I read in Leah Garchik's column in today's SF Chronicle about a troubling live theater experience, where the audience was laughing during a dramatic production. I have noticed something in my classroom over the last couple of years that is, in my mind, related.
MIllions of Americans view YouTube videos on a daily basis. "America's Funniest Home Videos" is an extremely popular TV show. In these videos, people are falling and hurting themselves on skateboards and the like, and the videos are tremendously popular, and apparently, funny. When someone crashes into a wall at high speed, people no longer wince and look away, they laugh. "Oh, the sport of it!" A vicious hit on the football field, that should elicit sympathy, is shown many times over, and draws an excited "Whoa!"
In my classroom, students often laugh at things that are simply not funny.
Call it YouTube humor. It's a computer era Pavlovian response to witnessing someone else's pain.
Laughing is the new wincing.
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