Thread: Self Esteem

Being able to laugh at one's mistakes is one thing, but where is the line drawn between humility and self degridation?

Watching the roasts on comedy central, I can't help but feel they(the comedian's and/or producers) generally want us(the audience) to have little respect for ourselves.

This is based on the premise that we must be able to relate to their humor to understand it, and much of their humor is based on self degridation.

I'm assuming they know their target audience quite well. The majority of individuals who will be watching a roast, where individuals gather to insult eachother, do not have the highest self esteem. Does this sound accurate?

I haven't seen the roasts, but if it's humour I can guess.

The humour would be in undercutting someone's false self esteem. Pulling off the mask. Heh, just this morning my son laughed and laughed at a big hole worn through the back of my underpants.

But yeah, the audience must relate because they also wear an armour of pretense. We all do, don't we? Then if you can't laugh about yourself, what does this really mean?

there is a gray area between "can't laugh about yourself" and "can't take yourself seriously" I'm sure we all fall somewhere in between, even people who seem to be on the extreme

My first question is not about the extreme examples and which of them is better, but where the line is drawn.

Admiting that you have a funny looking face is one thing, we all have funny looking faces in the right lighting; but putting on airs(of the lowly sort), acting sick, crazy, drunk, tired and uncaring, either because you are feeling that way, or because it puts on a good show, seems to be, not just poor lazy comedy, but an appeal to a lowly audience.