.

I've been reading this blog for a couple months. In that time, it's been surprising to observe just how glib a lot of the writing is, and further, how responses to comments tend to tweak them with their own words and arguments. It's all very clever, but sometimes it does get a bit "in your face" for me. That said, I wouldn't give much thought to those who insist they'll never read the blog again. You can't please everyone, but I guess you can still tweak them.

Seriously why are people getting angry at the things you said you know everyones thinking the exact same things.... I think people need to be a little less offended....

Scott, while I have a great deal of respect for you and your creations, I think you're wrong about this.

Setting aside for the moment the debate about whether the death penalty is justified, Saddam's execution was ostensibly an act of justice. Jeering at him and taunting him while he's being restrained for his execution would be merely insulting and cowardly. We are (or should be) greater beings that that.

Justice is a noble cause; jeering isn't. Justice calls for calm, rational impartiality; this is why it's is different from (and better than) revenge.

Scott, you have my official permission to start telling dead Saddam jokes retroactive to midnight 1/1/2007.

You're welcome.

The part I don't get is what the hell the offended parties were doing reading Scott's blog in the first place. If they're that damn thin-skinned they should have been offended a long time ago!

Hmmm... perhaps they come to Scott to recharge their righteous indignation so that they may continue their battle to clothe the effrontery of such shameful sights as Michel"Smut-Monger"angelo's sculpture 'David'.

Let's not be offended that a human life was taken (I'm certainly not - in this case.) Let's just get bent out of shape because somebody had a giggle over the fact that a lunatic murderer is no longer around.

Same happened to me... I made a joke about the game "hanged" wondering what was the word Saddam missed to lose, and eventually get hanged. Some people didn't find that funny. But I still think it was.

I think you have more experience on this hot issues to ignore critics ... or maybe you simply had a good excuse to post today.

You know, I knew you'd "get letters" for that one, and it doesn't matter. It was funny. What isn't funny is that people are so uptight about it...you don't get problems over Hitler jokes, for instance, but old Sadammy Squirrel is responsible for a LOT of inhuman deaths, and I really don't think he read your blog, in any case. It's unfortunate that the guards didn't get to read it first, they might have gotten a better reaction.

Jay Leno always says, "We're going to get letters" after something like this...but it doesn't stop him from writing. Why? Easy - he's a comedian.

I'd be interested in your take on Pat Robertson's predictions for the year...how about trying to frighten ten million Christians by predicting a huge terrorist strike this year and claiming that the Israeli Prime Minister was punished by God with a stroke for letting Palestine have Israeli controlled land ...

My particular favorite was your comment on the truckload of American Soldiers...

DNW

Scott,

I think you are correct in thinking that time eventually makes most things funny, as will be the case with Saddam when enough time passes.

I think you misjudged two key elements when you decided to poke fun at this one a little early:

1) They hanged him for a reason. He was a bad guy who caused a lot of people a lot of grief, and a lot of those people are still around (whether they read your blog or not is a different topic). It's sort of like this: While I, a 23 year old guy who born long after WWII, find jokes about Hitler occasionally funny, I would never crack one in front of a WWII vet. While they may be OK with it or even see the humor, I think there is a pretty good chance it's just not a topic they find funny. It's a lot easier to find humor in something you have personal distance from.

2) Say all you want about the violence we see on TV everyday, but this was different. And it was jarring. Seeing a person executed and knowing that it was real was an intense experience. I'll be the first to admit that there is inherent curiosity about the situation, but this crossed the line into entertainment and I think that bothered a lot of people.

So anyway, I think it was a joke that crossed the line, but I don't think it's a huge deal. After all, we encourage our comedians to cross lines; it's what we like about them. We can't get too mad if we personally feel like one joke out of hundreds seems to have gone a little overboard.

hmm, didn't really notice, it probably wasn't in the best taste but that seems par for the course here ;)

Reminds me of the South Park episode where people discover that AIDS is finally funny (after 22.3 years) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Has_Aides )

i will read you forever. or for as long as i've been programmed to do so. in sickness and in health, so help me! PLEASE! somebody help me!

happy new year. onlyfourteentogo

Why does your blog post email addresses? It's a source for spam-generating web crawlers.

Let's work on getting the scatalogical humor accepted first. Recoil at "death humor" arises out of a general respect for life, that we don't celebrate death, even the death of our enemies.

We do, however, remember and celebrate the life of departed friends.

Making jokes about dead people doesn't show respect for them, and cheapens life. And if we cheapen life enough, we'll find the fringes of society failing to differentiate between us walking across the street, and a video game.

my favorite is from South Park when David Blaine makes the Lincon Memorial statue come to life and go godzilla on DC. Jesus (working with the other religous leaders/prophets, a.k.a. "the super best friends") radios back to Moses at HQ to ask: "quick - I need to know how to stop a giant, stone Abraham Lincon" to which Moses replied "umm... err.. giant... stone... John Wilkes Booth?" which they promptly built and snook up behind Lincon and popped a cap in his crown... :D

I think that humans killing other humans is basically wrong. In the case of Saddam Hussein I believe it is an appropriate punishment for his crimes. I don't think there's anything funny about it though and I don't understand why anyone would rejoice at another human's death. The percentage as well as the sheer number of people who are totally beyond redemption and have no value to the human race are tiny. Those people are also difficult to recognize.

I haven't lost respect for you. Of course one can't lose what one doesn't have.

NOTE: many commenters would have used the word loose in the previous sentence instead of lose. Read a frakking dictionary, morons.

-HAL

I'm still trying to decide how I feel about the Saddam execution. It's weird, but I really don't know how to evaluate the guy. He was a strict dictator, unflinching in his use of force to quell any insurrection. But if anything, our current Iraqi adventure seems to be proving that that's about the only way to run that fractured country. He had a vision of a unified Iraq (with himself at the helm), and his pursuit of that vision led to a huge population of people in his own country who feared and hated their own government, but little in the way of internal unrest and sectarian killings as we have now. It begs the question... might Saddam's way have been the best way for Iraq?

Oh how I miss the days when the solutions to all of the most complicated problems in that region were freedom, democracy, and lots of brave American soldiers helping Iraqis topple a great big statue.

Please don't tease the dead guy anymore - at least not for 5 years or so. He's paid for his crimes, and may he rest in peace.

I thought it was funny. Strangely enough I understand humor and I also understand the sobriety of life. The reason we need the humor is the sobriety! Oh, well. At least when its all said and done there was justice over there [in Saddam - not going into the whole Iraq war thing].

Scott,

How can you be "surprised" by anything that moist robots do, if they have no choice but to do them? It seems that you have an expectation of some other result, which might imply you experienced free will on the part of others who did do what you expected . . .

I liked your original post. True gallows humor....

I watched the video and in the midst of taunting and chaos, Sadam managed to go out with an amazing amount of dignity. He knew he had a bill to pay, stepped up and paid it. I despised him for many things, but give him credit for that.

No, no, you have to wait 22.6 years before something can be funny.

Hey Scott

You making light of his execution is much better than what the morons who were carrying it out did.

I'm glad you don't let readers get to you.

Yeah, killing anything isn't funny, but your comments were. Par for the course.

Remember all those Challenger jokes?

I don't think it took more than a week for them to start rolling...

I like the Lincoln joke.

And it's not too soon. Saddam was a madman who did his share of killing.

I actually didn't even know that Saddam was executed until I read about it in your blog. And I have to admit, I found the execution much more harrowing than most of the deaths you read about in the daily news. Perhaps it's because of all the build-up leading up to it. It was basically a year of "Saddam is going to be executed", and then I blinked, and boom, it was actually done.

What I found harrowing about it was that it was a particularly grim reminder that we will all someday face death, just like Saddam did. We won't all have a hangman place a noose around our necks, but we'll face it. Saddam faced his own death, and now it's done. It's just a matter of time before it's our turn.

I'm sure there are many people who found Saddam's death relatively "harrowing", like I did, and it's those people for whom it tends to be a touchy subject. Maybe.

As for me, I found your headline "Good Noose from Iraq" so completely ridiculous and cheesy that I couldn't take the fact that you were joking about the execution seriously.

As for people boycotting your blog, big whoop. They'll probably keep reading Dilbert.

I throught the period to make fun of sadam started in february, too bad :(

People threaten to quit reading your blog every day. In spite of several months of threats, your blog appears to continue being a huge success. I was pretty fed up with the constant middle east posts, and quit reading it for a while, but... your cleverness, charm, and wit transcended the boring obsession in the long run. Let 'em make threats and follow your own instincts.

I remember jokes about Princess Diana and more recently Steve Irwin coming out within hours.
Bad taste they may have been but if you can't laugh at death then life is too short. Oh.

“How do you spell Eucalyptus?”

E-u-c-a-l-y-p-t-u-s

You won't burn in hell for comparing Jesus to a groundhog... but we are ALL in danger of burning in hell. If that concerns you, check out WayoftheMaster.com...

I guess that's the closest you get to an apology, huh? :-)

You are quite right about waiting some time before death becomes funny, or at least dealing with it in an impersonal, no-one really involved kind of way. With enough time, no-one (or few) will mind you making jokes about Saddam's execution.

But the tone of your post implies that you don't understand why this should be so, that you think it's some kind of ridiculous irrational foible.

I don't think it's an irrational foible: I think it has something to do with respect, and compassion. Both of these qualities are virtues, and I'm sure that even a cynic can appreciate why.

A normal person has a degree of empathy with someone's passing because of the position that we are all in: mortals, waiting to die. This is an almost universally dreaded process. Putting yourself in the deceased's position makes clear that you would not enjoy it.

Some may feel that they shouldn't empathise or feel any compassion at all for a murderer like Saddam. I guess that others (myself included) feel that we (or anyone) lack the kind of universal wisdom to pass judgement to that degree: to reduce him to a non-human. Judging to a lesser degree, to cast him as a criminal and a tyrant, is possible.

Perhaps if God exists he has that kind of wisdom, but human beings are flawed, frequently wrong even about things they are most certain of. Someone who lacks the humility to realise this may lack a certain degree of inner reflection.

I think the specific objections probably had a lot to do with the incredible social horror of seeing the solemnity of an execution destroyed by the guards. I personally disapprove of the death penalty: at its absolute best it is only a necessary evil. Saddam's execution was not a good example of the procedure, so reminding people of that with jokes reminds them of how bad it was.

As time passes, the jokes become less likely to remind people of all these painful things, and the reality of the execution will fade, so people will appreciate the humour more.

I think humour is almost always a good thing, but it has to be received well to work: otherwise it acts against itself. You shouldn't deliver jokes that people will find offensive and expect them to laugh. Humour is a subjective quality, and therefore it is wrong to think that people "should" laugh at this or that: they are under no obligation.

I'm still going to read your blog. I think of most people (yourself included, Scott! - but myself as well, unfortunately) as slightly mentally ill, largely incapable of seeing their own flaws (except on special occasions). Therefore I'll forgive a lot. It's the human condition, after all.

Well, I thought it was funny. I may not be an "eye for eye" kind of person, but I really can't get too worked up about the death of a petty tyrant who killed and maimed with impunity. I have to say, my one regret is that hanging is a relativly quick way to die.

Why doesn't someone bring back the pendulum? Now that is a scary way to die. And it is rife with humor.

Some people just don't get sick jokes, full stop (that's "period" for you Americans). Check out the B3ta book of sick jokes - you'll find it if you look - it's not to everyone's taste.

I was trying to figure out what exactly makes sick jokes funny and I think it's down to their inherent satire; you're not actually joking about the subject matter (death of a baby or whatever), but about people's reaction to the subject matter. Topical sick jokes are a good example because really the funny part is the thought of such comments appearing on the news or on the front of newspapers, when in fact these "information" sources give us all our news in a strange kind of code where, for instance, different sorts of people are described in particular ways (e.g. firefighters and teachers are always good, people with cancer are always brave, children / mothers are always lovely if they recently died, etc). When something really big / bad happens, everyone starts talking in this weird way and anyone who fails to conform to the language of shock and grief looks like some kind of uncaring maniac - whereas in fact they may just be a bit better at handling their emotions.

You go, boy! I've gotten to the point that almost everything is funny (thanks, Scrubs for ruining that last bastion of seriousness for me - abortion). Heck, I even break through some of the barriers that you are afraid of. Even mental retardation is ok to make fun of in my family. It helps that we have someone who is actually mentally retarded in the family. As in, "Great the retarded kid just beat me in 'Don't Spill the Beans'!"

By the way, it's when you get serious that I think you jump the shark. Actually, its not the seriousness. Its when you get upset with us that "we can't just see your obvious points" that does it.

LoL, Scott your awesome and funny as hell (guess I'll meet you there), more than not at least ;)

If someone does not like this blog then just uh...don't read it. DEE DEE DEE

Heres is nice offensive one everyone can get pissy about...

How do you fit 1,000 jews in a voltswagon beetle?
In the ash tray...

BTW I am not racist, I just love funny on any level.

Funny - I would have assumed Sadam was fair game the minute he dropped through the trapdoor. Go figure. You're just ahead of the curve again. Did you see the top emailed story in the NY Times - all about free will. Just ahead of the curve.

Steven Colbert did a joke about unfreezing Lincoln from the secret government freezer as soon as we develop a cure for "shot-in-head."

The audience was mixed between laughter and boos.

Colbert: "Too soon?"

My complaint about the Saddam post is I thought the jokes were pretty lame. You're capable of much more clever than that. Remember what Carlin said: anything is funny if you look at it right.

Keep it up, Scott. Please don't stop. More, more.

(I wasn't intending for this to sound sexual, but there it is...)

all jokes are jus about timing

My favorite dead joke was on told by Josef Stalin. Kill one person and you are a murderer kill 6 million and you are a liberator.

Can the man tell a joke or what

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