
Are there any topics that you believe people should never joke about?


Some comedians jokes border on hatespeech though. It's okay not listening to their jokes, but jokes get spread around , so you're gonna hear them anyway.
Also, say for example if a comedian told racist jokes and it was widely accepted, that would eventually set a precedent. Gradually those types of jokes would be told in school , colleges and workplaces etc. Eventually hatespeach would be accepted and nothing could be done about it. Bullies would thrive and have total control over their victims
If it's against the law to say racist comments in general , then it's not okay to tell racist jokes just because you are a comedian. They don't deserve special privileges. They aren't above anyone else. Society is either for or against racism; you can't have it both ways. You can't allow a comedian to say anything he wants, but then when you repeat his jokes in college, school, work or out in public.. you're fired, suspended or taken to court over it.
I heard a joke a few weeks ago (which was told by a comedian) He was taking the piss out of soldiers that had their legs blown off by ISIS.
If a comedian needs to tell such jokes at the expense of other people's suffering , feelings and downfall... he is not a good comedian. I don't believe anyone has the right to say what they want. We need a society that won't allow certain types of speech. If we didn't, vulnerable people would suffer at the hands of bullies and unstable people.
I don't think there's much that's off-limits if you just take timing and context into consideration. You also have to be a pretty skilled comedian to land a good dark joke that doesn't make you seem like the asshole in the situation, but the person merely making dark social commentary in a skilled and tactful way. Y'know? Very few people can actually do that in a way that is a) actually funny and b) doesn't make them seem like the asshole who's just punching down.
However, I'm tired of people making shitty and hurtful "jokes" under the guise of "omg it's just a joke calm down". If comedians are allowed to make shitty jokes, we're also allowed to criticize said shitty jokes. Freedom of speech goes both ways.
Everything can be joked about longs if it is just not mean for the sake of it. Basically it has to be joke it cannot be snarky hateful comment put as a joke.
Then another example of why things can be joked about so take suicide for example you may not see that as it can be joked about, but people who are suicidal actaully cope better by joking about it. My friend actaully killed herself 2 months ago it hurts like hell of course. But i still joke about suicide.
personally for me tho i will get touchy around rape jokes but i would just handle it by ignoring it and that's the thing you can just ignore jokes you don't like so no problems. Even tho i don't mind some rape jokes it depends how cleaver they are or if done in a way but yeah too many or a snarky one will set me off but so would all snarky jokes. That are just mean for the sake of it.
(american dad and south park and cartoons like these have rape jokes that i find funny because of the way there done and you can tell it's not trying to be hurtful to anyone)
Anyway lol, so everything and everything just don't be ignorant about it, and if someone is uncomfortable with you making that joke ethier you stop or the other person ignores it and walks away.
And people who have personally expericened what they are joking about can defo joke about it.
It is like Free Speech, everyone is in favour of Free Speech but is there a line that is too far and who decides where it is.
I don't shut it down but there are definitely times where I feel a comedian has gone too far. They have to live with themselves. I saw a comedian do an experiment on stage once (recorded for TV), he said I am going to try and offend you with increasingly offensive jokes, it was amazing how blase the audience it took him about 8 or 9 really ripe jokes to get a loud "Ohhhh" from the audience.
It is like when you are with friends joking around, you go certain places and not others depending on who you talk to. So as opposed to "Know Your Audience" you could do "Know your Comic", if you are offended by certain references don't go looking for them.
Interesting. Do you recall who the stand up comic was? I would love to watch it.
@Caramel_creme I think I saw it on YOUTUBE , I can't remember the context of the clip, I don't know if you know him, it's UK comic Jimmy Carr
Found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ_OA3rEdp0
Effin' Hilarious :)
@Caramel_creme There are lots of offensive comics. You simply have to know who they are to not be offended. It's the same with friends and family. Know who your audience is and what they expect. In PUBLIC, I'd be cautious about what I say ESPECIALLY IN THE WORKPLACE. This is where you can lose your job or be severely reprimanded and sent to "special school." Who needs that.
I'm for free speech. If it's a politician spouting kill the "YOUR HATED GROUP HERE," you have a public hate-speech problem. You can see on the recent verdict against the trio of idiots who killed Amad Arbery. They had a history of racist comments about black people and this lead to their awful confrontation of that boy. (i'm 65 and he was younger than my son, so I call him "boy" just to be straight.)
An overheard COMMENT or BAD JOKE in a pubic place might be hate speech, but unless it's wielded in death threats or in a workplace, it simply doesn't count. It might be hate-speech from a certain comedian, also, but the audience will determine how much is appropriate. And eventually, if enough people report someone, that comic could have a problem.
Witness what happened to Louis CK. He was CALLING WOMEN ON THE PHONE AND JERKING OFF WHILE TALKING TO THEM AND LETTING THEM KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING? !! Obviously, a cry for help. But to lambast him FOEVER is ridiculous. He was sexually inappropriate, but Louis is no Bill Cosby! The dude is more sad than he is a sexual threat to any woman. Take these events IN CONTEXT.
You can say hateful things without them being HATE SPEECH. It's how, when and HOW YOU PHRASE your comedy. Doesn't anyone know Little Johnny JOkes about the legless, armless boy used as a first base? Or Little Moron jokes? Or the old, how many Polacks does it take to put in a lightbulb? Or how many Italians, or how many Russian shsarpshooters to kill X?
These are ALL LONGSTANDING put down the latest or hated-est immigrant or ethnic miinority jokes.
I'm sure there are a host of transgender jokes. There were loads of gay jokes. There are ALWAYS redneck, mountain people, Applachian, moonshiner jokes. I'm sure there are Jehovah Witnesses jokes. I'm sure I've heard and repeated some. Muslim jokes, jokes about muslim women's headdresses, body covering gear...
Anyone who IS DIFFERENT gets jokes about. Whether their difference is from an accident or from religion or from birth.
We ALL HAVE FLAWS whether visible or invisible. Sometime or another they come out. We all have to ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES!!! LIFE IS HARD! it's far better to laugh at our losses, pick ourselves op, don our hajibs and our prostheses and dance at weddings!!! Kisses to all!!
Opinion
92Opinion
Yes, anything about hurting people, about murder, about rape, about incest or people’s parents and family, about the dead, racist jokes, jokes about illnesses or medical conditions or special needs, jokes about people who have become incapacitated, jokes about someone’s weight because it can lead to eating disorders either in the subject or the sources who will hear these comments, and also about features of a person’s face because it can be seen as bullying which can manifest into insecurities and eventually body dysmorphia and seeking cosmetic surgery.
Attention everyone! This is exactly the sort of laundry list we don't want anywhere near free speech arguments. You need a comedy club for one - you.
I personally enjoy dark humour. We don't want political correctness to ruin comedy. Modern people are such snowflakes. They need to grow a thicker skin and lighten up a bit. There are so many comedy videos from the past which would create a war today. It's insane that employees are getting fired over tweets whilst real criminals like murderers and drug dealers walk freely. People nowadays only fight against symbolic evil like tweets not actual people like murders where people get physically hurt.
Depends on the humor (not JOKE, OK? Difference!!) and sometimes using some sarcasm, or some humorous things, draws people's attention to things that they purposely avoid.
I think Carlos Mencia did this well, with racial issues, and handicap issues!
Sometimes things seem so hard, and difficult to approach, and deal with, but a little humor, to just 'break the tension' might help start the discussion, or conversation.
The purpose of humor is to analyze things and bring up things that your not "allowed" to say in any other context. So their is no, and I mean NO topic or subject that cannot be joked about, its why it exists to begin with (to make light of terrible things so we can cope with them better, to create satire to mock political and social climates/ideas/etc. in order to help critique or out right criticize them when those critiques would otherwise be "unpalatable" to some people.).
The people who don't understand the very subjects being joked about are the ones who say, "You can't joke about that!", or, "You can't say that!" These people who can't handle satire should go back ringside and let the real men/women do their jobs.
@1828ToastyTimothy True. The funny thing is they found that people with incredibly dark humor where actually the least likely to have emotional problems and least likely to self medicate and what have you because dark humor was an outlet for their issues and was a better coping mechanism. These people don't realize that humor plays a very important role in human psychology from coping mechanisms to satire in order to have a earnest but well meaning criticism of systems that may not be good for society. You remove that and your going to have a lot of problems because humor is our release valve and you remove that your going to have things boil over real quick.
I can totally see why people engaging in dark humor are likely to have less emotional problems and breakdowns. Whatever's rolling around in their heads has been rolling around for awhile and made peace with whatever it is. Meanwhile someone abnormally sensitive may have to take a few breaths.
I think any topic is fair game as well. You can't push boundaries without putting your hands on all that is offensive, taboo, sick, embarrassing and inhuman and actually pushing, meanwhile anti-free speech and hate speech laws do just the opposite. I don't believe in hate speech. Whatever it may be, no one seems to be able to perfectly define it. And something called 'hate speech' can't be left open-ended without future problems. I mean, speech that causes violence? So I'm standing in a crowded parking lot and yell 'Destruction to oven mitts!'. If someone skips over and slugs me or the guy next to me, is that a form of hate speech?
“There’s no such thing as an inappropriate joke. That’s why it’s a joke.”
”Sometimes jokes are ways to air out the ugly things people think.”
Quotes aside, I think you can glean what the person believes if they make racist, sexist, prejudiced jokes. To me they’re not funny and the only ones who would likely find them funny are those who are sympathetic to such prejudices.
So say whatever jokes you want but it speaks to that person’s character in my opinion.
What about the jokes that play to stereotype, but that come from the people the stereotype is about. Should that be wrong? Another thing to compare this to is the somehow ever changing meaning to the n-word. When a particular group of people use it, it's somehow seen as just a way to talk to some one, but when another group use it (with the same meaning and motive) it is somehow seen as being racist against people, because of the skin color of the person who used it...
Those are about assumptions which I find to be unfunny and stupid.
The n-word is a racial epithet and the literal meaning is ignorant person. I don't agree with manipulating the use of the word for personal use because, in my opinion, it just demeans blacks for by doing it. It is understandably unjust for others to use it against them though (especially whites calling blacks it for obvious reasons).
But it's not an assumption when people (especially blacks to others) are using it.
And I never allotted for the usage AGAINST them, just the same usage as them with the same motive
Dr. Cho, Dave Chappelle, and many other poc comedians use self deprecating humor by the usage of stereotypes. This is no assumption.
I like dark humour , but I'm aware when to joke about it.
I lost a family member to cancer and I still find cancer jokes funny and I don't take it seriously
Seriously blaming dark humour for all these injustices is like telling video games cause violence
Besides dark humours aim is to show how pathetic people's discrimination towards others is
@MixedDrinks What do you not understand about stereotypes? They are assumptions of a group based on a characteristic that a few do. They’re not funny because it’s dumb to make assumptions.
I understand but you shouldn't judge that character too quickly
Yea but it's a low chance for my guys and girls love dark humour and they are the most decent humans ever
Or maybe it mocks the justice system for not taking action and the perpetrators
Apart from the medical situations that is
We shouldn't joke about the size of a guy's dick as they are very sensitive about it, especially if they are not up to specs. So calling them pencil dick, short stuff, or referring to their pride and joy as a teenie weenie is not Kosher. Otherwise, jokes like "What is smaller than a teenie weenie ant? An ant's teenie weenie! it's fine as long as you don't mention names.
To me it would be the same as me teasing a woman about how small her pussy is and how tight it is LOL even guys with little dicks we'll find a woman that it fits LOL but the personally attack somebody with the name is not right.
Hmmm... the sentiments are touching, Daniela. No, really. Unfortunately it's fodder for the stage more often than not and I've heard some good ones.
Nope! I joke about everything, there are very sensetive people out and they don't know why they are sensetive and am not stopping even if they knew why they are sensetive. Move along if you don't like my jokes, am not forcing you to hear my joke and you can't force me to stop telling jokes.
@Jaximus-Lion
So you think rape, abuse, murder, genocide, thee holocaust etc should be allowed to be joked about. Please tell me how those could be hilarious or even funny at all.
@MysteriousDarkness for me it does... For you! It's even better to make you angry. I have seen war, i have been in war, i had gun pointed at my head, i have a friend who got raped and her mom got killed and she is a stan up comedian, i know things that you don't but you are busy being narrow minded and angry at me. Have your way but remember! No one is forcing you so! Just move on... TAAADAAAA
@Jaximus-Lion
I have been, shot, stabbed, burned etc saw a friend get killed, had another friend who was abused so I do know what I am talking about.
@MysteriousDarkness nice working on your Traum and make it worse, have a nice trauma and like I wrote before! If you don't like it just move on.
@Jaximus-Lion
What has happen does suck but it hasn't ruined my life. Did it change my life yes but ruined it no.
@MysteriousDarkness well done. It takes courage and mental strength to achive. I know many that have seen a d been through tuff things and now they laugh about it, it doesn't mean i can't make joke about disasters and death, it's up to a person what is allowed and what's not, for me! Everything is allowed. I am a christian from middle east where am surrounded by muslims all my life till i was 20 when i came to Sweden, The rough times, The beating, almost got killed experience is all over my childhood but now i laugh about it and make some serious dark jokes about my experience and others as well.
It’s possible to say there shouldn’t be subjects that can’t be joked about, but impossible to enforce unless you go around making it known to people every time they bring it up. Humour is subjective so many ways and things to joke about. I would also add it’s down to the individuals to judge the correct time and place to express the humour they have. Also to express it to the right people and in the right way.
The only things that should never be joked about is harming others. Outside of threats of harm to self or others, ALL speech should be free. People can choose not to listen just like people should be able to say what they choose without being berated for it, even if it is something bad being said.
I think that nobody should ever joke about something that the know will offend or emotionally harm someone or a certain population. By this, I don't mean that you should avoid telling the truth in order to spare someone's feelings. What I mean is, you do not ever bully or look for excuses to bully. Being mean through a joke is pretty much the same as bullying, which is profiting at the expense of someone else.
The only difference between a comedian and an every day person joking about something is that comedians get paid for it and they don't usually cross a line, because they are being paid. People can joke about whatever they want, just as comedians can, but consequences come with that.
I think people only get offended at stuff they have personal experience with.
I think we all should take a step back sometimes and find the time to laugh at ourselves.
No topic should go untouched.
Nobody should ever joke or criticize anything related to my culture, race, age, sex, marital status, health, income, political views, food preferences, tv viewing habits, internet usage, state of mind, or even my presence at all being neither here nor there. But all the rest of you boomer right-wing-christian-conservative cracker fatass homeless retarded couch-potato SJW n** faggots can go fuck yourself.
No topic should be off limits, that direction leads to all sorts of stupid laws and impediments to freedom.
You don't like a joke? DON'T LAUGH.
If other people are laughing?
BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT.
Easily-offended people should be constantly-offended people. They're miserable people, and I have no intention of being miserable along with them. They can either grow thicker skin, keep their asses in their safe space, or come on out and get all pissy-pantsed so I can laugh at them, too
No one has a duty or obligation to not joke about anything. That's what "should" means in this case. So no.
It may be in poor taste, it may be too soon, it may be to the wrong crowd, it may not be funny. But there's no "should" when it comes to jokes one way or the other. You don't have a duty to joke or not joke about something.
It depends how intense the joke is. A light joke is fine for any topic, Full blown belly laughter jokes are inappropriate for themes about rape, abuse and mentally ill people.
No. If I did I would have to question why I am afraid of someone's else's words. And if I'm afraid of a person's words, my belief system must be hanging on by a thread.
Individuals that aren’t your friends or famous shouldn’t be joked about. I also think some jokes just take it too far/aren’t really jokes anymore. Other than that, no subject is off limits in my opinion.
@MysteriousDarkness that is what they concluded, yes. When observing the actions of those who were violent who also played a particular game before the incident, had been found with other causes for their behaviors, including domestic abuse, psychopathic tendencies, and external and emotional trauma.
I dont find racial jokes nor jokes about people with disabilities funny. I also dont like jokes filled with cuss words and vulgar language. Jokes about rape are not funny either
I think this goes for regular people as well, you have to know your audience of course.
Unless you take enjoyment from offending people. 🤫 I see woke people.
Too many people get offended on other peoples behalf. If you told a joke about someone who is black I guarantee most black people would find it funny or not even care. But there is a waive of SJWs (mainly a small minority of white women) who feel these people are apparently to stupid to realise someone is making a joke about them and need defending.
No, humor should never be held to the politically correct standards that so many morons believe in today. Comedians should feel free to joke about whatever they want without worrying about being smeared later for political reasons.
Humor can go too far sometimes, so yes, I think there are things you just don't joke about. And it honestly is not necessary to make a joke about everything. Like rape, illnes, homelessness, or death.
You can joke about anything if it doesn't have malicious intent. People are always going to get offended no point in walking on eggshells all the time.
Yes... sockpuppets!!!🤣
Ok, one thing I cannot tolerate is someone making fun of special needs people. I'm sorry, but people that do that in my book are the lowest!!! 🤚🤨
Who am I to decide what is or isn't humorous to anyone other than myself? Here in the US, we are guaranteed the right of free speech. Humor is a form of speech and therefore cannot be regulated simply because someone finds it offensive.
If it offends me, I might groan a little. But I kind of love offensive humor. Jim Jeffries, Bill Burr, Bill Maher, Louis CK... Chapelle... Mulaney, Katherine Monaghan... Edgy is great...
Farming, I think people who joke about sheaf and local field should be sent to Gulag to work with finite fields.
Nothing, as long as its seen just as a joke. And does not target or involve bullying someone maliciously its fine. And is not taken outside that place. As long as its also funny. Louis CK joked about pedophilia, Russell peters joked about race, bill maher about religion. and george Carlin about murder. It was accepted by people because it was very funny. And because they knew it will never accepted in normal life
Mmmh... probably the act itself of raping someone. I know that there are extremely off color circumstances where you can make a joke about a rape happening in a specific scenario, but I have never once heard someone make an actually funny joke about committing a rape.
Those who say nothing is off limits thinks someone getting abused and or raped and or murdered is funny. Lets see them find it funny if any of those things were to happen to someone they care about. They probably also find the Holocaust and genocides funny.
You're just making the "violent games create violent people" argument.
@MixedDrinks
Violent games can cause some people but not all people to be violent. If those who say nothing is off limits did not think abuse, rape, murder etc was funny then they would not have said nothing is off limits.
I do think about those things, and the actual actions are monstrably horrifying, I wouldn't wish them on anyone, but the joke itself is just that, a joke.
And the video game thing was debunked in the late 90s. Those games simply attract people who were already in their violent mindsets. The main thing to point to would be the Columbine shooters, since they played Doom before their crime, but it was proven they had their tendencies before even playing the game. They are escapes from reality, not programming.
@MixedDrinks so they did a study on the affects of violent video games on people. So if they did was the conclusion that not a single person who plays violent video games and then were violent became violent because of the game?
@MixedDrinks
That would me joking about the Holocaust, rape and other horrible stuff on those lines is okay to do. I do not agree.
When excluding those with trauma and abuse in their recent past or childhood, none were found to become violent because of video games.
@MixedDrinks show proof of the studies that were done.
He doesn't have to.
No, there's no taboo topics to joke about. But I think there's wrong times and places and especially wrong ways to joke about certain topics.
No. I believe it's important to joke about anything to preserve freedom of speech and to criticize anything.
I believe the more a topic invokes the triggering of feminazis (and other such sjw wastes of oxygen) on one hand, and religious filth on the other - the more people should joke about it and make fun of it as much and as often as humanly possible. The more those said populations are offended by it - the better you're doing!
You know, I bet you're the kind of person that uses the term libtard to demean people not like you (aka non-redneck cousin-f*ckers). Well, if you want to take the first 2-3 letters of a political affiliation and add "yard" to the end, remember that a Republican is, in this case, a r*tard.
Waste of oxygen, exhibit 1793. Thank you, Pavel. Now be on your way 😆
I'm for free speech. Joke about anything. You can always attach the disclaimer: "What? Too soon?"...
Gilbert Gottfried lost his role as the Aflac duck for making jokes about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011.
@Screenwriter
So you think rape, abuse, murder, genocide, thee holocaust etc should be allowed to be joked about. Please tell me how those could be hilarious or even funny at all.
@Agape93 A percentage of your audience has been victimized by crimes: rape, assault, breaking and entering, car breakins, car crashes, robbery. One way of talking about traumatic events is by lessening their trauma by joking about them. Some people disagree about the power of humor to heal. I think that is its saving grace.
Can what someone jokes about be distasteful, cruel, horrid, uncalled for, and nasty? Yes, it can be but that doesn’t mean it’s right for this to be illegal.
I am no comedian lol but I joke about everything and I don't care what other people think. Life is too short to be sad and unhappy. But I don't do anything I say to purposely hurt anyone individually. It's not nice to be mean to somebody else.
i joke about death, murder, and mental illness all the time as coping mechanisms, but that rubs people who HAVEN'T been through abuse the wrong way.
NO!!!
@MannySimms
So you think rape, abuse, murder, genocide, thee holocaust etc should be allowed to be joked about. Please tell me how those could be hilarious or even funny at all.
@MysteriousDarkness Can't be funny to arrogant folks like you, right? What if others find it funny? What should be done with them?
The only type of jokes I dont really care for are when dads make jokes about how they're going to kill their daughters boyfriend or how they'll kill any man that that looks at their daughter.
Its really creepy and unsettling. They're not only treating their daughter as if they're some piece of real estate, but they're treating other men like predators.
I think in the end it comes down to whether you're putting down someone's value or not, if you're not overstepping there, then joke away
And who's gonna measure that? And which values? There are a bunch of them.
I agree with your sentiments. Whereas humor is concerned nothing is sacred i say. But i would never want to deliberately hurt someone. So i would never knowingly make a joke that would hurt somebody.
I like dark humor , so as long as it's funny, you can joke about anything.
I think joking about hurting innocent people and children shouldn't be joked about also as a Christan myself I don't believe in joking about God but people will do it anyway.
Then go to church instead of the local comedy club.
From a legal standpoint, no.
Socially, however, that is relative.
Perfect example: 9/11: https://www.imdb.com/news/ni0069193/
No. Comedians should be allowed to joke about whatever they want.
Mental illness, suicide, rape/sexual assault/sexual harassment.
And jokes should steer clear of the ad hominem
They're all everyday topics.
You either joke about it all or don’t joke at all.
No.
Suicide + Death + Disability + Depression + Hunger + Starvation + Suffering
That's a gold mine for dark humour
Actually many paramedics, firefighters, Crime scene cleaners, police officers, soldiers have dark humor, people have certain ways to get over the fact of the gruesome stuff they see every day.
This is coming from someone that was a Biohazard janitor/Crime scene cleaner...
It’s just a normal thing to do, to keep your mind sane through the job.
It’s a free speech argument, so I don’t like any restrictions.
Rape and sexual assault I think it’s hurtful especially for people like us that have been through it. I’m all for dark humor but really? Just talk about sex
Every topic is up for ridicule. It's usually just a matter of word play and timing.
No I think comedy should be free. We even have a word for that in German: "Narrenfreiheit", which translates to "freedom of the fools".
You can joke about anything, but there is line after it, if for example someone makes their all show on making sure people know about something offensive and rub it in all show every min, that is when it becomes offensive.
9/11, slavery, the Holocaust, pearl harbor, pedophilia, rape things like that
You can joke about anything at all - its just jokes
@GermanGuy87
So you think rape, abuse, murder, genocide, thee holocaust etc should be allowed to be joked about. Please tell me how those could be hilarious or even funny at all.
@GermanGuy87
Jim Jefferies sucks.
@MysteriousDarkness Well, I'm sure the Pope will be coming to a club near you.
Life itself is a joke. Therefore, there is nothing that cannot be joked about.
It's more of a situation thing - you don't joke about the topics that are the cause of someone's current pain.
I think People should never joke about the end of the world because it is inevitable, The world will eventually end but we don't know when.
That's a little broad. Anything can be said to be the end of the world.
Politics, religion, women, mother in law, gays , blacks. Foreigner. There are a lot more all the above some find funny, I don't, it's belittling people. These things make people angry , making fun about a person that is different isn't funny...
Difference is PRECISELY what people make fun of. The differences between men and women. Poor and rich. Black and white. Smart and dumb. Your mama's so fat jokes... From the film "Cold Mountain" Ruby Thewes said, "My daddy was BORN tired, he LIVED to rest..." That is funny stuff. Your feet's so big that... Again, this is human. If every one of us was alike, we'd have nothing to talk about. We're not, so we find things... Teasing is a form of joking. But you never tease someone you don't like or love..
@Screenwriter These people are ridiculous - if you compiled everything they mention into a list of things you can't joke about, there'd be 37 topics ranging from culture, the army, mother in laws and if I keep going probably toothpaste will be on there.
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