Laughter, that is a hard and a touchy subject. So many times we laugh at things we should not laugh at.

True.. It can be anyways, and I myself am guilty of laughing at things in the past that I felt guilty about afterwards.. Largely because my friends or family have morbid senses of humor, though some part of me found what they said funny or I wouldn't have laughed.. It is weird how some really disturbing things can emit such a response.. The more I think about it later on in life I think it's less to do with people laughing at the unfortunate circumstances of others and it's more sort of.. A reaction to the absurdity of life and just how bizarre and difficult some things are.

Anyone that thinks our emotions do not control us, that think they have risen above the control of their emotions, is doing nothing but lying to themselves.

I'm a lil conflicted on this statement because I do feel like some people have banished their emotions almost entirely, though.. Is it possible to ever TRULY banish your emotions entirely? Some people seem very robotic in regards to such, though the more I think about it.. I don't think it's possible to completely remove your emotions.. Unless perhaps you had some sort of lobotomy or brain damage that messed up that part of your brain, though recent research I've seen seems to show that if part of your brain is damaged other parts will compensate and take over the job of what was damaged, yet.. I'm not sure if that applies to everything sense it seems like some brain damage does permanently remove certain functions. So.. I do tend to agree with you, I think it's probably not possible to fully remove your emotions, and if you can't totally remove them then they play a critical part of your decisions and motivations in life, even if one thinks they have conquered such. They are almost certainly just tricking themselves.

Laughter is a self preservation mechanism that helps to prevent us from tumbling into the empty abyss of self loathing, self hate, self recrimination, and self pity.

Yeah.. I've seen a lot of people use laughter this way, one of my closest friends tends to try to joke about things he finds very uncomfortable and it's conflicted with me in the past.. Like serious sensitive subjects he would joke about, though when I learned that he just didn't know how to respond in any other way it made me much more understanding of his responses in such manner.

Not all laughter is made to help us forget, but sometimes it helps us to remember.

That's a good point! I'm glad you brought that up.

Needless to say I did not find this to be an easy subject, I hope you all take a moment to remember the painful parts of history, and what people have given, so that others may not have to.

I'm not familiar with the eye color joke or any jokes regarding that incident. Though these days I see a lot of people joking about things like 9/11 and major horrible events and people taking pride in "never too soon to joke about something" and they will joke about it right after it happens.. Like people dying from diseases or hunters being killed while they are hunting and so many things like that and I find it quite unpleasant to say the least.. There's even one comedian on comedy central who got famous for this extremely dark and insensitive kind of humor, so there's a large segment of the population out there who sort of gravitate towards that kinda stuff and I don't really understand it.. Laughter definitely can become something misused and abused like almost anything can and I think your entry helps show us the darker side of laughter and how it can be a negative thing. Not what I necessarily expected in a subject about laughter, but.. Very powerful and important to be reminded of nonetheless. I do think we should try to be respectful and honorable in our laughter, and that one persons laughter could be another persons suffering or misfortune. Especially when it comes to bullying and things like that..

Thanks for helping to put things into perspective and for the very thought provoking entry.