Week 1 - Jan 28th Reading

After doing the readings, what continually entered my mind was the idea behind the "Freudian slip." The articles referred to how jokes and the unconscious tie into each other. At first the reading brought up the idea that what we may consider jokes to be are "any conscious and successful evocation of what is comic, whether the comic of observation or of situation" (Freud, 1). However, when seeing or hearing certain jokes the unconscious mind may play into the joke itself as well. What enters my mind are all the stereotypical racist jokes or jokes that judge whole groups of people that may or may not (usually not) fit into the categories that the joke is describing. While the joke may be funny to some it also stands as offensive towards others. I believe that telling these jokes may sometimes be like a Freudian slip as to the joke tellers personality and views of others. While it could be viewed as a social commentary it also may reveal that there are underground racist contexts to those thoughts. For example:

Why do (n-word)'s always have sex on their minds?
Because they have pubes on their heads!

This was a random jokes I pulled off the internet. While some may view it as a social commentary, most would view it as completely offensive towards African-Americans. While it may bring up laughter, underneath it all is the hate-fueled ignorance and racial division by the joke teller. The teller may or may not be a racist, but in my mind telling this joke is kind of like a Freudian slip signaling others that the teller does not fully appreciate humanity and it's differences among human races. I believe every joke (whether dirty or clean) has this sort of unconscious underground context that can be viewed either as funny or offensive and is viewed differently by everyone that hears the joke. This unconscious context can reveal more about that teller's personality as well as the listener if he/she completely understands the joke and how he/she reacts to it.