posted May 24, 2012 04:11 AM
quote:
Originally posted by RunAroundScreaming:
It's just confusing to me. I don't find it funny lol. It's disorienting to me if anything
If you want to be understood, then know I really try, and I have learned to tread lightly around some people fearful of how they might take some kidding around personally. But if you'd like to also understand what it's like for many Air Signs then read on...
We tend to process the world in a different way, taking delight and comfort in mental concepts more than emotional ones (emotions are also important, but they're secondary), so what seems hurtful to you is funny without being hurtful to us (at least in the right circumstances), even when we endure it. Like when I returned from Texas my Aquarian BFF welcomed me back by saying I was back from “eating fried foods and [censored] your cousin,” and I (within moments) said she was just jealous that I got to eat some good, greasy food Californians weren't allowed to enjoy and that Zack (my favorite cousin whom she knows a lot about) was cuter than any guy she's ever been with and then when we both laughed. I've made self-depreciating jokes as well at times. I've made jokes about her as well (jokes that would be a very bad idea for you to make unless the 2 of you knew each other well, and also a vindictive tone can turn what would be kidding around into a confrontation). We don't find it hurtful or alienating, we find it funny, and it brings us closer together rather than driving us apart.
Sometimes it's just the cleverness of it, the mental ability to twist something to humorous ends. For example when I moved in with someone near my 17th b-day a couple of hunters came to brag to her and when they knocked I answered the door to see 2 surprised men I never saw before cradle carrying shotguns (even being from Texas this was strange to me) and after we blinked in mutual surprise at each other I quipped, “We already gave to the NRA this month.” This was funny to me because of the unexpected twist to defining the sitch and the NRA was known to always be shaking down members (and sending out armed members to do the shaking down made it silly-fun). The 2 hunters just found me annoying but other hunters thought what I said was hilarious.
One gun enthusiastic survivalist around that same time called me a hippie for how I was dressed and talked (I'd tried to convince them they should help some tree sitters standing up to Maxxam Corp) and after arguing on it I said, “If you want hippie, I'll show you hippie.” Later I brought some flowers and stuck one in each of his 6 long guns on display in his living room (a play on the iconic hippie who placed flowers in the rifles of military police at an antiwar demonstration). Of course he knew it was me and was furious. I thought it was funny but after he explained how the dew from the flowers could oxidize the barrels (that is, could damage his guns) I felt terrible and offered to clean his guns for him (which he wouldn't let me touch). I was just trying to be silly, showing cleverness that appeals to air signs (as opposed to vulgarity or crudeness, though I do make an exception for South Park, especially the movie which was particularly brilliant & creative, created by 2 air signs), and get him back for dismissing me as a hippie but I never meant to cause him any harm or serious upset.
And in case my humor seems mean then let me share how I used to go to these veggie potlucks. It seemed ALL the vegetarians put cheese on their dishes to make them more filling and tasty and that meant the vegans didn't have much to choose from. So I made a point of making vegan dishes every time I went and also with the goal of showing they can be good and filling without cheese or other animal products. As an example I'd make a refried bean dish with plenty of spices, mild peppers (including onion), salsa, tomatoes, avocado, a bit of olive oil, etc, and it was not only popular among the vegans but even many of the vegetarians went for seconds. Other dishes I recall making include baked falafel (with a lot of spices, among other things), aloo palak, and pad Thai (with extra peanuts & peanut sauce and a touch extra of red & green vegan curry, holding the meat, eggs, fish sauce, and I also brought a bottle of Sriracha sauce with a sticky note on it warning that it was hot, but very delicious for those who can stand it). Vegans loved me (at least my dishes) and though I'm an eater of beasties I generally refrained from balancing arguments for vegetarian and vegan lifestyles (the point of the potlucks wasn't to promote their lifestyle so much as it was to have guest speakers talk about a paranormal or spiritual topic which was why I went, having been invited by fellow neopagans which I was myself at the time) and even told a couple of men bragging about their hunting to talk about that elsewhere as it was disrespectful of our hosts (even though I don't have a problem with hunting myself).
The point being I have gotten along with vegetarians & vegans and have not only been respectful but gone out of my way to accommodate them (and I gave their reasons due consideration and while not convinced to join them I find some of their points compelling which I sometimes share with people who disparage vegans).
Nevertheless I've seen some crazy and/or self-righteous vegans and some of the reasons I've heard for it don't seem that thought out and some can be frighteningly militant about it (no balance at all). There was even a guy on LL like that years ago (though as best I recall I never was rude to him about it). And because of that, I appreciate humor like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU2bu1muk3I
Now some vegans may take offense and feel I'm wrongfully stereotyping all vegans and vegan arguments and that I must hold them all in contempt but they'd be wrong. I'm just laughing at the playing with certain concepts (which I recognize as unfair in some cases, at least presented all by itself) and those self-righteous zealots in particular that inspired this script (as opposed to thinking all vegans are self-righteous zealots) and some of its creative silliness (like concepts as “thousands of years of dietary deception” which echo some of the less substantiated vegan arguments) that deal with mental concepts and fun philosophical questions that appeal to air signs (like “is this brain dead guy a vegetable, and if so, can I eat him?”).
Remember, I was the one who took the effort to make vegan dishes for vegans and try to make safe places for them when they're expected to show up, and I tell the occasional meat eater (who can be just as obnoxious about their lifestyle as some vegans are about theirs) to leave people alone who've made a conscious decision to live another way (like when I saw a guy offended that a vegetarian friend of mine wouldn't try his BBQ try to brow beat her into eating meat and acting like she was psychotic & insulting for refusing I let him know his obnoxious behavior was completely unacceptable and he needed to be as respectful of her as she was of him). But the crazy and self-righteous elements make that video funny to me and helps me deal with the disturbing elements and sometimes credulous arguments, and creative twists of their points just made it even more hilarious to me. It's hyperbolic silliness which makes fun of how far some take it, but I'm sure if I posted it on some boards I would be seen as holding vegans in contempt (which is why I never posted it in the Funny Vids thread).
Oh yes, I was eating samosas at a vegetarian cafe when a stranger insisted on talking to me and she was one of the biggest morons (yet confident in her own brilliance) I met who really annoyed the crap out of me with her appeal to emotion arguments devoid of substance (btw I recorded this on my computer right after it happened so that I could share it with others in emails and I can share it here if you like, though I didn't like her and I didn't poke fun at her--I did tick her off, though). When I then shared about her to my Aquarian BFF and moaned over that woman's lack of intellectual prowess she quipped, “That's what you get for expecting to have an intelligent conversation in a VEGETARIAN cafe.” I'm ok with vegetarians, I have vegetarians and vegans as friends, but that had me howling with laughter. And then, once I could talk again, I said (trying to sound as offended as I could, though I wasn't offended in the least), “You know I was eating there, too,” and she patted my hand saying, “It's ok, I don't think your brain has been permanently damaged,” which had me howling again, even though she was making fun of me as much as the woman I'd griped about. (I still ate there and didn't think anything bad of anyone who ate there, it was just silliness and a way to relieve tension from an idiot who had imposed herself on me.)
Sorry that this is so long (an easy vice for Librans) but I'm trying to show that I process the world different from you and that this is likely common to many air signs (like my Aquarian BFF) and it's not intended to be cruel or alienating.
Oh, yes, I mentioned above I used to be a neopagan, and here's one of the funniest sites I found back then (note that it's on a neopagan site): http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=wars&id=2099
I've also heard the best Catholic jokes from Catholics, btw. Of course other Catholics take extreme offense when they hear those jokes. Why do some Catholics find such jokes hilarious and others find them offensive? Maybe the answers are in their natal charts...
Lindaland
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posted May 24, 2012 04:11 AM