“How arrogant are you to think that you deserve to go through life with no one ever saying anything you don’t agree with or like?” — Ricky Gervais. 

While researching this topic, this quote stood out to me. Nowadays, people online take jokes way too seriously. Instead of laughing along or scrolling past, they decide to fuel their anger by leaving a comment that turns the comment section of a comedic video into a controversial battleground. This turns small jokes into unnecessary conflicts. 

For example, if someone jokes, “Exercise? I thought you said, ‘Extra Fries,’” it’s clearly meant to be just a lighthearted joke. Social media is a wonderful invention, but it has also created a way for people to instantly respond to others. Sometimes, these responses aren’t helpful. This led to the rise of the internet phenomenon of “keyboard warriors,” people who always see the need to be “correct” in any given situation, and are oversensitive about any sort of humor because it’s “offensive.”

For example, at Korean stand-up comedian Lee Sangjun’s show, Lee exchanged playful banter with a disabled audience member on crutches who needed assistance to go in and out of the show to use the bathroom. Lightheartedly, he joked that “This shows 70 minutes, I talk for 60 minutes and he spends 10 minutes walking back.” The disabled individual found this joke amusing and continued to joke with him back and forth. Additionally, Lee also asked, “do you have to see the whole show?” while watching the man struggle to get back to his seat, which the man found hilarious. 

Despite the fact that no one was offended, many comments were unhappy with this interaction. They accused Lee of being insensitive or disrespectful, stating that he shouldn’t have made humor out of the man’s struggles. But the man was aware of the possibility of being made fun of, and despite this, decided to attend the show. In this case, Lee made jokes about the man’s disability because the man was clearly comfortable with it and found it funny. No harm was done, and there was no need for keyboard warriors to bash Lee. 

Of course, lighthearted jokes that play upon dark humor are different from mean-hearted jokes aimed to shame specific individuals. Continuously singling someone out and attacking them about something that they’re clearly insecure about is insensitive and unacceptable. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, calling each other out when jokes go too far is still necessary. Keyboard warriors have the right intentions—the problem is that they are too easily offended. So, there needs to be a balance—not all jokes are meant to harm people, so harmless comedic videos shouldn’t be turned into points of useless but heated discussion. The next time you find yourself nitpicking at an unproblematic short, take a moment to laugh it off instead of taking it so seriously. Just scroll past.