Q-Pac Invasion

Americans love making fun of other people. Those who are not innately funny turn to mockery as an easy alternative to humor. By obtaining the (false) power position of the aggressor, people gain a sense of cockiness—to be sure, though, cockiness is very different than confidence. Actually, the desire for cockiness often times informs us of an even deeper lack of confidence. Turn to the classic example of an elementary school bully: traditionally, the stereotypical bully lacks friends, so he seeks physical power as a replacement for his inability to obtain genuine, social power. Similarly, taunting humor varies from other types of humor in that not everyone will find the joke to be funny. In fact, often times more people will find the joke to be offensive than those who will find it to be comical; this variance is why we find some topics funny, and others not.

This past Saturday night at Toad’s I witnessed the quintessential aggressor-victim comedic situation. Clearly in the height of his Toad’s blur—an all too familiar state already—a Yale freshman boy approached a chick that clearly rode the “Slut Bus” from Hamden earlier that evening. (Side note: the term “Slut Bus” bears zero negativity towards or hatred of the lovely women of Quinnipiac University; they use the same name for the bus, too.) The conversation between these two dancers was short, yet it generated antithetical reactions from those involved:

Yalie: “OMGZZZ DO YOU GO TO Q-PAC??!”
Q-Pac: “DUHHH!”
Yalie: “I am so, so, so, SO, so, sooo, sorry. My sincere condolences.”

Depending on one’s perspective, this brief exchange can be interpreted in several ways: arrogant Yalie, asshole Yalie, or amusing Yalie. As an onlooker, I immediately fell into the arrogant Yalie camp. As with most “victims” in aggressor jokes, the Q-Pac girl leaped into the asshole Yalie camp—and I seriously doubt she’ll ever leave. On the contrary, the “bully” in this example—the Yalie—no doubt sees this interaction as amusing.

Hmmm… three people, three varied reactions: is something that lacks universal acceptance as “funny” still humor? Yes; No; kind of. Humor stems from content, but content does not create humor. Rather, the perspectives and interpretations of the people involved form the humor. Therefore, one cannot look at a situation and deem it to be generically “funny” or not—it all depends on how you have lived your life.