"Best Damn Avocados"... The Power of Inside Jokes

So I was thinking about "inside jokes" the other day. There are many different types of inside jokes. One type of inside joke are the purely situational, such as "remember the time when Comcast spelled Arielle's name with 3 "l's". This type of joke is only ever genuinely funny to those that were present at the origin of the joke. This type of inside joke usually serves to create a shared, happy (funny) experience with those involved.

Another type of inside joke is between two or more people and they use a common reference point to have a pointed or specific meaning. For example, I had a friend in college that would call me "Barbie" and I would call him "Dr. Cox". In this case the common reference is wide spread (the TV show Scrubs) and so anyone listening may understand the reference, but the context may only be apparent to those "included" in the joke.

After watching a show that had a "limited" release (meaning it is only available legally on one platform, in this case Netflix) I realized that in this modern world there is another type of "inside joke". This is the shared experience on thousands of strangers that all cue in on a single thread of a much larger tapestry. In this case, Netflix released Daredevil a couple of weeks ago and in those 13 episodes there were a lot of things, both good and bad, funny and sad, etc. that people could "click" with. However, no matter what commentary I am reading or the discussion at large about the show that I've seen and read, the one thing that everyone talks about is one scene between Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson where when discussing their post college goals of going into a law practice together a drunk Foggy says, "We are going to be the best damn avocados in the city". Because of story telling and the ability to share that story with thousands we all got to be at the "origin" of an inside joke and now we all get to share it with each other.

By Daniel Rubinstein (http://www.redbubble.com/people/blankcanvasdj/works/14572802-best-damn-avocados-in-new-york?p=sticker)

It is an odd thing that we can create the "in" with so many people now because of shared media platforms and social networking. And as I spent the past week or so thinking about the wonders of the  "inside" joke I realized that they are one, very important, and two, should teach us something. I think that inside jokes are important because they recognize a shared experience that isn't traumatic. We always talk about where we were, what we were doing when something terrible happens, but what about when something truly epic, or funny, or ridiculous happens? Why can't we emphasize that part of our community identity that is based on something good. Secondly, what inside jokes teach us. There are obviously lots of things including the importance and danger of the "us" vs "them" thought process that can be involved in an inside joke. But I specifically thought about how thousands of people shared this joke from Daredevil and we are all still chuckling about it. Why aren't we actively trying to find whys to create community that uses the same tools? And I know that we have access to the same news media and stuff, but again those tend to focus on the trauma. I want to see large groups of people having a good shared experience that isn't limited to the realm of "entertainment". That is what the "inside" joke has made me think of this week.