No joke

A recent uproar at Central Connecticut State University has sparked nationwide concern to draw a line as to what is acceptable in mainstream journalism. An opinion columnist for the university's student newspaper has, judging by public backlash, shown us an example of what is decidedly not acceptable of this nature.\nWith his article "Rape only hurts if you fight it," John Petroski said he wrote a satirical piece, geared toward awareness of rape being sensationalized in the media.\nIt was received as offensive and taboo enough to hit headline news shortly thereafter, leaving all asking the question: "What was he thinking?"\nWe're opinion columnists, so we understand the impact of satire. And we're college kids, meaning we also understand that some genres of comedy bear a heftier shock value than others. Not unfamiliar to the college scene is shock-comic George Carlin, who similarly traversed the line of appropriateness in a section of his book "Napalm & Silly Putty" that yielded insight on "The humorous side of rape."\nThe integral difference is that Carlin is an audience-selective comedian with his humor notoriously mounted in taboo. If people find it funny, it's there -- and his fan base proves that such senses of humor are alive and kicking. But for the majority of individuals who finds such statements too offensive to be laughed at, there's certainly nothing compelling them to tune in. \nOne problem with Petroski's article is that a university newspaper is hardly catering to a selective audience. It's clear the column was written as satire. But when dealing with a mainstream audience, that unstated "line of appropriateness" apparently deems that certain topics are simply too controversial to even joke about. Rape, if anything, qualifies.\nSecond, to be in the position to exploit taboo humor, it's consistent that those who "get away with it" are in the groups from whom offense might be taken. Dave Chappelle, for example, made "Chapelle's Show" a huge hit based on exploiting racial stereotypes. And as an African-American, Chappelle would be in a much better position to poke fun at what's been an ugly history of racism -- much more so than a white comedian. Carlos Mencia is on a similar track, with dialogue from his show, "Mind of Mencia," pushing the racial envelope in every episode, geared this time toward stereotypes of Hispanics.\nBoth shows retain blatantly racist undertones. But they are much more easily swallowed coming from minorities who have been historically discriminated against.\nBut rape victims? There's certainly not an open community of them, as there is of any given race. There's no communal bonding ground. The point is that, when executed by the right individuals, society has advanced to a point where humor can be found about racism, even on a mainstream level. Rape? There's just nothing there to laugh at. \nMuch can be inferred about society by what's able to be joked about. Even more can be inferred from what's not able to be joked about.