Is it now okay to joke about torture?

[choie]

I guess so. In an article about a popular Yoga teacher in last Thursday's NY Times, Jane Harman, a devotee of said teacher, calls out in response to a particularly difficult Yoga position:

“Didn’t you see the torture memos this week?” called out Jane Harman, a 63-year-old devoted student in the front row, who also happens to be the United States Representative for the South Bay region of Los Angeles County".

Har Har Har!!! you're so funny, Congresswoman Harman. THIS is a Democrat?

[MNDemNY]

1. It always has been, IMO.

[jobycom]

2. I don't see why not. Actual torturing shouldn't be okay, but joking about it

as long as one isn't mocking a victim, is just joking.

[choie]

3. Coming from a woman who has neglected her oath of office,

okay'd warrantless wiretapping and colluded with the Bush administration to usurp the constitution, leaves a bitter taste in my mouth...I guess I'm just oversensitive :sarcasm:

[jobycom]

4. Nah, probably not. If it's one more example of the detachment of the individual

then it reveals something unflattering about them. I'm just saying that jokes aren't the issue, and simply hearing someone I otherwise respect joking about torture in the way you described wouldn't make me think less of them.

[choie]

5. Um ....she's not just a regular person

she's a damn congresswoman!

[jobycom]

7. I got that. I recognize the name, but know little to nothing about her.

Your thread title asked a general question, and that's what I answered. If Obama, or Al Gore, or some politician you respected joked that some exercise they had to do was torture, would you feel the same way? If Obama made a similar comment and Free Republic jumped all over him, would you side with them?

From your description, you sound more upset by Harmon's record than by this one joke.

[choie]

8. She did not say that the exercise was torture...

she said "didn't you read the torture memos"...that's pointedly a joke about the torture committed by our government. Her horrendous record, and the fact that she's supposedly a Democrat, makes it even more heinous. The fact that she joke so blithely about the memos is distasteful at best.

[jobycom]

9. Okay, technically she "implied" rather than "said" the exercise was torture.

The point was obvious that she was accusing the yoga instructor of forcing them to do a particularly painful maneuver. I have trouble believing that most of us haven't joked about torture in the same way. It's done all the time around here, about music, movies, artwork, or whatever. I once heard Elaine Boosler describe the inventor of the bra as a "sadistic Nazi male," and no one thought she was supporting the Nazis when she did it.

[choie]

10. I understand what you're saying

how can I argue with a DUer whose avatar is cute little Horton?:-)

[Mind_your_head]

6. No, NEVER. It's never okay to joke about someone elses suffering. n/t