namelessfly wrote:I should be careful to tell my political jokes very s-l-o-w-l-y so that people of other political stripes can understand them.
nameless,
Even though I was pretty sure that I 'got it' and saw the bulge in your cheek, I will point out that in e-mail/text/etc, you pretty much have to point out when you are joking, with emoticons, after comments, etc, or SOMEONE will misunderstand. There just isn't enough interpretable context for subtle sarcasm in raw text media.
In addition, any political references, much less humor at the expense of a political figure, relating to current politics is going to find SOME audience that isn't going to take any shot lightly, because the particular political focus is really important and close and worrisome to THEM, even if you are being clearly light-hearted relative to your own usual social milieu.
I have face-to-face friends whom I can virtually guarantee will vote opposite to my decisions on most political choices. I can joke with them on political themes safely, because there is a realm of personal history and current non-verbal clues about when it is getting too close to convictions held with angst. I try to never go that far in written form, because all those other clues of "I'm not serious" or "just doing a zinger, not a manifesto" are stripped away by the medium.
Now I've written way more than I meant to. Bye.
dreamrider