The Killing Joke

Okay, so The Sailing just got back from playing a couple of shows in Chicago, Illinois & Bloomington, Indiana. On the night of the show in Chicago, Batman: The Dark Knight came out in theaters. So after the show, we (and a few of our friends) went to go see it at this massive fucking theater (AMC). Anyway, while we were waiting in line, James and I made a joke about Heath Ledger. We called him Heath Dead-ger.

Because he's dead. And "dead" rhymes with "Led."

This remark sparked a debate about the...crudeness, I guess, of making a joke like that. 'Cause, I mean, his death was pretty untimely and accidental, and it wasn't like he was this big asshole or anything. I mean, I guess he might have been, but I don't know for sure, ya know? My point is that I don't think that making jokes about dead people should be such a horrible thing.

Everybody dies. That's why it's funny. Like, no matter what, you are going to fucking die and there is literally nothing that you can do about it. And that's hilarious. But, for some reason, over the bagillion years that humans have existed, death is almost always looked at in a very solemn and serious way. So even though everyone knows it's gonna happen, it's still so fucking awful when someone dies.

Death is a lot like masturbation. Everyone does it, yet almost no one feels comfortable talking about it.

Here's the deal: If my mom died and within the first year of her death someone made a crude joke to me about her being dead, I would probably want to beat the fuck out of them. Because that's fucking rude and inconsiderate of my feelings. But, if someone wanted to make a joke to someone else about my mom being dead, more power to them. I mean, they didn't know her so why should they care? Yeah, it's crude, but it's not hurting anyone. And after I get over my mom's death (unless she died in, like, a really fucked up way, like she was tortured or something), I feel like I should be able to make a joke about it. I mean, I wouldn't just "laugh 'cause my mom's dead," but like, suppose something like this happens:

Some dumb girl: God, my mom is such a stupid fucking bitch!

Me: Yeah, well my mom's dead!

That'd be fucking hilarious. Not necessarily because my mom's dead, but because I'd totally make that unappreciative dumb girl feel like a complete douchebag. And that's funny. Granted, it would be at the expense of my mom's death, but I don't think she'd mind. I mean, if you're an atheist, why would you care about making fun of Heath Ledger's death? He's dead and gone forever. No spirit, no nothing. Dead. Removed. But, what if you're not an atheist? Suppose you're a Christian, even a good Christian. Heath Ledger just had something happen to him that is inevitably going to happen to every other creature on Earth for the rest of Earth's existence. And now he's in an afterlife, maybe even livin' it up in Heaven. Do you really think that he'd be upset if you called him Heath Deadger? I don't think so.

Look - I'm not gonna call up his mom or ex-girlfriend or whatever on the phone and say, "Hey. Heath Deadger." That'd be rude and inconsiderate. But, I honestly just don't think that making a dead joke about some guy to people that are totally removed from said guy is a bad thing. Crass? Sure. But, crass is funny if done well. And Heath Deadger is pretty fucking funny if you ask me.

BTW - Batman: The Dark Knight was pretty cool. I mean, I hate Christian Bale and I especially hate his "Batman voice," and Hans Zimmer's score was terrible, and there was some really gay CSI-esque bullshit, and at times the direction made me feel like I was watching a really long movie trailer, but the action was pretty cool. And honestly, Heath Ledger's performance was fucking incredible. Like, every time he was on screen, the movie became awesome. He made The Joker fucking terrifying and incredible. It was an excellent final acting performance. And I'm being serious.

Dead serious.