Maybe you should have just tweeted about Mothra. Godzilla is just too cliche.

Godzilla is trending, so you aren’t the only one who sees humor as an outlet. People get offended because they think they’re SUPPOSED to be offended.

Funny thing, before I saw your tweet, I was thinking that the pictures looked like something out of a Godzilla movie. Our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters in Japan.

Peter, it’s sad that you had to make the effort to apologize so profusely for humor. Political correctness sucks, and it is doing a wonderful job of destroying our society.

Peter, whether I liked your tweet or not, I will say that I’m continually impressed with how you handled the situation. Bravo to owning up to it, and kudos on taking it one step further and making a donation.

I continue to be a huge fan of yours.

Laughter through tears has always been my favorite emotion…

I don’t know in what world your tweet could ever be considered in good taste, but it’s even worse to get on here to repeat and defend it. Suggesting it was intended as “helpful” or “comforting” is pretty ridiculous and adds insult to injury. Admit it was a mistake – a poorly chosen time to attempt to get attention or laughs at the expense of thousands in suffering – and move on. Don’t try to justify it.

Sorry, Rick, but I disagree with your opinion. My reasons are well-stated above.

Walking your talk Peter. Can see how some might have received the tweet a bit off, and therefore think your above post was a great timely and appropriate response. Well done.

Words are not sufficient to express my condolences and heartfelt concern for those people suffering from the effects of this natural disaster. Thank you Peter for helping at least this one person smile on an otherwise disconcerting day.

I guess we will disagree. When you can let me know how your Godzilla joke actually helps anyone who is actually suffering, let me know. Thanks for lightening the mood over a situation which we desperately need of people to take seriously enough to help. (and, yes, I have family and friends there).

Can’t please everyone. Found that to be one of the hardest lessons to learn.
Holds true most definitely with any kind of joke or even just humour. What one finds funny the next finds offensive. Cannot be any other way.
Keep going :)

As a former police officer and combat veteran, I strongly believe that humor can lighten a tense situation. Black humor appears frequently in circles where bad things and tragedy are the norm.

If Peter had been speaking to a gathering of people in Japan that had just lost their homes or their loved ones, the Godzilla reference would be in poor taste. I doubt that he would have done that. In the context that he used it, I’m with Peter.

Lighten up folks. Stop looking for a reason to be offended.

Rick:

My comment made several of my friends in Tokyo smile. They told me so. That’s helping. Not to continue this discussion, but I’m curious as to what you’ve done to help? Would you care to match my donation to the Red Cross? I’m happy to email you specifics if you’d like.

Respectfully,

Peter

I understand where you were coming from with the tweet, but something to remember is that the message varies based on the speaker. If you were to stand in front of an African American audience and do a bunch of Chris Rock’s jokes, you would likely get booed off the stage.

“A world in which we can’t use humor to help people frightens me more than any disaster ever could.”

This.

I think it is important for anyone offended to note that Peter has friends in Japan as well. He’s not making light of some random and distant event but sharing his relief with his friends. We, as mostly random strangers, only happen to be privy to his joke because we follow him too.

I realize Rick and others are currently concerned for their own, but think they need to realize who Peter was ‘trying to help’ are his friends there who he has determined are ok and could use a laugh. I agree with the poster who says people are offended because they think they are suppose to be. If anyone really stops to think about what was said, it would be hard to point out where it was intended to hurt anybody.

I think about the quote from one of my favorite movies, Crimes & Misdemeanors: “Comedy = Tragedy + Time”. If you subscribe to this equation, Peter, then perhaps not enough time had passed to pull off the humor. It hit a little too close to home for some people.

I was not offended Peter (& Tom). Just kind of disappointed. This is not about PC. When we say things on Twitter or Blogs etc., we already “own” the content whether it is good or bad-so don’t be mad if I don’t jump on the bandwagon to pat you on the back for saying you own it. I DO NOT question your heart or intent by using dark humor-as Tom stated, it is often used. The fact is though, you have a big audience.

You do not sell a product, true. But when you hold yourself out as a PR professional, you are the product, and you should know there would be blow-back when saying something insensitive at a sensitive time. To issue a non-apology-apology is standard PR ops and I for one am glad you did it. I am sure people that were offended will accept it, and those that do not perhaps got a “teachable moment” out of it.

As author of the recently published book, Learning to Laugh When You Feel Like Crying, I agree that humor is tragedy plus time (attributed to Mark Twain) especially
if you are close to the crisis or tragedy. The farther away you are from it, whether by mileage or in years, the easier it is to joke about it.

I honestly can not believe how absurd people react to things that people say on Twitter. It blows me away how so many people choose to be offended everyday. They can go ahead and have a bad day…I will continue to smile and enjoy mine.

It’s like the poster that was plastered to the wall in my 5th grade classroom… “Attitude is everything, Pick a good one.” It’s obvious that our world is being overtaken by people who didn’t have that lesson taught to them as a kid.
Casey Fenton (comment up top) is my hero and I wish I would have been the one to say it so well- “People get offended because they think they’re SUPPOSED to be offended.”

When people learn how to forgive and what a powerful thing it is, the world will be a better place. When they realize the fact that all humans are “human” the world will be a better place. When they learn to focus on what is important in life (taking care of others, service, charity, etc…) rather than hate and politics the world…will be a better place.

Shankman- Apologizing is the right thing to do because it shows you have learned all of the most important life lessons. Not because of what you said and others deeming it “bad form”
I appreciate you showing the world that you are bigger than they are.
-Paul

Allen:

Agreed but for one caveat – I’m not “far” from it – per se. Quite the opposite, I was up at 4am calling all my friends in Tokyo to make sure they were ok. That put me closer to it, and as such, chose to deal with it the way I did.

Thanks to all for the thought-provoking comments. Good discussion.

I think things can be taken many different ways, but weren’t you the one ripping on Kennith Cole and their Cairo tweet? Couldn’t that be the exact same thing, making this a bit hypocritical.

Actually, Jen, completely incorrect. Kenneth Cole was tweeting to SELL A PRODUCT. I was tweeting to bring levity to a tough situation.

Worlds apart. Worlds.

You said it…now own it.

JR: I think the part where I said “I own this” kind of takes care of that…

Humor has always been a part of dealing with tragedy. As the gentleman above (former police and combat veteran) commented, humor lightens…. Those in frontline situations, police, fire, soldiers, doctors, etc. use it all the time to deal with some pretty harrowing situations. They have to or they would go totally nuts. We all deal with tragedy in different ways. That’s what makes us human. Take any rough situation with more than three people standing around and someone is going to crack a joke. I have been to too many funerals and there has yet to be one where this didn’t occur. My family has witnessed or been directly involved with tragedy repeatedly. When you laugh, you take a much needed break from crying. That deep, dark depressing spiral of gloom is interrupted, even if just for a minute. And couldn’t we all use a minute of calm and humor in the midst of a frightening and tragic situation. Yes it is terribly serious, yet a constant state of serious means a constant state of adrenilin, which leads to a lack of clarity and depletion of the much needed energy that a serious situation requires. The tragedy in this tweet is that it brought to light how quickly people are to judge and blame. We can’t do anything about what happened, we feel so very helpless seeing others suffer. Some handle it with humor and some handle it by looking for someone to blame, It’s the fight or flight mechansim that goes off in the brain in tragedy. Can’t flee, so lets find someone to argue with or criticize. Send blankets, contribute money, pray, do something constructive but do not create a situation over something so obviousley meant as coping.

ZING!

PS – and YES, you are selling a product. I believe you state that often.

Thanks for this, now I don’t feel as hopeless as I did all morning. I too am going to make a donation to the Red Cross today. I am not offended but inspired to try and do something positive.

You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. If you had just tweeted “I donated to the Red Cross for Japan, you should too” I think a few people might have taken notice. You tweet about Godzilla, make a donation and it stirs the pot a bit more. You aren’t the Red Cross, you can make Godzilla jokes. Now if the Red Cross made the joke, probably not the best.

I donated to the Red Cross after reading this blog post. I also own Godzilla vs King Kong on VHS in case anyone cares.

To all the skeptics chiming in, did you donate? Did you do anything besides comment on a blog post that Peter made you mad? Do something more than tweeting/commenting if you actually care.

All I can say is that you are being genuine, and I respect that. You tweeted what you thought, and then, in genuine concern for others, made sure to explain a little more. I think anyone who flies off the handle about one tweet isn’t really a ‘fan’, or a friend, or someone who knows you. Considering how you’ve addressed it, I’m pretty impressed. And I too have dear friends in Japan who I’ve been very concerned about.

Agreed. Humor can be a wonderful tool — sometimes a delicate laser and other times a blunt instrument. Context is everything. The joke. Where it comes from. When it comes. Who tells it. To whom it is told. One misstep in any of those areas and a remark can be interpreted as insensitive, inappropriate, or at the very least…unfunny.

Good intentions aside, In a situation such as this, where there is loss of life, I am not sure that it works to share the same comment with a hundred thousand people that one might say to a room full of people. If the latter had happened, one might have gotten some laughs, but also heard the groans.

I think those experiencing the situation first hand may determine what levity is appropriate. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be spared the tragedy should wait and listen. In this case, perhaps if you had attributed the source of your tweet (your Japanese friend) at the time, there would not have been a rumpus.

I stand by my position that the joke was distasteful due to the loss of life, but I can’t help but be impressed by your defense of it, from a public relations standpoint. Especially the call to action for donations. Bravo.

I was not offended by Peter’s comment and yes, did smile a bit at it. I’m also in the U.S.

BUT if I were in Japan and had just lost a loved one to the natural disaster, I most definitely would have been offended. Especially considering Peter is sitting safe in NY, making jokes. While Japanese citizens are dealing with a huge loss that Peter obviously can’t fathom since he’s nice and safe.

I agree humor can definitely help in these situations. But there is a time, place, and audience for it. Granted, people in the midst of the crisis in Japan weren’t hanging out on Twitter at this time, it still seems insensitive.

If you tweeted something similar (jokingly) during Katrina, would people have been more or less offended? If an athlete or actor(ress) made the same tweet, would we be calling for his/her head? If someone in Japan made jokes on 9/11, would people be more offended?

I’m not saying what you did was right or wrong, just providing food for thought. Our world is increasingly more connected with social media, being far-removed, in my opinion, isn’t much of a defense.

Humor is always a good thing!

That being said, perhaps this illustrates the bigger communication problem that exists with Twitter, Texting, Email, etc, where it is easy for someone to take the written word completely out of context, and turn it into something that it is not. In my opinion, and even though I’ve never met you in person, by following you it was pretty easy to understand exactly where you were coming from with your tweet.

Have a great weekend!

FYI,
Humor and Tragedy: The Day Laughter Stopped (Part 1)
Humor and Tragedy: The Day Laughter Returned (Part 2)

http://allenklein.blogspot.com/

It’s not funny when people died! The country is devastated. People wouldn’t have found humor in a joke on 9/11/01!

Anyone who thinks that humor is somehow offensive in horrible situations has never been in one. I’ve lived through a war and, let me tell you, your sense of humor keeps you alive and sane.

I don’t know, Peter, maybe it was too early for some people. But that tweet gave me a little smile.

Hey, I’m all for humour to ease a situation; but, I agree in this case that it was distasteful to blast the joke to a large audience and the timing couldn’t have been worse: when initial reports of mass fatalities were emerging. The actions afterward are commendable, but this — coming from a social media expert — just left a bad taste in my mouth.

You know what they say about it taking years to build credibility…

Thanks for the comments, Ann. While I disagree, I appreciate you leaving your point of view.

I used to write for a magazine called CREATIVE SCREENWRITING. After 9/11, I received an email from then-editor Eric Bauer asking for contributions to a special issue he was considering on the theme of the role of the artist in the face of national grief. I wrote a piece called “Laughter is Always Appropriate” (it can be found on the magazine’s Web site, as well as my own).

My argument, much simplified, was that laughter releases endorphins into the brain. Endorphins, of course, are the body’s natural painkillers. Laughter, therefore, is beneficial to people who are grieving; it actually helps ease their suffering, even if, to people outside the situation, the laughter may seem inappropriate.

It occurs to me that people who stick to a code that says that humour is not appropriate in times of tragedy are denying themselves (or others) a powerful tool to help them cope.

In my opinion this tweet was not in bad taste, since ‘Godzilla’ has always been a metaphor for the clash between nature + humankind’s modern inventions.

Don’t think there’s anything wrong with your tweet. Also, the more dire the situation, the more difficult it is to be humorous. I believe Tina Fey wrote in her recently published New Yorker article, about trying to be funny on Saturday Night Live, a week or so after 9/11, and whether or not that was even the right thing to do. Some people will always take hunmor the wrong way, because no one really knows how to handle any kind of disaster, terrorism, or earthquakes, or anything.

The problem with Twitter is that tweets can easily be taken out of context, and unless it’s a video, the audience doesn’t have a feel for your tone, inflection, and body language, etc. Nor do they know the subtext with regard to your friends in Tokyo. That’s one of the inherent problems with online communications, unfortunately,.

I suppose I can see all sides of this:

As someone who is quite partial to “gallows humor” myself, I do see how humor is used in some situations to make light of things that are scary, tragic, sad or not easily understood (philosophically). Usually at the reception after a funeral, you will find people joking around, and not just telling “funny stories” about the deceased, but as a way to process among the living.

That said, given the same example of the funeral, usually we *know* the people we’re talking to, and know them well enough to gauge how appropriate such a comment might be, and how it might be received.

Peter, you’ve been pretty open about the fact that you have ADHD…I’m ADD, too. So, I don’t know what part that plays in some of the social gaffes I’ve made, either because I couldn’t read social cues, or because my filter wasn’t completely in place.

I don’t use my condition as a crutch: “Hey, I have ADD … deal with it!” But, I also know that there is a framework in which my comments fit, and that I have to work harder at filtering myself. So after a situation like this, I tend to deconstruct it when I get the feedback, just as you did. I think that is admirable, and just part of our “work” in living with this condition…and just part of living life as w whole whether ADD or non-ADD….just among other human beings both similar to us and different.

You took the high road in owning up, and hopefully that is the part remembered.

M.

There is nothing wrong with what you said.

Well I actually posted it my Facebook page. The commentary there would surprise you, I think…

Let me clarify something, there is a difference between jokes in GENERAL and jokes ABOUT the disaster.

Trying to make someone laugh by making a joke in general does help, but when the humor is a joke about the disaster itself, it is not helpful and it is not funny. Thousands of people died and lost everything, and there is nothing funny about that. Thousands of people are missing and people don’t know if their families are dead or alive.

If this disaster happened in your family’s home country, I don’t think you would appreciate people making jokes about the disaster. However if they just tried to cheer you up by making a joke in general, you would probably be fine with that (as I would be!).

It’s not ok to make jokes about any disaster. If someone made jokes about 9/11 or the Holocaust, I would be completely appalled! Even years later, it’s still not ok to makes jokes about those situations.

Mixed feelings on this. I thought it was funny….but I wouldn’t have any issues with (and would completely understand) someone being offended/upset. Each day a new video seems to come out showing the gravity of the disaster, and the effect on thousands of lives. Tough one. Kudos on the donation though….nicely handled.

I agree with Greg Hoffman that Mothra would have been a better play.