I just felt compelled to pass this on as people still don’t seem to know about Wonder Showzen while Borat has exploded. Maybe everyone is not ready for Wondershozen yet as it can be beyond “cringe” but isn’t that what Borat really wants?

many Americans seem to have had an irony bypass

this thread has got rather serious of late considering it’s intentions

Jazzman! I see you are capable of humor!

Let me prepare you for your prospective tour of Planet Jazzman:

On Planet Jazzman, Consciousness, Energy and Matter are manifestations of each other and interchangeable. There is no religion, supernatural entities, or fear; people are peace loving and do not feel the need to dishonestly trick others for their amusement or profit.

People take responsibility for what ever situation in which they find themselves and ideally live by the following code: ABSOLUTE MORALITY

1) Do Respect and Honor ALL Life/Nature. EVERYTHING in the universe has purpose, meaning, and an innate right to exist. (No need to invoke God or Evolution)

2) Do EMPATHIZE with others in all transactions. Consider the effect of your actions vis a vis others. Don’t take advantage of people via trickery or superior intellect. This is the root of the Golden Rule – no vengeful tit for tat.

3) Do not kill more than is needed for physical sustenance. I believe that most people would agree that the deprivation of life for gluttony is less than ideal and should be discouraged.

4) Do not commit violence on yourself or others, life, or the environment. Violence is a result of unexpressed pent up aggression, fostered by a sense of powerlessness to attain desires by the incompetent, ignorant or impatient and NEVER justified.

5) Do not attempt to attain an IDEAL by violating any of the above propositions. The “All of the above” Meta-rule – IDEAL ENDS NEVER JUSTIFY LESS THAN IDEAL MEANS.

Peace to ALL – this is my last post until at least the week after Thanksgiving.

Jazzman

And, since I no longer want to be boring any remaining lurkers with this rapidly drying exchange of opinion, I am going to sign off here. Good evening.

(Frankly, now I’m starting to suspect that “jazzman” is just a baiting arguebot and it is I who am the “mark”. Damn! This blogversation better not appear in Borat 2: Cultural Learning On the Internets For Make Benefit Glorious Site of Radio Open Source)

Not only the situation, but also “real people” are manipulated thru dishonesty by the person with the upper hand which is a violation of their personal rights.

I would suggest that a healthy sense of humor is one that can find the “correct” reaction,

Who defines the “correct” reaction? Correct in your eyes and healthy in your opinion as it is with all value judgments. There is no moral correctness in value judgments – only beliefs about right and wrong.

What does comedic taste say, if anything, about a society?

It says volumes about peoples motivations and character. De gustibus non est disputandum (seeing as you are fond of Latin albeit of the porcine variety) If it is taste and not schadenfreude – feel good humor due to the misfortunes of actual people rather than the conceptual let’s say these misfortunes occurred hypothetically and present it as comedy then it is a question of taste. When it is not hypothetical then comedic taste has overtones of meanness and lack of empathy and reflects callousness in the strata of society that finds such things amusing.

BTW Marks do not make themselves, it take 2 to tango and requires an imbalance of power as in the confidence trickster and the mark. Once engaged the mark bears responsibility for his/her part in the action but without the initiator there is no mark.