epicodus-classroom / dei-curriculum

This repository contains all curriculum related to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion efforts at Epicodus.
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Add DEI talk and lesson on jokes? #8

Open franzknupfer opened 4 years ago

franzknupfer commented 4 years ago

We've been discussing the possibility of adding a DEI lesson on jokes in week 7 or 8.

Potential snippet from article:

"A good joke’s first job is to make people feel a little better, and that’s great in itself, but they’re more important than that. Jokes are the sword otherwise powerless people can use to puncture pomposity. That’s why it’s so important that comedians try to punch upwards. Punching at the less powerful is just cruelty. (Which is to say, it’s generally funny when a janitor makes fun of a CEO, and generally gross when a CEO makes fun of a janitor.)

At their very best, jokes are the opposite of gas-lighting. When someone says exactly what you’re thinking, it’s a validation that you are not crazy.

Which is why when people tell an offensive joke, and then gaslight anyone annoyed by exclaiming, “Hey, it was just a joke! Take a joke!” it is infuriating.

Because look, when it comes to jokes, the onus is never on the listener to be amused. People don’t have to find anything that comes out of your mouth funny just because you thought it would be. If you tell a joke to someone and they did not find it amusing, that’s not their fault. It just means that you probably told a bad joke and you should make better ones in the future. … If you upset people, it’s okay to say you’re sorry. You may not have meant to, but you still did. Because again, the onus was not on the listener to be amused. No one is making you tell jokes."

Source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a12022021/offensive-jokes/

franzknupfer commented 3 years ago

We are going to add a lesson to week 2 of the backend language on jokes. It won't be part of the talks - at least not for this cohort.