Why would you need to tell jokes that victimize anyone? Sounds like a very narrow sense of humor...
Your retelling of "barbarian" etymology is also wrong. Apparently ancient greeks thought other people's languages sounded like "bar bar" to them. It's not what foreigners sounded like trying to speak their own language, which wouldn't really even make sense.
"The Greeks used the term barbarian for all non-Greek-speaking peoples, including the Egyptians, Persians, Medes and Phoenicians, emphasizing their otherness, because the language they spoke sounded to Greeks like gibberish represented by the sounds "bar..bar..;" this is how they came to the word βάρβαρος"
This is not the original study I was looking for but similar results.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1046496410366311
As for insane, I fail to comprehend. In the spirit of good fun on hn I challenge you to provide us with 10 jokes so that we may debate their merits appropriately.
It seems patently obvious that some jokes are mean and some jokes are not. But it's highly subjective given varying contexts. A "mean" joke about someone at a roast might be considered a kindness by all involved. You could still call it "mean" but you might be the only one that thinks so.
Here's some (mostly boring) jokes. Let's see if you can point out the the meanness in each of them.
"Q: What do chemists' dogs do with their bones? A: They barium!"
"Q: What did the cat say when the mouse got away? A: You've got to be kitten me!"
"Q. What did the ocean say to the sailboat? A. Nothing, it just waved."
"Q. What did Batman say to Robin before they got in the car? A. 'Robin, get in the car.'"
"Q. What do you get when you cross-breed a shark and a cow? A. I have no idea but I wouldn’t try milking it."
"My new thesaurus is terrible. Not only that, but it’s also terrible."
What is a cow's favorite form of entertainment?
Going to the moo-vies.
The librarian asks "You, want a book?" The chicken replies "Bok."
The librarian grabs a book from the return pile and hands it to the chicken. The chicken puts it under its wing and walks away.
The next day the same chicken comes back in and says "Bok. Bok."
The librarian looks at the chicken and says "So, you want two books?"
The chicken says "Bok. Bok." The librarian hands the chicken two books and the chicken puts them under its wing and walks away.
On the third day the librarian decides to follow the chicken to see what it is doing.
The chicken comes in and says "Bok. Bok. Bok."
The librarian asks "So you want three books?"
The chicken says "Bok. Bok. Bok."
The librarian hands the chicken three books and the chicken puts them under its wing and walks away. This time the librarian follows the chicken over fields and valleys, through a forest to a large pond. In the middle of the pond is a frog on a lily pad.
The chicken takes one book from under its wing and throws it to the frog. The frog catches it, looks at the cover and says "Readit. Readit. Readit."
During one such period, I complained to my son that putting my damn shoes on had become the hardest part of my day. He said "Shoes! How the fuck do they work?"
I died laughing and snickered about it for weeks. Some acquaintance had recently been a jerk to me about something I had said that they didn't get and had given me the pity treatment instead of laughing with me (not at me). My son's joke sympathized with my frustration without pissing on me and it was very, very welcome.
Like, when you joke about someone and that person adopts a joke and brags about it afterwards, because what your joke make visible about him is what he likes about himself.
Basically, you will not joke about things that make target inferior, lesser, outsider or something like that. Your joke will extrapolate what target likes about himself, people like about him and he/she is not vulnerable or insecure about.
Sometimes the most tactful way to communicate a terrible truth to someone who who is unwilling to confront it is to make them laugh about it.
Dave Chappelle - Police Brutality (2000)
What about surreal humor? I guess you could say it victimizes the world as we 'know' it?
Of course it's really easy to get mixed about and think you're punching up when you're really punching sideways or slightly downwards (ie at your fellow, yet different, plebs).
Q. What lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches? A. A nervous wreck.
Q. What do you call a snowman in July? A. A puddle.
Hear about the new restaurant called Karma? There is no menu - you only get what you deserve.
Etc.