Could we get seriously funny?

[lamar1234]

Has a section of the forum ever been tried that was titled 'Humor'?

If not, I know the potential problems it might cause, but reasonable, it seems to me, precautions could be taken, no?

I propose a section CLEARLY LABELED 'Humor' or some such. One of you creative types come up with something catchy to call it.

The rules would clearly state that humor can be applied to POSITIONS, PHILOSOPHIES, TENETS, BELIEFS, etc. The ISSUES, right?

Let me provide examples, please.

It would be PERMISSABLE to make a joke about Noah being so clever to make the door on the ark too small for dinosaurs to get in.

Probably NOT permissable to start in 'Yo Mamma' jokes against another member of the forum for any reason.

I think a ruling would have to be made on "_____-ists/_______-ians are SOOOOO stupid because they......." you get the idea.

It shouldn't be used against each other on this forum. We're here to have civil discourse.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to say it, but I would like all the theists I've posted with to know that I find them to be absolutely delightful people. I'm really new to the forum, but I have actually grown in respect for believers by being here. They have been polite, patient, yet still passionate and so intelligent. My respect for them rises every time I come here.

Thank you for the forum and that wonderful unexpected gift.

[lamar1234]

[Replying to post 1 by lamar1234]

As a precaution, make it really clear to everyone who even tries to go there:

WARNING! WARNING! DANGER AHEAD IF YOU CANNOT TAKE A JOKE!

IF YOU CANNOT LAUGH AT YOURSELF OR WHAT YOU BELIEVE BEST TURN BACK!

[bluethread]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to say it, but I would like all the theists I've posted with to know that I find them to be absolutely delightful people. I'm really new to the forum, but I have actually grown in respect for believers by being here. They have been polite, patient, yet still passionate and so intelligent. My respect for them rises every time I come here.

Thank you for the forum and that wonderful unexpected gift.

There is the daily laugh thread.

I appreciate that you have grown to respect the theists here and find us polite, patient, yet still passionate and so intelligent. That said, many atheists here are also passionate and so intelligent, and they may very well convince you that your assessment of us theists was a bit premature.

[lamar1234]

[Replying to bluethread]

If I promise you that I can put my big-boy pants on all by myself, what do you say to me forming my own opinion, thank you very much?

What if I say to you, dear friend, "I likes me some theists and any man here that tries to convince me otherwise, well, we may have some problems......."

Please picture me in a black cowboy hat, possibly rocketing tobacco juice into a spittoon, while some crazy flute music is going in the background after I said that, if you please.

[Danmark]

Better than 'The Daily Laugh,' I'd like to see more humor in the serious posts; not just pasted on jokes, but original humor used artfully to help make the point of the argument, not to denigrate or distract. A little gentle kidding shouldn't be beyond the rules.

[WinePusher]

[Replying to post 5 by Danmark]

I participate on a forum where this type of humor is encouraged. Generally, people who post these types of threads are called trolls over there since the posts are overtly ridiculous, but humorous.

[WinePusher]

Here's a post that had me laughing out loud. It's about how dinosaurs weren't real, the original post had profanity in it but I edited it out.

The whole idea is just totally implausible and I'm not going to stand for it anymore. It's pretty obvious to me it's just a ruse to get kids interested in science. But at what cost?

Think about it:

* Some of these monsters - the ones about the size of double decker buses - were supposed to support themselves on a diet solely consisting of grass? My cat eats grass and he doesn't grow a damn, just ends up throwing up all over the place.

* One minute, they're telling us that the T-Rex is this terrifying creature that ran around eating up all kinds of stuff bigger than him, then the next they're like "oh we found a new fossil and actually he was maybe six inches tall and was vegan." How does that stuff even come close to adding up?

* We're suppose to believe that their bones survived like a billion years or whatever. My fridge broke down the other week and all the dead animals in their basically turned to stuff in the course of a few days. But yeah, of course, dinosaurs all happened to be perfectly preserved over geological eons. Right, professor.

* We've found all sorts of cave art - drawings of food, people, other animals, landscapes, etc. Okay it's not all great, but at least it gives us an idea what was going on back then. But not one picture of a single dinosaur amongst them. So what, they had these monsters running amok, terrifying stone age people, and nobody thought to draw a picture about it? Oh that totally makes sense.

Tell me where I'm wrong.

[Danmark]

Here's a post that had me laughing out loud. It's about how dinosaurs weren't real, the original post had profanity in it but I edited it out.

The whole idea is just totally implausible and I'm not going to stand for it anymore. It's pretty obvious to me it's just a ruse to get kids interested in science. But at what cost?

Think about it:

* Some of these monsters - the ones about the size of double decker buses - were supposed to support themselves on a diet solely consisting of grass? My cat eats grass and he doesn't grow a damn, just ends up throwing up all over the place.

* One minute, they're telling us that the T-Rex is this terrifying creature that ran around eating up all kinds of stuff bigger than him, then the next they're like "oh we found a new fossil and actually he was maybe six inches tall and was vegan." How does that stuff even come close to adding up?

* We're suppose to believe that their bones survived like a billion years or whatever. My fridge broke down the other week and all the dead animals in their basically turned to stuff in the course of a few days. But yeah, of course, dinosaurs all happened to be perfectly preserved over geological eons. Right, professor.

* We've found all sorts of cave art - drawings of food, people, other animals, landscapes, etc. Okay it's not all great, but at least it gives us an idea what was going on back then. But not one picture of a single dinosaur amongst them. So what, they had these monsters running amok, terrifying stone age people, and nobody thought to draw a picture about it? Oh that totally makes sense.

Tell me where I'm wrong.

Hilarious, tho' I confess I have no idea if the guy who wrote this is really that dumb or whether he is using irony. It's funnier if he's serious.

Sometimes one can carry off ironic humor too well. I wonder how many people thought Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal* was meant seriously.
A good satirist should drop a clue here and there, signalling his intent without spoiling the fun. One of my favorites in Smith's essay:

I grant this food will be somewhat dear,
and therefore very proper for landlords,
who, as they have already devoured most of the parents,
seem to have the best title to the children.

_____________________________
*http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html

[Korah]

[Replying to post 8 by Danmark]
But we've got to keep this hush-hush.
Be sure nobody tells Zzy* , he's deathly against us having any fun. He guarantees me that The Great Debate about written gospel eyewitnesses will be as painful as going to the dentist, especially for me.
But how can we keep HIM out of the loop? He's EVERYWHERE!
And NOWHERE

[Korah]

[Replying to post 8 by Danmark]
But we've got to keep this hush-hush.
Be sure nobody tells Zzyzx, he's deathly against us having any fun. He guarantees me that The Great Debate about written gospel eyewitnesses will be as painful as going to the dentist, especially for me.
But how can we keep HIM out of the loop? He's EVERYWHERE!
And NOWHERE!
Yeah, try looking him up in Memberlist. Absolutely no clue about him at all. You can't track any of his posts. And it's not because he's a Moderator. You can find posts by dianaiad and even otseng (but not his name, age, etc) I do know by other means that he's 75 and "lives" in the Ozarks. Yeah, really, like I'm going to believe THAT!