Santa Claus kills a bunch of people and burns house

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Well good for you. Although, I really didn't see any attacks here only posts expressing some disbelief or shock. Besides it's not that unusual for people to disagree anyway.

As for me, I could see no humor in it except maybe the jokes about santa. Other than that I found it.....and I'm only being honest....appaling as well as tragic. That's just my opinion though. If you don't like it, take it or leave it.

When it comes to humor, I can't sit and judge what goes through a person's mind or what kind of person it takes to find humor in a person/people's murder. However, when it comes to public forums such as this, I usually go with my gut instinct. And that is the intent to provoke an emotional response from other members. There's nothing like getting a thrill by shocking people in the most controversial way. So this kind of stuff isn't new to me.

As for the rest, I could see why people would find maybe a hint of humor about the event surrounding such as the perpetrator. In other words, he is hard to show empathy for so it's easier to put him down or find humorous ridicule in than it would be the victims. I rarely if ever usually see or hear jokes about victims killed in any events including the holocaust and 9/11.



I don't get it. You mean no one has the right to show or express an opinion here?



Yes but fantasy and reality or 2 different things. Just because I joke about who I'd like to kill doesn't mean I'd really do it. Most of us can relate to these kinds of fantasies on some levels since it's primal in us all. Most of us might find it funny because deep down, we know we wouldn't really act out on that fantasy. It's much easier to detach from the victim in a fantasy than it would be reality. Most of us who joke about this kind of stuff don't really want it to happen.



Personal attacks as in attacking the character of another member or directly calling that member names?

As for the rest, I think we're all entitled to our own opinions.

It still doesn't make any sense, if the madman new that the neighbor was out of town, so would the people at the party, hence the suit makes no sense as a disguise. No one will ever know for sure the why behind the Santa suit, but it is indisputable that by wearing the suit and using a flame weapon, this guy sealed his own fate, and that is ironic.



The only right that I'm claiming is not being misconstrued, despite the best efforts of several people. I'm not using my AS as an excuse, because I'm not apologizing for anything and haven't done anything requiring one, I'm simply pointing out that people with AS should be more familiar with responses that fall outside of social norms. That someone I'm in casual contact with knew a victim is irrelevant to my personal response, it does not change my perspective of events in any way. Finally, I'll point out again that I have not made any jokes about this incident, nor have I made fun of anyone other than the killer, because that would have been in poor taste. Where I take offense is when other people try to tell me what I am and am not allowed to laugh at, the only person who can make that decision for me is me.

Good for the lot of you, would you like a cookie? Seriously, humor and AS have something in common in that they are unique to the individual, as evidenced by the wide variety of personalities on this board. I happen to manifest some classic Aspie traits such as pedantic language and stereotyped interests, while completely lacking others like love of routine and strict adherence to rules. What an individual Aspie believes is conclusive of nothing, myself included, especially in such a subjective subject as humor.



The thing about trying to put limits on humor is that it's always funniest when you push them. Why do you think comedians like bad language and racial slurs so much? The best jokes make people uncomfortable, and the possibility of offending people is just part of the territory of comedy. You CAN "blame people who chuckle first", but don't think that you're doing anything more than imposing your own subjective set of standards upon others, the same as any other zealot. People like me simply have a higher tolerance for offensive material than you do, no more no less, but I don't presume to impose my values on anyone else. If something I say offends you, simply ignore me and I'll do the same, but what I won't do is accept anyone else's judgment on how I choose to see the world.

As far as the usual Santa being out of town, perhaps the adults knew that, but I could certainly see counting on a child to be innocent and to have an excited response to seeing Santa approaching the house, and running to let him in. I think it was a callous calculation on his part, as were many things he did, but of course, we'll never know.

You are telling us how we should be, yet take offense when others disagree with that position.

And true, knowing someone who knows a victim may be irrelevant to your personal response, but this forum is not your personal forum; it's quite public.

Than to resort to logic and reason when arguing with you? Actually, I do know better, I just throw all that rational and thought out stuff in there so everyone else can follow along.



From my previous posts in this thread:



And:



Admittedly I didn't start wisecracking before he was in the ground or anything, but I wouldn't have been offended if someone else did. It's just how I am, I deal with things differently from the majority of people, even the majority of Aspies it would seem.

A real comedian knows when to talk and when to can it. Remember Michael Richards? Not quite the same as George Carlin.

That's my attitude, where I'm having a problem is with people telling me what I'm not allowed to find funny. You can think whatever you want about this thing, it is appalling and it is tragic, but the circumstances are also ludicrous and absurd, and if separated from the tragic parts, funny.



I certainly wasn't trying to do anything as gauche as attempting to shock people on the internet, far be it from me to do something so common. I just refuse to back down from an opinion that I support because shame or disapproval has been brought to bear on me, it's just not in my nature. If you go back to page one, what provoked a response out of me was other members imposing their judgment upon people for their thoughts or emotional response, I just don't think anyone has that right.



For me, it's simply easier to see the humor than the horror, I literally had to insulate myself from any news sources for several years because I couldn't control my empathy, and drove myself nuts dwelling on awful stories. Now, it's like an automatic response, I hear a story like this and I laugh, because otherwise it would hurt too much to think about.



Far from it, but the people I was aiming that comment at have a nasty habit of arguing from a position of judgment over others, which annoys me. I try to never lose sight of the fact that I may be wrong, and go to great pains to qualify when I'm not positive of something with words like "I think" or "I believe". I don't like some random guys on the internet telling me how to think in absolute statements, that's what I meant by that comment.



Nor would I want this sort of thing to happen, but I won't deny that I find parts of the story funny. It reminds me of the man who built an armored bulldozer and destroyed a small town in Colorado after the city ruled against him in a civil dispute, some crazy guy plotting an overly elaborate and dramatic revenge. Like Booth striking a pose on a broken leg to yell "Sic semper tyrannis!" after shooting Lincoln, I find humor in the fact that even a murderous rampage was tailored to someone's idea of what would look cool.





To be a little more clear a certain lackadaisical member has made numerous personal attacks on me both through insinuation and direct insult, that I have up to this point not reported out of a personal dislike of relying on authority for protection. However, I've grown tired of writing multi-paragraph arguments in threads only to be sniped at with these multiple one or two sentence attacks on my character. Hence the fair warning that I would no longer tolerate them and will be reporting any future attacks.



Indeed, on that we are agreed. Also, none of this reply is meant as any sort of attack, but you raised some points that I wanted to respond to, since multiple people seem to be drawing the same conclusions. Hopefully that clears up a few things

indeed... that guy wrecked christmas forever for a whole lot of people...

Why would he choose a disguise that would only fool an 8 year old, not the adults that might have posed a bigger threat to him? I also don't think it mattered much that the usual Santa was out of town, if any kid saw Santa walking up the drive the last thing on their mind would be alarm, even if there was already one Santa in the house. He certainly didn't need to bluff his way through the door, he had multiple handguns and a flame thrower, so my conclusion is that the costume was worn simply for effect. We are agreed that their is no way to know for sure, but I think the evidence suggests dramatics over subterfuge.



No, what I'm doing is rejecting the judgment of others on my sense of humor. Read the initial exchange that I was involved in, people were insinuating that I must be cruel, sick or sadistic in order to find humor in this situation, I of course think otherwise. If people had said "I don't think there is anything funny about this", I wouldn't have responded, but people said "there is nothing funny about this" or "what kind of person could find this funny?", and that required a response.



And I'm prepared to publicly defend my position, as I think I've made quite clear. I wouldn't have even felt the need to make my feelings known if attacks on my position hadn't been made, even though I hadn't publicly taken that position yet. Being that this is a public forum, I have the same right to be heard as anyone else, so long as I accept the consequences, which I do.



Ah, what a bunch of crap that was. As far as I'm concerned, the only mistake Richards made was getting caught on tape, and then apologizing. He didn't have anything to apologize for, you go to a comedy show and heckle the performer, what do you think is going to happen? I will and do use the same word that got Richards in so much trouble all the time when telling jokes or when messing with my white friends precisely because it is so taboo and makes them uncomfortable, that's what makes it so funny. Anyone who knows me also knows that I'm the last person on earth to accuse of racism, so it really throws them for a loop for me to use such an ugly word. What I don't do is use the word around black people who don't know me, because that would be in poor taste and needlessly confrontational. I most certainly don't muzzle myself around anyone because I fear their reaction to a word, if I choose to moderate myself it's because I made that choice.

I saw this story on CNN. One of the people they had on commenting, was a Psychologist who kept repeating that this guy must have suffered from depression. Way to go CNN, on continuing mental health stigma! They've just added to that many more people who think, anyone who sees a psychiatrist, could be a murder waiting to snap.

I think this whole thing is sad as 9 people were murdered, and tonight it was announced that his mom is only alive because she decided not to go to that party, and his ex's divorce attorney was also a target before he got those burns. What's sad is that not only was Christmas ruined, those orphaned children will probably have a phobia of Santa Claus now.

You mean on top of everything else this guy failed to kill the bloodsucker? Damned incompetent psychopaths...

I wasn't pointing at you. I was replying about the context in which most posters such as the OP use in their value of humor. Plus I already know it's not the first time the OP has done this...even when it had nothing to do with humor.

As for personal attacks, that makes more sense. So that sums it up.

Not funny.

I was thinking the same thing. Anyone in their right mind would have taken that guy out first. In fact, people like that often have a major role to play in situations of this nature, I reckon. Although I don't condone what happened, I can understand how a person can get pushed so far that they snap.

I think that to openly make jokes about the cruel murder of a family including a child is wrong.

I have worked in places where black humour has been used as a safety valve, it is the case that the nasty horror story can end up taking on a life of its own and ending up being the subject of jokes. But a limit exists to what is acceptable; one of the limits is that it is best that outsiders never get told about the jokes or the tales of horror. Also the joke which demeans a young child whose was killed by a monster is not a joke, it is just nasty.

Some people will always want to push the limits of what is acceptable, I think that in the interests of good taste that some jokes and some art should never be made. For instance the picture of Myra Hindley (the most unpopular woman in the UK who killed children for sexual gratification) was quite wrongly displayed in public. I hold the view that the painting should never have been painted or displayed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensation_exhibition

In today’s internet world information can so freely be swapped, I think that out of respect to the dead and their friends and families that we should refrain from making any jokes about their misfortune. Always think how you would like it if the death of your best friend was used as entertainment. I know that the aspie or autie is oftein thought of as being unfeeling, I hold the view that this is not true. The aspie or autie often has trouble communicating their feelings to others which is a different matter, we should not use bad taste humour which will only help the cause of those opposed to neurodiversity.