“Joke Butting” – Sport or Psychological Storm Front?

So what’s “Joke Butting”?

When a person/s or group of people are singled out as the butt of insidious jokes in a covert manner with the intention of the recipient ‘just’ noticing and being made to feel uncomfortable.

Psychles coined the phrase a while back when we noticed that the noble cause of political correctness was spawning the unfortunate side effect of pushing blatant incorrect humor into ‘behind the back, nudge-nudge, wink-wink’ whispers.

Sexism, ageism, racism, heightism, weightism, and other prejudices slid from ‘big funny’ open jokes to backroom creepy slurs – ‘Funny’ only if you’re not on the receiving end.

Joke Butting

Psychles has observed a worrying trend recently where it seems that “Joke Butting” has spread from the pub into the family circle.

For example, those who are vertically challenged get the ‘Garden Gnome’ presentation for Christmas, and others with weight-to-height ratio issues are open to a smorgasbord of darts.

The latest really concerning trend is “Joke Butting” family oldies. This is not so concerning from the ‘oldies’ point of view because, funnily enough, they’ve seen it all and know where you’re coming from. Rather, the trend is concerning for the effect it’s having on the generations to follow.

Let’s take a look – There’s a typical family gathering with Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z already present. Gen X are strung up to the eyeballs and tense enough to start throwing plates, Gen Z sit in judgment with legs on tables and phones firmly planted on foreheads. Gen Y, usually the guests, shuffle around and make polite conversation and wonder why the ’F’ they were invited. Then the Baby Boomers bundle in, loaded to the hilt with lovingly cooked food, goodies for the ‘kids’, happy smiles, and old jokes ready to make everyone happy.

Bingo! Easy Target! It’s time to ease frustrations.

So Gen X and Gen Z make eye contact and get to work proving that the Boomers really are as stupid as they look. They perform using rolling eyebrows, sniggers, and comic renditions of old-fashioned ethnic background accents just ‘almost’ out of sight of the Boomers and clearly obvious to Gen Y audience who wonder why the ’F’ they were invited!

End result – Boomers don’t miss a trick, Gen X feel like shite, Gen Z don’t give a flying ‘F’ and Gen Y wonder why the ’F’ they were invited!!

So where do you fit in with this new sport?

Are you a player, a victim, or an audience who wonders why the ’F’ they were invited?!

Think about it and change the status quo before it hurts you.