Odyssey Crossing Some Lines?

[Vic]

Oh my gosh. Ya'll need to chill out. They're jokes! Of course suicide and canibalism aren't good but those jokes were funny and made me laugh! We need to seperate humor and jokes from real life. And as for the answering machine, that was also funny! I laughed. Maybe it's beause I'm not the type to get offended but I don't care about these kinds of things.

[arwen]

I think you all need to take a chill pill. I trust Aio and I don't think they are crossing the line at all.

If they were all perfect what a boring show that would be!!!

[Jason]

Oh my gosh. Ya'll need to chill out. They're jokes! Of course suicide and canibalism aren't good but those jokes were funny and made me laugh! We need to seperate humor and jokes from real life. And as for the answering machine, that was also funny! I laughed. Maybe it's beause I'm not the type to get offended but I don't care about these kinds of things.

Well there's just some types of humor that should remain separate from what'd I'd expect in Odyssey. The answering machine one, really isn't that bad at all. But the other two? Those are honestly things I would expect from now a day cartoons, and Odyssey has always done a wonderful job of not conforming to worldly humor. Yes, it has funny potential, but here's the thing. When the value of life becomes a joke, it devalues the value of life. Also, with subjects like suicide it's bound to step on someone's toes because it's such a wide issue...

On the other hand, if suicide were to be a theme for an episode I would be totally for it. Suicide is an issue in today's world and for kid as well. An episode on suicide would be taking a courageous step, however, Karen was a touching episode on death and I think it could be done in tasteful manner that would emphasize the importance of life. It would definitely need a parental warning, but that goes without saying.

I really think it's ok to point these types of things out as issues. They may be small issues, but it's the small things that make impacts on kids' lives. Sure it's not as big a deal to some people as others, but the Odyssey crew does a great job of listening to fans and keeping out of troubled waters. If nobody says anything, they'd never know that something was done wrong.

[Pound Foolish]

Jason, how come you're taking on Vic's quick little comment, but not even mentioning Mr. Warren's much harder to answer end-all post? A coincidence?
For record, both Mr. Warren and Vic are 100% right, as usual.
It should be said that in agreeing with Mr. Warren, it must be admitted that suicide jokes, about fish or not, don't really belong in Odyssey. After all, like Jason pointed out, kids struggle with such things. They do. And it's somewhat normal now for that to happen, sadly, as the family gets more and more devalued and ruined, and abuse becomes sickeningly common. http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics
So it's really not worth a joke to have something that could easily sadden a child in a children's show.
Apart from that though, it's humor. So seriously, stop being so serious. We do indeed, "need to separate humor and jokes from real life."

[Jason]

Jason, how come you're taking on Vic's quick little comment, but not even mentioning Mr. Warren's much harder to answer end-all post? A coincidence?

Actually yes.... I completely Missed Mr. Warren's post....

Out of the four mentioned (answering machine, suicide pact, George Washington, and Camilla) I would find the one about the "suicide pact" the most problematic.

The one I probably have the least problem with is the answering machine one. I don't really know what the problem is. I don't think it really matters what he was going to say, and it isn't really worth anyone's time to try and figure out what he said. Why? Well, he didn't say anything. It would've been one thing if he said a word that encouraged listeners to imitate it or use the bad language, but it just didn't. Would it really have been worse than Connie saying she would "wring [Kelly's] neck"? That, in my opinion, is a far worse thing to say..

We're missing the joke - people get bleeped out on TV on the time, but this time he was bleeped by the very thing that was irritating him. Don't like that our hero has the potential to use bad language? Well, he showed pride in "A Touch of Healing", he dated an unbeliever in "A Question about Tasha", he loses sight of God in "Shining Armour" and "The Labyrinth". He's a sinner, and as long as they don't glorify, or cause the listener to imitate, bad language (which can easily happen by presenting), I'm not at offended by the fact that the character just might have, in his moment of weakness, been tempted to use a bad word. But he didn't. And, let's remember, temptation isn't a sin.

Well said. You do have a point there.

Apart from that though, it's humor. So seriously, stop being so serious. We do indeed, "need to separate humor and jokes from real life."

Eh, I'm not so sure about that. I do have a sense of humor, but when it comes to certain things it just sends a warning flag in my mind even everyone else in the room is laughing. I do see your point. In this case it was intended as humor, and being from Odyssey, I can be a little easy on them. It was humor at the very least. But to separate humor and jokes in general from real life isn't something we should do. Yes, some things are great to separate. But on the other hand it's also important to really understand the real life thing that the world is joking about. If you really look at it it's not funny at all. I'm only saying that the "need to separate humor and jokes from real life" is conditional, and circumstantial.

[Connie_Kendall]

Arwen and Vic, I understand how you feel. I'm not offended or anything, I just think that some humor should be.. clean. Nothing we would be ashamed of listening to. What would happen if you were listening to one of those scenes and your pastor came in? Or your grandparents? How would you react?

[Vic]

...some things are great to separate. But on the other hand it's also important to really understand the real life thing that the world is joking about. If you really look at it it's not funny at all. I'm only saying that the "need to separate humor and jokes from real life" is conditional, and circumstantial.

Alright, alright. I'm not gonna argue with you, man. You have a point. Just let me explain why I'm taking the opposing viewpoint. Look, you gotta put everything in perspective. We live in a corrupt world and participate in the sin. The entertainment, media, and overal society is messed up. Even kid channels like Disney! No way AIO is worse than them. When you have a great, wholesome, and (most importantly) Christian show like Odyssey, you shouldn't nitpick at tiny things. If Connie moves in with her boyfriend or Eugene starts talking like he stepped out of "Scarface", then we've got a problem. But, discussing how small, quick jokes had the possibility to offend a couple people, is where things get unnecessary. Look, this is not a slam at any of you. I think you bring up some things that we need to take to heart. I'm just saying what I feel. Let's appreciate the show because it's awesome!

[Connie_Kendall]

I totally agree! On the other hand, though, they need to be careful. What if a little kid heard "I think that was a suicide pact" then repeated it somewhere else? It could be totally funny, or it might be totally inappropriate, you know? They just need to be careful

[ejmade]

With the Jason line i totally thought it was "you worthless hunk of junk", because it rhymed. As for the suicide line, i said the same thing when my goldfish jumped out of my tank. Now potty humor, you have to be careful. You do want it to be different from all of those kids shows that have bad jokes. Parents trust AIO for good shows, but I think its good to handle some subjects like abortion, drugs, alcohol, smoking and other things like that, but they need to handle it carefully. I think they do a good job putting warnings so parents know what their kids are listening to. Any comments?

[Doll]

What would happen if you were listening to one of those scenes and your pastor came in? Or your grandparents? How would you react?

^This.

I have little cousins, and grandparents, who would not appreciate these jokes. My little cousins aren't much in Odyssey, but if they ever want to borrow some of my collection, I won't let them borrow these episodes. (First, because of the jokes, and second because the episodes aren't that good anyways, in my opinion.)

[Oliver]

I wouldn't be ashamed at all if my parents came into the room after all it's for parents to listen to with there kids.

[Pound Foolish]

Here's how this works. We're in an ultra-Christian nerdy net-board. (Which is a good thing.) So here's what happens when we ask if some of our parents would disapprove of these lines:
*hands go up* Me, me, me!
Here's what happens when we ask anywhere else on planet earth:
"Anyone? Anyone? Muller?"
So yes, plenty of people here can honestly say their parents would be grossed out by those lines. But that means nothing. Almost no one in general would. Anyhow, people's opinions don't matter. What matters is what's true. And unless you can refute Ben Warren's post God's Girl and Cool Beans with DIRECT logical attacks, the fact is those lines are fine.
Just for the record, my parents are no exception, they too are fine with those lines. And as for my grandparents, my sibs and I listened to Grandma's Visit with our grandma (yeah, I know, ha ha) and she never raised an eyebrow at that line. She laughed and laughed at the show with us.

[whittaker96]

Not to butt in halfway through this debate, but let's also remember that the definition of "humor" is so loose and interpretative that you can have multiple people getting multiple things out of it - and they might all be right - or wrong.

But in my personal opinion, Jason's phone is a play on shows that feature bleeping (and I always thought he had said junk), the suicide pact was personally funny to me even though I value life incredibly highly (though I'm not sure if that was appropriate for a kids' show, it definitely would have been fine with me if it was on "Teenage Odyssey"), and Matthew's line was pure hyperbole.

[Vic]

Pound Foolish is like my new best friend. Took the words right out of my mouth.

But I think whittaker96 (I don't know if it was Josh or Ally) said it best. A lot of things in life are subjective and humor is one of them.

[Joy]

I honestly think that my parents, or my grandparents, maybe even my pastor (not completely sure) wouldn't raise an eyebrow at one of those lines.
They've never bothered me. Maybe suicide pact is taking it a little too far, but are these the only things you can find wrong with what Odyssey has said? Yes? Good. Crossing the line just a little bit, through a teeny little accident, isn't a sin, nor is it even crossing the line. It's a mistake.

[Jason]

I honestly think that my parents, or my grandparents, maybe even my pastor (not completely sure) wouldn't raise an eyebrow at one of those lines.
They've never bothered me. Maybe suicide pact is taking it a little too far, but are these the only things you can find wrong with what Odyssey has said? Yes? Good. Crossing the line just a little bit, through a teeny little accident, isn't a sin, nor is it even crossing the line. It's a mistake.

I don't think anyone was implying that these lines are sinful. The main point of this topic was just to get people thinking about what we laugh at, why we laugh at it, and maybe what we should laugh at. I do realize that these cases are pretty minor, and in the context of Odyssey our Odyssian minds let certain things slide sometimes. In these cases perhaps they haven't completely crossed the line, but they've come pretty close.

[Joy]

Yeah, I should rephrase that, I didn't mean in any way that you were implying what Odyssey was doing is sinful.
isn't a problem would be a better way to say this.

[NinjaThrowingStar]

What about the episode where Connie goes to a "club house" (like a mother in-law sweat, with her boy friend alone.. I have always felt uncomfortable with this, though nothing happened... (and I know nothing ever would happen like that in Odyssey) but still this episode has all ways bugged me... I guess partly because Connie knew he was unsaved... and he "loved" her and it just could have end so much worse then it did...

Ps. Sorry I can not for the life of me remember the title of the episode or Her boy friends name... it's one of the older episode from when she was in high school and after she got "saved".

[Pound Foolish]

What about it? You think people shouldn't date alone? Well, that's a personal conviction. It doesn't mean AIO "crossed a line."

[whittaker96]

I think it's interesting how we've addressed all these "worrisome issues" with Odyssey, but we haven't really focused on the title of this topic.

We have different people who believe that Odyssey is or isn't crossing "lines." What is the line for you, and why have you drawn it there?

Factor in personal convictions, your taste for humor, experience, Christian walk, morals...and what's the outcome?

I'm really curious. Just another little morsel to add to this debaterific topic!

Pound Foolish is like my new best friend. Took the words right out of my mouth.

But I think whittaker96 (I don't know if it was Josh or Ally) said it best. A lot of things in life are subjective and humor is one of them.

whittaker96 is always Josh.