When is it ok to use dark humour, that is to make jokes about tragic stuff?

For example, my friend who survived cancer as a teen often jokes with me about the fact that getting sick was her "claim to fame." And we laugh about the "status" that her illness gave her in the community. But that's "our way" of dealing with it and we're both ok with that.

Or at my grandma's funeral, we were all upset and made jokes about how her coffin was like a "jack in the box" because people kept opening it and closing it. That was my family's way of "dealing with it". And we were OK with that.

But what about using dark humor to joke public tragedies like the Challenger Explosion or 9/11, is making jokes about those tragedies "just a way of dealing with life" or is it just plain cruel??

What do you think of "dark humour" when can it be used and when should it not be used?

I have a letter from the mother of Christa McAuliffe's mom so I am not a fan of the Challenger jokes, just in case you're wondering.....

When is it ok to use dark humour, that is to make jokes about tragic stuff?-Myspace pictures

You have to know the person you talk to. Otherwise, you'll offend somebody with your jokes.

Everyone deals with tragic differently. You may use your humor to ease your pain but most people don't see it that way. I have a sarcastic sense of humor myself 'cause my dad has the same kind of sense of humor. However, I won't use that to people I don't know. I only be sarcastic when I'm around my family 'cause we're all like that. We understand each other.

When is it ok to use dark humour, that is to make jokes about tragic stuff?

-(Myspace images myspace.com)

I think dark humor at your own situation and with someone who is engaging in the same dark humor (such as your friend with cancer) is perfectly OK. Jokes about tragedies that are removed from you (such as the Challenger accident) are not. So I think you have the right perspective.
It depends on who you are telling the jokes to and whether the two of you find that particular joke funny. I think that whether or not you were a part of that particular tragedy also matters as well.

In the end you just have to be careful about what you are joking about %26amp; to whom. You don't have to censor yourself 24/7, but you should have respect to the people that you are talking to and about.
It depends on whether the people around you like that kind of humor. My boyfriend and his sister kept joking at their grandfather's funeral, but I was getting irritated by their jokes. So.. yah. It depends on whether the people around you can take that kind of joke. (I've been accused of taking things too seriously and I sometimes do.) To be safe, just keep the jokes around people you know or you will offend us serious people. Haha.