Where there's a positive side of things...there's usually a negative side of things...and that applies to humor as well.

Unfortunately, the negative side of humor can be ugly...it can hurt feelings, and can even be damaging and destructive! There are people in this world that will do almost anything for money there are those who will do almost anything for power there are those who will do almost do anything for fame and there are those who will do almost anything to get a laugh...and if they hurt somebody...so what? Negative humor is alive and well.

Attitude! In my view, this country has a big fat attitude problem! What are parents teaching their kids today...corruption and immoral behavior? I have NOT watched a local news program in over FIVE years! All I hear and see is the same old thing...murder robbery corruption sexual assult drunk drivers arson and the list goes on and on! Attitude! All this negativity that is passed on to our children, and spread around school, until tradgedy happens! I think this country is in the midst of an "attitude" crises! I turned on the television to watch the local news for the first time in five years...I turned it right back off! The same old murders robberies drunk drivers arsonists and on and on! And, what's worse, many of these people, especially in the DWI area are supposed to be leaders and role models in the community...school teachers judges administrator's lawyers, etc.

I'll tell you how humor fits into this attitude problem across the country! Put-down of others just to get a laugh racial slurs to get a laugh dirty jokes to get a laugh ethnic jokes to get a laugh teasing others just to get a laugh, and this is one of America's biggest black eyes! The violence, injuries and murders that this country was suffering through at the high school campuses a few years ago, was due, in part to teasing of others! Students who were teased so much by other students, that they couldn't take it anymore...got a gun and returned to get even! Some of this teasing on school campuses was done...just to get a laugh...and it got out of control. Young people lost their lives during this awful period of time! Where are the parents in all this? What are they teaching their kids...or are they teaching them anything at all?

All of us have been teased in school. Being Hispanic, I remember when I was teased because I didn't speak or write the English language well. Kids would make fun of me...just to get a laugh! It would irritate me so much, that I didn't want to go back to school. Kids can be awful...I was always reluctant to give an oral book report, because the kids would laugh at me! I'll never forget those days of so much hate!

If you've ever been put down, by those who I refer to as "the jokesters and people of put-down," who enjoy getting a laugh at somebody else's expense...you'll know how awful it can sting! I'm reminded of a comedian (so he calls himself), who goes around the country, putting down and making fun of the disabled and the challanged...just to get a laugh! It is astonishing in all this, that there are people that would find humor in all of this! Where is this country headed when we allow this type of behavior to go on? Will you allow your children to watch this so-called comedian put down the mentally ill and the disabled?

I don't see anything funny about a person who has suffered an illness, or an accident, and will spend the rest of his or her life in a wheelchair. (This could happen to any of us in an instant)

I don't see anything funny about a person who was born with a deformity,

I don't see anything funny about a person who is blind a person who has a speech inpediment or hearing loss and struggles to cope!

I don't see anything funny about a person who has suffered severe burns! (This could happen to any one of us in a house fire)

I think I've made my point!

And, regrettably, humor CAN play a part in all this, because there are those, who think a lot of this stuff is just plain amusing...that's the way they get their kicks! But, is there a solution to all this? Of course, and it lies with the parents! Parents have to teach their kids to respect others there can be no teasing of others for whatever reason...especially to get a laugh. Kids have to be taught to stay away from the negative and that includes humor, and if the parents won't do it...it won't get done! Teachers are not baby-sitters! The parents have to do it!

Dirty humor is not acceptable to me! A person doesn't have to be dirty to be funny. And yes, there is a lot of negative humor out there...and a lot of it stings, if you're on the wrong end of it! As George Bush, Sr. says...we DO need a kinder and gentler nation...and, that's no laughing matter!

Jerry Aragon humordoctormd.homestead.com