(Warning: Content may be offensive)

Informant: “Ok, so two priests are flying with a bunch of kids to meet the Pope. And they get halfway across the Atlantic… and um… the pilot tells them, “The plane is going to crash! We only have two parachutes!” One priest turns to the other and says, “Get the parachutes, and we’ll jump!”

“What about the children?” replies the other priest.

“Fuck the children!” yells the older priest.

The younger one says, “Do you think we have time?”

Me: “Do you find the joke funny?”

Informant: “Yeah! I think it’s like a ‘punny’ play on words, and I know it’s about a sensitive issue but, like I think the fact that there has been so much media coverage on the situation, people are bound to make fun of it. Like… it’s not that we’re trivializing the situation… I mean it’s a bad situation, but people… people make fun of everything, you know?”

Analysis: I certainly had to hold back a chuckle when hearing this joke. The reason why this joke is humorous is because it deals with current events. Many sex scandals involving the Catholic church and other religious institutions have recently been uncovered and the whole situation is under intense scrutiny. The child molestation cases within church and religious institutions has been largely blown up by the media. At the same time, child molestation is an issue that people are uncomfortable with and is one of the taboos. In order to deal with something that makes them uncomfortable, people often try to turn the atmosphere around by making a joke out of it.

My informant was Korean-American, he was born in Kansas, TN.