What is not funny is as just as important for this theory as what is funny. This section applies this theory of affective absurdity to a few examples where some people find no humor and others do. To reiterate: ``That's not funny!'' has two meanings under this theory of humor. It could mean, ``That's offensive!'', in cases where the violated principle is held too dear, and the N interpretation cannot predominate or is lacking entirely. Or it could be like saying, ``So, what's the point?'', where there is no V interpretation. In the first instance, the person who is offended has a very clear idea of what the ``point'' is; the violation is clear, but it is a violation of something taken too seriously to be made light of. In the second instance, the person who doesn't see the point isn't as personally attached or committed to the moral principle which is violated in the situation.
Laughter is often considered disrespectful. (For example, individual laughter is frowned upon in some churches.) Most people are personally offended when they are laughed at - a basic fact of human social reality. The present theory can be used to explain this fundamental reality. Disrespect naturally occurs when one person's emotional pain is seen as acceptable by another. According to the theory, laughter demonstrates that the laughing person, A, finds it normal that a moral principle has been violated. But if another person, B, is emotionally committed to the principle violated (frequently, B's own personal dignity), and cannot see the violation as acceptable, then an unacceptable violation from B's perspective -- that is, a case of emotional pain on the part of B -- is seen as acceptable by A, and this is communicated from A to B by A's laughter. Thus B understands A as viewing B's emotional pain as acceptable, and therefore B interprets A as being disrespectful. It is according to this logical sequence that laughter is interpreted as disrespectful. Anyone who wishes to understand the the tremendous social consequences of unshared humor should become familiar with this line of reasoning.