A joke is an inversion of a situation or sentence that surprises the reader or listener. There’s a set-up and a punch line. The set up of this joke was done by trip-advisor, the punchline was completed by some passing nefarious person with a dark sense of humour.

Whether you find a joke funny or offensive is generally down to personal taste. Most people find jokes that impinge on their world to be ‘unfunny and offensive’ – but this is subjective and you can’t run a society on this basis alone.

If a joke meets the criteria of inversion and that one had some cracking word play, it should be treated as exactly that. I don’t think it demonstrates any serious attempt at anti-semitism, and the fact is – It may have been written by a Jewish person.

Offence is a choice people make after the fact – and weaponising offence whilst removing the context of the joke in question turns jokes into political statements. Comedians and old fashioned fools are an important part of our society because they let us laugh at ourselves.

We should be very careful before we start taking everything too seriously. Great article.