Let's say the most powerful man in the world to save an argument. It doesn't really matter anyway. The way I look at it, the more powerful they are the more they need bringing down to earth. The best way of doing that is to poke fun at them. They know that & would probably be disappointed if nobody bothered doing it.

PS. Any politician that can't handle that is in the wrong profession & shouldn't be doing the job.

if a joke is out of order it should be because of the content not the person it's made on.

to say a joke is ok if made on bill gates (or for that matters, a chinese rice farmer) but not ok made on "the most powerful man in the world" is bigottery in my eyes.

did you hear about the blonde who got stuck in the postal box?

I guess she went to lick the stamp and it got stuck to her tongue..seeing as how she didn't want to waste her stamp and she did want to see kansas.......

I never went after the joke.  I have no problem with the joke, they just shouldn't be posted here, with this thread being the posterchild as to why.

That joke was not a way to talk about any living thing but it was only a joke. Cut the crap and move on!

In my opinion, it dosen't matter if it was George Bush, Dick Cheney, Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, and so on. I can see no reason why you would purposely want to kill another human being, let alone burning them to death.

While yes, I can understand it was a joke and was ment in good spirits, the replies are gut-wrenching. Sure you may not like these people, but hey. What are you going to do about it? It's not like posting these spiteful things toward them is going to change their behavior.

And Bombardier, if just thinking about that makes you sad, what compelled you to post such a thing? I am sorry, but it's just wrong.


James.

As this has been revived I'll debate it if you wish. I forget the exact wording of this joke now but that's not important.

It seems to me that some people don't understand what a joke is. We joke about all sorts of things that we would never consider doing in real life & famous people are often the butt of those jokes. Not always because of who they are but simply because they're famous. There wouldn't be much point in making jokes about someone nobody had ever heard of. Powerful politicians have as many enemies as friends so are obvious targets & for some unknown reason (jealousy?) many people seem to hate Bill Gates intensely.

Jokes can also be used to make fun of your own prejudices & show just how stupid these are. Some things in jokes might be horrifying if you really think about it, like pouring petrol over someone & setting light to it, but this is all part of the fantasy. The point is that there was never any intention to persuade someone hearing the joke to actually go out & do it. The remarks that some apparently find offensive are all part of it & perfectly natural repartee. Nothing I've seen in this thread has offended me in the slightest - except for remarks from the people that are objecting to both the joke & the comments. If they're honest I think they will have to admit that this effectively displays their own prejudices, similar to satire.

Satire has been used for centuries to make comments on subjects that could never be discussed in any other way. Gulliver's Travels is one example & it's not simply a very good children's story but the author's comment on the political circumstances at the time it was written. Some political satire is very biting & cruel & also extremely clever.

The original joke was not satire but a simple joke. It's the objections that make it satirical. The only objection to it that I can see is that it mentioned the US President by name which is apparently regarded by some people as taboo. If they saw some of the jokes about him & other famous politicians broadcast on mainstream TV in Britain & other countries they would have a heart attack. Please lighten up chaps. I get the feeling that some people need a sense of humour transplant.

PS. I mean no offence to anyone & these are my thoughts on the matter. I don't judge people by how they think & everyone has their prejudices. Humour & jokes often help us to see that. You might be surprised at how much people can reveal about themselves by their reaction & comments in topics like this one.

PPS. Another thing about jokes is that if you have to debate them or explain them they're no longer funny.