tobyaw | Shocking situations and sick jokes

When I was studying for my MSc in Loughborough in 1993-94, one day a cement mixer lorry fell on its side near the computer science building. It crushed and killed a cleaning lady. It could have been any of us — it happened on one of the main paths through the campus.

A feeling of shock filled the building and, as it was mostly filled with intelligent yet emotionally-immature computing students, people began swapping sick jokes about the death. With laughter and inappropriate humour, we found relief in a situation we weren’t equipped to handle.

I remember a visibly distraught staff member enter the room, hear some jokes, and shouting in fury and tears about how we shouldn’t be making jokes.

I think he was wrong. Sick jokes gave us a way of expressing ourselves when we had no other mechanism. By revelling in their inappropriateness, we were acknowledging how far we were beyond our understanding. Catharsis of humour is step one in the British response to a shock, closely followed by step two: a cup of tea.

I see people making sick jokes about the situation in Japan. I think these are to be applauded. They give us a connection to our emotions in a way that 24h rolling news cannot achieve. Laughing at unpleasantness humanises us.

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