Jon Gabriel wrote:
> IMO, that doesn't make the joke acceptable. I do understand where
> you're coming from, but I still disagree. There isn't a stated "goal"
> of male Americans raping and murdering women either but you won't see me
> joking about that (hopefully extremely) rare occurrence for any reason.
Not as rare as you'd like to think. :(
According to _The Gift of Fear_ by Gavin de Becker, 75 women are raped every
hour, on average, and the number of women killed by boyfriends & husbands
every month exceeds the death toll of a jumbo jet going down and killing
everyone on board.
Later on in the book, he recounts a story where someone made a joke that
turned out to be all too unfunny, but a warning. At the California Forestry
Association, one day the receptionist was out and there was a package
addressed to the former president of the association. After discussion
between several people, including the current president, they decided to
open it. One man, Bob Taylor, joked, "I'm going back to my office before
the bomb goes off." And when the others opened it, sure enough, it *was* a
bomb, and of everyone in on the discussion of the package, only Taylor
managed not to be a victim of the Unabomber.
So dark humor can be the expression of a warning that might not be taken
seriously.
Anyway, I'm probably rambling here....
Julia
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