Think about the last joke you heard that seemed promising at first and then… just… fell flat. Maybe you got uncomfortable at the punch line. Perhaps you laughed, but then felt insulted the more you thought about it. Or maybe the type of humor was just not something you found funny.

A number of JD students say they felt this way after witnessing some of the displays at the recent spirit assembly featuring the Mr. Juan Diego contestants. During the contest, some inappropriate words and actions were said and done that caused us, the editorial board, to stop and reflect on what is considered funny these days and why.

We believe there is a line that no one should cross, particularly in these school-related situations. It was embarrassing to witness some of the tacky and downright disrespectful acts. Maybe it’s funny on TV (to some), but not at a high school assembly.

Granted, we realize it is really hard to be on the spot with the pressure to make 800 fellow students laugh. Some of us admit we don’t know how to even tell a “Why did the chicken cross the road?” joke very successfully!  It is easy to see how an environment like that is stressful and can inevitably lead students to want to push limits just to get a laugh from the crowd.  So we have to start changing the idea of real humor in our minds, starting with a few tweaks in the system.

We propose students return to genuinely creative humor instead of crude or vulgar comments and actions. Crude humor is the easy way out, and JD students are far more creative and talented than that. Remember when students would choreograph dances or make up skits and everyone laughed at their ingenuity?  Wasn’t it last year when Jake Glissmeyer danced to “Mulan?” That was funny. No, it was really hilarious. There was no need to overplay with tacky theatrics. We should return to appreciation of true humor, not fall blindly in line with what mass marketers these days think we should say and do and find funny.  We complain about our parents and teachers sometimes -- alright, maybe often -- so why don’t we complain about media messages that go too far?

Perhaps another way to tweak the system --not just for Mr. Juan Diego, but for future school assemblies and pep rallies, too -- is to require that all student presentations be reviewed beforehand. And if anything is deemed inappropriate once the show is “live,” the judges may decide to remove the contestant from the competition.  But it would have to be done immediately because things can then spiral out of control -- just like at the Mr. Juan Diego assembly.

It takes courage to react appropriately to inappropriate behavior—but it’s what we must do.