> people should be free to joke about all such things.
Agreed. But let me disagree about your first sentence. Actually, I think you just showed that funny is orthogonal. The salient point, as you pointed out, is for people to mind their own business about other people's business. This would have applied if the comments between those men were a silly joke or more of a bitter complaint. There would've been far less funny in the 2nd situation, but you still would've had the same result.
OK. Yes. Funny is orthogonal to "should X be permitted" or "should X be left alone".
My intent with that sentence was "funny has importance to people". I.e., crass jokes aren't simply empty words or accidents or mistakes, but that they were somewhat important to these who told the jokes and listened to them. Being able to tell a crude joke to a friend without worrying is a kind of freedom that (some?) people value and prohibiting that has a non-zero cost to society.
Agreed. But let me disagree about your first sentence. Actually, I think you just showed that funny is orthogonal. The salient point, as you pointed out, is for people to mind their own business about other people's business. This would have applied if the comments between those men were a silly joke or more of a bitter complaint. There would've been far less funny in the 2nd situation, but you still would've had the same result.