Back to The Defiant Few ←The Laugh Does Not Settle the Argument.
I can claim the right to laugh at my own illness and still have to answer for what the joke reveals about somebody else.
‘Everybody laughed’ is an incomplete defense. It tells me the joke worked on the people who heard it. It leaves out the person who might have preferred not to become part of the entertainment. A room can enjoy a story without having enough information to decide what it cost to tell it.
I use humor in my writing and speaking. I believe in its ability to get past the polished explanation and reach something people recognize before they are ready to admit it. I also have a selfish interest in believing that funny settles the argument. If the laugh is enough, I never have to examine the part of the story that made somebody else wish I had kept my mouth shut.