Being publicly degraded is distressing. However, a popular subreddit on Reddit, /r/roastme, is populated by people asking to get roasted by strangers.
The results are… pretty funny. actually:
The Benign Violation Theory helps explain what makes this process so funny.
Humor arises when something is wrong yet okay, threatening yet safe, or what we call a benign violation. In the “roast me” subreddit, the insult (i.e., the violation) is requested, which helps it make benign.
