I love to laugh. Having a sense of humor is key to making the most out of life, and it's good to be able to laugh at yourself. However, I feel there's a clear line in the sand between clever, thought-out comedy and unfunny, witless bullying.

When I see people making crass jokes about racial minorities, women, LGBT people, or the disabled, I make a point to call them out on it. They may have the freedom of speech to joke about whoever they please, and I defend their legal right to say what they want, but I also have the same freedom of speech to call out their words for the bigoted bile that it is. And I always do. The response, often, is something along the lines of, "C'mon, lighten up! Get a sense of humor!"

And to them, I say that I do have a sense of humor, and in my view a far better one than they have. You see, I feel good comedy and satire punches upward. It pokes fun at the powerful, the entitled, the institutions. A good irreverent and offensive comedian still stirs the pot, but he or she does it at the expense of institutions and repositories of power, not the disadvantaged. Anyone can make fun of the disadvantaged, and no real comedic skill or cleverness is required to do it.

Bullies, conversely, punch downward. You don't have to be particularly edgy or clever to spot a marginalized group in society and simply reinforce society's stereotypes about them by regurgitating tired old jokes about that group. Jokes that trivialize slavery and segregation are not clever. Jokes that belittle rape victims are not clever. Jokes that make light of bullying and hate crimes committed against LGBT youth are not clever. It doesn't take much thought to look at an oppressed person and simply go, "HA, SUCKS TO BE THEM." That isn't wit, that's an unclever attempt at shock humor at the expense of the underprivileged.

When I see fellow MLP fans engage in this unfunny tripe, I cringe. It's awfully hypocritical of certain subsets of this fandom to complain about not being accepted or tolerated for their individual differences (such as liking a show outside of their demographic), yet perpetually spout bigotry and intolerance, often under the guise of "humor." MLP fans, you're better than this, I know you are. It's time we stop condoning prejudice (whether it's supposedly "humorous" or otherwise), and start being the loving, tolerant, inclusive fandom we claim to be. I'm all for irreverent - perhaps even potentially offensive - comedy, but let's make sure we punch up rather than down with it.