That is kinda missing the point and the comparison is off.
Except a joke itself, nothing is a joke, nothing is by definition humor except itself.
It is sort of like saying that an engine is not a plane, by no definition can an engine fly.
Which is true because an engine doesn't fly, planes do. (Or Apache Attack Helicopters)
Humor is something you build using other parts, it's more than the sum of it's parts, no single part in of itself is humor.
Secondly, there are no rules what humor is and what it is not except that it provides laughter and amusement. If somebody laughs about a rape joke, it's by definition humor, albeit (depending on joke) not a good one by most people's standards.
Lastly, there is something called "Gallows Humor" in which (to quote Freud) "the ego refuses to be distressed by [...] reality. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world."
As Wylie Sypher puts it, Gallows Humor is "to be able to laugh at evil and error means we have surmounted them".
It's a natural human instinct. (I'm shamelessly copying of Wikipedia here, I'm no expert in all topics)
So while, yes, rape is not a joke and it's a very horrible thing to those it happens to and we as a society should make efforts to not allow it to happen, it can only be healthy to make humor and jokes about it. Not to diminish the victims but to diminish the perpetrators. The perpetrator is worth nothing more than a joke to us, they have no further value or meaning in society and ought to be locked away forever after we thoroughly laughed, helping the victim to recover in the next step.
That is what I want from a strong and healthy society.
Except a joke itself, nothing is a joke, nothing is by definition humor except itself.
It is sort of like saying that an engine is not a plane, by no definition can an engine fly.
Which is true because an engine doesn't fly, planes do. (Or Apache Attack Helicopters)
Humor is something you build using other parts, it's more than the sum of it's parts, no single part in of itself is humor.
Secondly, there are no rules what humor is and what it is not except that it provides laughter and amusement. If somebody laughs about a rape joke, it's by definition humor, albeit (depending on joke) not a good one by most people's standards.
Lastly, there is something called "Gallows Humor" in which (to quote Freud) "the ego refuses to be distressed by [...] reality. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world."
As Wylie Sypher puts it, Gallows Humor is "to be able to laugh at evil and error means we have surmounted them".
It's a natural human instinct. (I'm shamelessly copying of Wikipedia here, I'm no expert in all topics)
So while, yes, rape is not a joke and it's a very horrible thing to those it happens to and we as a society should make efforts to not allow it to happen, it can only be healthy to make humor and jokes about it. Not to diminish the victims but to diminish the perpetrators. The perpetrator is worth nothing more than a joke to us, they have no further value or meaning in society and ought to be locked away forever after we thoroughly laughed, helping the victim to recover in the next step.
That is what I want from a strong and healthy society.