"Then the Elephant's Child sat back on his little haunches, and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose began to stretch. And the Crocodile floundered into the water, making it all creamy with great sweeps of his tail, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled.
And the Elephant's Child's nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant's Child spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching; and the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each pull the Elephant's Child's nose grew longer and longer--and it hurt him hijjus!
Then the Elephant's Child felt his legs slipping, and he said through his nose, which was now nearly five feet long, 'This is too butch for be!'"
HI, I know the overcast skies can be a bummer, but has your life become so abstract and dull that you are able laugh at the suffering of a tiny little elephant? Today is a sunny day, please go outside and get some air.
Just need to point out that this young elephant is in very poor condition, close to starvation, probably orphaned, and not long for this world in any case. The likely reasons why are, I'm sure, well known to everybody here.
I'm a strict vegetarian because of my feelings on animal rights. But this is nature - animals attacking each other, in the wild. If it ruins your day to know about it, you must live with some pretty effective blinders on.
Dee, I do understand all about the circle of life and the laws of nature and all that that entails. And I'm a meat eater. I know it happens, I just don't want to see or watch it happen.
I just have a really hard time with certain stuff involving kids and animals.
First the OH SO CUTE epileptic kittens and now this!! What the fuck is wrong with you guys? I know everybody's a little on edge after the election, but I CANNOT for the life of me get into the head of anyone who finds amusement in images like this.
What's next for chuckles around here, setting puppies on fire and going HAR HAR HAR as they frantically try to put themselves out?
Hey everybody that looks at this photo says, "oh no the poor elephant!" Why don't you look at it and say, "oh good! the crocodile is getting some food and he will live on."
It's nature, it's brutal. Animals eat one another. That is not sad, it's life.
@39 - The elephant didn't die and is ok. I read the story yesterday. Otherwise yeah it wouldn't strike me as funny either. But it is a funny photo and not a funny situation. But knowing he is safe and did not die makes it a little better...
What the hell is wrong with you people? While we're at it, let's laugh at the baby who got mauled by raccoons. I mean, it'll probably live, so it's funny, right?
Speaking of animals being animals, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlif… is a pretty amazing shot of a bullfrog eating a mouse. Thought it was shopped - that bullfrog has REALLY creepy eyes.
If suffering, debasement and humiliation aren't funny to you, then you must never laugh at all, because that's the essence of comedy, from the Greeks smacking each other around with giant phalluses (phallusi?), to Malvolio's cross-gartered stockings, to Chaplin slipping on a banana peel, to Groucho verbally abusing Marget Dumont, to Lucy and Ethel's inability to keep up with the conveyor belt, to Cleavon Little threatening to shoot himself by shouting "Nobody move or the n****r gets it!", to Jason Biggs getting caught with his dick in a hot apple pie - quite literally every comedic act or moment from the entire history of literature, drama, film and television involves some measure of our being amused by someone else's embarrassment, humiliation, ineptitude, pain or suffering.
@57: So what I'm hearing is that you think Jason Biggs' character caught with his dick enjoying an apple pie is worth the same number of laughs as a baby elephant possibly getting eaten alive, nose first, by a croc. I guess if I ever see anyone run over by a car I'll be too busy laughing to call 911, but at least I'll have enjoyed a good belly laugh.
I'd say it's worth roughly the same number of laughs as George C. Scott in "Dr. Strangelove" attempting to convince Peter Sellers that 20,000,000 civilians killed in a retaliatory-strike nuclear exchange scenario is a preferable outcome to 150,000,000 killed.
@57: Sure, schadenfreude is arguably the basis of some humor. But do you mean suffering, debasement and humiliation of adults? Of juveniles? Of small children?
Personally, I would tend to lump animals in with small children when it comes to deriving mirth from their misfortune...in other words, I don't.
The object of the humor doesn't necessarily have to feel they're suffering or being humiliated. In fact, comedy tends to work best when they are completely unaware of how they are perceived. For example: does a baby feel any sense of embarrassment when it pukes up strained carrots all over mom's brand new silk blouse? Probably not. But that doesn't stop people from laughing, because they can't help but feel that, were the baby in their shoes, it WOULD no doubt feel embarrassed. Projection plays an important role in humor as well; the "there but for the grace of (insert preferred diety here) go I" paradigm.
In short, we laugh at the misfortune of others simply because it's NOT happening to us.
And @60: I find that entire film uproariously funny, as do many others apparently, so no, I don't the argument is settled in quite the way I think you think it is.
If that elephant wants his nose back, he's going to have to stomp that crocodile half to death. Crocodiles don't let go willingly, and it's just not possible to prise its jaws open, the muscles are too strong. So get stomping!
Hey Steven I know something I would consider as VERY funny.. Why don't you take a pee it that water and let the crocodile have little taste? If you are lucky the crocodile may think it is so funny that also he begin laughing...
gawd
the troll agrees with cansuck...
And the Elephant's Child's nose kept on stretching; and the Elephant's Child spread all his little four legs and pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and his nose kept on stretching; and the Crocodile threshed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and at each pull the Elephant's Child's nose grew longer and longer--and it hurt him hijjus!
Then the Elephant's Child felt his legs slipping, and he said through his nose, which was now nearly five feet long, 'This is too butch for be!'"
http://www.online-literature.com/poe/165…
Clearly, you know absolutely nothing about comedy.
PS- I last thought you were funny in 1996.
I'm going to have to stop reading you too Wm. St. Hump. if you post stuff like this. I've been crying for days over the poor dead baby kittens.
@21 Something has surely killed your empathetic mirror neurons.
I just have a really hard time with certain stuff involving kids and animals.
First the OH SO CUTE epileptic kittens and now this!! What the fuck is wrong with you guys? I know everybody's a little on edge after the election, but I CANNOT for the life of me get into the head of anyone who finds amusement in images like this.
What's next for chuckles around here, setting puppies on fire and going HAR HAR HAR as they frantically try to put themselves out?
COME THE FUCK ON, GUYS.
I have seen animals die naturally. That's not the fucking issue. The issue is thinking it's funny.
It's nature, it's brutal. Animals eat one another. That is not sad, it's life.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlif…
It's simple. Lizards are ugly. Baby elephants are cute. Team Elephant!
I'd say it's worth roughly the same number of laughs as George C. Scott in "Dr. Strangelove" attempting to convince Peter Sellers that 20,000,000 civilians killed in a retaliatory-strike nuclear exchange scenario is a preferable outcome to 150,000,000 killed.
Personally, I would tend to lump animals in with small children when it comes to deriving mirth from their misfortune...in other words, I don't.
The object of the humor doesn't necessarily have to feel they're suffering or being humiliated. In fact, comedy tends to work best when they are completely unaware of how they are perceived. For example: does a baby feel any sense of embarrassment when it pukes up strained carrots all over mom's brand new silk blouse? Probably not. But that doesn't stop people from laughing, because they can't help but feel that, were the baby in their shoes, it WOULD no doubt feel embarrassed. Projection plays an important role in humor as well; the "there but for the grace of (insert preferred diety here) go I" paradigm.
In short, we laugh at the misfortune of others simply because it's NOT happening to us.
And @60: I find that entire film uproariously funny, as do many others apparently, so no, I don't the argument is settled in quite the way I think you think it is.