I've been going back and forth between these two threads, rereading them for the past half hour, and considering the posts people have left. I didn't see anyone flamed or terribly mocked for their beliefs in the global warming thread (I've certainly seen worse on these boards before, particularly about really intense, politically sensitive issues). The general feeling I got from the posts was the general feeling I've gotten from people around me at work, in about the same percentage. The vast majority of my co-workers seem to have been either apathetic or cynical about the event.
Humor has a long-standing tradition in political discussion. Sometimes humor can take the bite out of a political opinion; sometimes it can be particularly biting. I think the perception about whether political humor is funny or not is influenced by how deeply the perceiver holds the beliefs which are being examined.
Sarcasm is particularly dicey in online forums and in writing generally because it's particularly vulnerable to misinterpretation. So much of the humor in sarcasm comes from knowing the speaker and the quality of his/her tone of voice. For example, I had written something in an e-mail to a friend that was completely sarcastic and in jest, and he thought it was hysterical. But he forwarded it to another person who didn't know me, and she got very angry about it because she thought I was serious. I've become aware of the issue since that happened (about a year ago), and now re-read my e-mails and revise them...I will notice something I've written that I know would get a laugh if I said it, but the words on the paper taken literally do not appear funny.
I didn't have a problem with any little posts in the global warming thread either, because I wasn't expecting a serious political discussion on the issue. Posts based on one question in the Off Topic forum on the Lois and Clark boards are naturally going to draw a different reaction than posts to an environmental group's boards or a conservative commentator's boards. Speaking for my own comment, I wasn't looking to get draw into a long discussion; I just agreed with a historical comparison (since I'm a history teacher) and threw in a fictional comparison (tying the discussion back to Lois and Clark). I certainly had no intention of offending anybody (if I did, I truly apologize). I tend to be one of the people you discussed in your post who doesn't offer responses to politically charged threads - I know enough about my own thinking to know that I'm not going to change anyone else's mind.
Susan
