It is an unfortunate trait in some people that a bad/sick joke about a dreadful event helps to lighten the situation (they think), and make it less ghastly in their minds. Defence against reality?
Many people are frightened of being called racist. There is no equivalent name-calling for people who laugh at sick jokes, at least not with the same cultural power as 'You are a racist!'
Frankie Boyle et al allow a certain amount of time to elapse before they do anything specific. They want a laugh not a loud groan out of their adience. Even when some time has gone by they sometimes get that groan and they then say too soon? too soon? However, on a personal note I do not laugh at sick or racist jokes mainly because I do not find them funny.
I often wonder if the people who laugh at sick jokes,would still find it funny,if Frankie Boyle came round to their house,after the funeral,to crack a few jokes,about their
dead relative.
That's the point, daftgrandad, he wouldn't - a large amount of time has to pass before they start doing it. I'm not saying he won't do it in the future, just not right away.
Adience in previous post, should have been audience.
I think the dividing line is "laugh at" or "laugh with" so if a veteran wants to make jokes about injured veterans then okay...and you should hear what people with disabilities joke about....but for outsiders or professional comedians to do it is not on IMO
Probably for the same reason that some people laugh at racist jokes yet find "sick" jokes unacceptable.
It is purely how one perceives the joke, how many times are comments on here taken out of context leading to all night slagging matches because someone mistook the tone of writing??
Either laugh or ignore, you do have a choice in our free(ish) country