There are subs like /r/roastme where people post pictures of themselves then other users roast them.
Roasting seems to involve saying mean things. The jokes are usually about alleged abandonment by their fathers, or fat jokes, or some other joke targeting their appearance.
The thing is I love comedy. I take comedy very seriously. I don’t take myself very seriously but cheap jokes like these are something that I don’t find funny but that could just be due to quirks in my sense of humour.
Then there is the whole assymetrical nature of the ordeal. The roasters are anonymous so the roastee cannot retaliate with a comedic roast of their own but that could also just be the nature of what a roast is.
In the end I just find it something that is not only unnecessarily mean but also not funny. But it is something that the roastee’s volunteer to so I don’t find it rage inducing.
What do you all make of roasting?
I kinda hate it, but I also don’t tend to like “prankster” type of humor in general. In spite of that, it’s hard for me to think it’s valid to be opposed to it generally if the people involved are all okay with it. So like, two friends “roasting” each other, okay, I guess none of my business if they are truly fine with it and enjoy it. But even then, are they doing stuff similar to “aftercare”? Where they reaffirm they really do love and appreciate each other after any digging is done. Because if not, it seems like an easy way for people to be in an unhealthy dynamic, where one of them is crying inside and just going along with it to get along.
And in the context of a sub like roastme, there’s nothing close to “aftercare”, no real off button on it, and it’s complete strangers. So it seems like a horrible setup for doing it in a way that is at all healthy.