The tasteless MJ Jokes started the very day after he died. "The autopsy determined the cause of Michael Jackson's death - he died from food poisoning. He ate some 12 year old nuts."
When I repeated the joke, some of my friends were very offended. They said nobody should "exploit" another's death, that you should "have a little respect," "respect the dead," blah blah blah.
So I have to respect someone just because he's dead? Adolf Hitler is DEAD. Jeffrey Dahmer is DEAD. No, respect is EARNED.
So you think telling jokes is "exploiting" ? When you say "struggles or death" does that include any and all types of struggles and deaths?
For instance, Amy Winehouse struggling with drug addiction -- she's always the butt of jokes. Is that inappropriate?celebrity deaths
What about those "Darwin awards" when somebody dies doing something incredibly stupid, like sticking a firecracker in their ass and lighting it? You don't think we should make jokes about that? Is it okay to make fun of some deaths and not others? Where do you draw the line, and how do arrive at that decision?
Nowadays, all comedians write their jokes from the headlines. That's what they do for a living, that's their job. And I think comedy SHOULD be offensive. Because comedy is the last bastion of truly free speech.
When I die, I hope it's in a way that is comical and absurd, so that my friends will get a good laugh out of it. I want them to laugh instead of cry.
As the Indigo Girls say in "Closer to Fine," my "theme song" - "it's only life, after all".
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