Well, (he said with a twinkle in his, yet hoping for a friendly riposte in return), that explains a lot.
:) --Doug On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 3:30 PM, glen <g...@ropella.name> wrote: > > The interesting thing about making fun of people is the amount of > peripheral or contextual information that's necessary. I'm not really a > fan of Louis C.K. But if you watch his stand-up, you can see him say > the nastiest things without it seeming so nasty. He says these things > while smiling or laughing. Of course, he's not a wild-type subject > because you know he's a comedian tuned to his audience. > > But I can also confess that my dad was a master at deadpan cruelty. Not > only were we (his family, but mostly my mom) his victims, but I would > watch him, in bars [*] and at the Wurstfest, shred someone completely > without them having any clue what was happening. The smarter ones would > notice that, while he was "ribbing" them, he would watch them extra > closely. So, they learned to recognize when they were the butt of the > joke by watching him as he told his "story". At his funeral, they would > wax poetic about the "twinkle in his eye" when he was telling a joke. > Of course, this behavior tended to slough off the people who were just > smart enough, yet just insecure enough to recognize when they were the > butt of a joke, but not able to recognize it as a joke. > > That said, my dad was a bully of the first order. If you were too > insecure to _take_ the joke, then you were a wimp and a coward. He used > his abilities to engineer swaths of people so that they behaved as he > wanted them to behave. And the ones that didn't play along were > ridiculed and pushed out of the clique. Luckily, he couldn't do that to > me. ;-) > > [*] I was practically reared in a bar called Lloyd's. Lloyd was a > one-armed bartender who taught me how to open a beer with one hand at > the age of about 8. Oh, and Lloyd had also had a laryngectomy and while > not opening beers with his one arm, had to hold a wand to his throat in > order to speak. > > Steve Smith wrote at 01/18/2013 11:43 AM: > > OK... so as an example of insider/outsider behaviour, my cartoons > > starring Doug are a form of ribbing that has the same quality as > > practical jokes. I feel I know Doug well enough on and off list to > > know what he would find rude or hurtful and what he would not, so I am > > comfortable poking a little fun at him. For example, I know that > > Doug's self identity includes that of being a Skeptic (Zhiangzi > > reference) and of being tenacious (as stated). > > > > I also know Stephen well enough to do this, but he wisely (or out of > > boredom with us!) stays out of the fray here, so he is relatively > > safe. I'm getting to know others well enough that I think I could > > parody some of you with impunity and possibly with appreciation by the > > recipients as well as the audience. > > > > Glen and I have not finished our back-n-forth about technology, but deep > > in that conversation is another subconversation about insider/outsider > > and language... > > > -- > glen > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > -- *Doug Roberts drobe...@rti.org d...@parrot-farm.net* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*<http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> * <http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile*
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