By Crystal Lowery of Creepy Ginger Kid & Joanna McClanahan of Ramblin’ Mama
Local resident Pearl Klutcher is being hailed as a hero after declining to comment on a joke she considered to be distasteful.
“Ugh, it was awful,” Klutcher recounted. “I was just sitting and scrolling, minding my own business, when I saw the meme. It said, ‘My kid is learning an instrument …When will death come?’ I mean, how dare they make a joke that insinuates they condone suicide? I suffer from depression and, also, my uncle died in a tragic violin accident, so I found the joke to be especially insensitive.”
[adsanity id=”35664″ align=”aligncenter”/]When asked why she declined to comment to voice her displeasure, Klutcher added, “Well, at first I was going to drop a link about reducing mental health stigma, or at least a #MentalHealthIsNotAPunchline hashtag, but honestly I didn’t have time in that moment and just sort of forgot about it. It was almost as if having a life outside of social media helped me stay too busy to care about a stupid joke.”
This is not the first time Ms. Klutcher has exercised such incredible self-restraint.
[adsanity id=”35667″ align=”aligncenter”/]“There was an article I saw last week about freckles that was written with some self-deprecating humor that I was offended by as well. Something about how her freckles were ‘a nuisance.’ I almost commented to tell her I was sorry she couldn’t be a happier person and that I’d be praying for her, but I got distracted and didn’t come back to it,” said Klutcher.
Klutcher is one of the few internet users who have restrained themselves from scolding humor writers for such infractions as:
- Use of hyperbole/exaggeration
- Sarcasm
- Self-deprecation
- Parody
- Satire
- Or employing any other comedic literary form
Ima Fennded, who organizes the internet meme policing movement Universal Protest to Internet Giggles, Humor & Tomfoolery (UPTIGHT for short), is shocked and appalled that Klutcher did not speak out. However, Ms. Fennded declined to comment on the matter. Just kidding! She never declines to comment; she had this to say:
“I’m offended that Ms. Klutcher was offended but didn’t offend fellow readers by commenting about the offense she took from that offensive meme. She was on the fence about this particular offence.
“Life is serious,” Fennded continued. “We shouldn’t be finding the humor in it. We have to be diligent about speaking out against jokes that could be perceived as offensive in any way. Otherwise, the spindly switches of timber impacted within our anal cavities may become dislodged.”
[adsanity id=”35666″ align=”aligncenter”/]UPTIGHT is using Ms. Klutcher’s case to raise awareness for their cause by bitching and moaning in ALL CAPS as often as possible when they come across harmless internet jokes.
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About the Authors
Crystal Lowery is an American mom working in England. By day, she does medical research, by night she wrangles two small children, a boy and a girl. She has made millions laugh on The Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Sammiches & Psych Meds, In the Powder Room, Mumsnet and others. You can find her blogging at Creepy Ginger Kid and she’d love for you to follow her on Facebook.
Joanna McClanahan is an Editor at MockMom. She’s also a Contributor at Sammiches & Psych Meds and has been published on Scary Mommy. You can find more from her on RamblinMama.com, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.