I wouldn't make a big deal about it, it was sort of funny yet also might cause someone to sigh. I posted a dreadful joke here a couple of weeks ago; an Irish joke... of course I heard it from an Irish person but the provenance doesn't always make a difference. Members of particular ethnicities can tell jokes about themselves which are very savage, conversely, the slightest intimation of a put-down from some other group might provoke serious offense.
You ask why these things are funny; the A is because they're not happening to US. Some people have elevated this to an extremely accute form, almost a pathology (see your other post about killers), we use a German word for this, schadenfreude... & everyone has it to some extent. Otoh, Heinlein was wrong (or just over-simplifying), there are other sorts of jokes & other sorts of humor. However to insist on their exclusive use is to ultimately be shackled by correctness.
Once someone has demonstrated "good will" & "sensibility" then all one can do is just do what one does, one can't please everyone.
Posted on Sep 16, 2002, 1:10 PM from IP address 4.33.82.173