The tsunami in Japan is very sad and very tragic, but even though it is so tragic, is it not okay to laugh to ease the pain?
Gilbert Gottfried was fired from being the Afflac duck voice for making jokes on Twitter regarding the events in Japan. His jokes, “I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘They’ll be another one floating by any minute now'” and “I fucked a girl in japan. She screamed ‘I feel the earth move and I’m getting wet.'”, but should he be fired over that? Yes it is a tragic time in Japan, but are we not allowed to laugh? Comedians aren’t known for being appropriate, in fact, that is one of the reasons we love them and watch them. I’ve laughed at September 11th jokes, why shouldn’t we be able to laugh?
The night of the tsunami trending topics on Twitter were Pearl Harbor and Godzilla. A writer for the Cleveland show tweeted “The tsunami is payback for Pearl Harbor”, I’ll be honest, I knew it was wrong, but I still laughed a bit. It isn’t because I have no respect for the country or what they are going through, but because it was so messed up. Godzilla was trending because they were saying the tsunami was really just him waking up, not as funny, but still amusing.
Maybe some would call me an asshole, maybe some would say I have no respect because I can laugh through this, and because I can laugh at September 11th. I’m not laughing at them, I am laughing at the jokes. As inappropriate as they are, they are funny. Maybe the world needs more laughter right now, so let go of the political correctness, put down your differences, get together with a neighbor and just laugh. What else can we do, just wallow? They say laughing is the best medicine and I agree with them.