And people will always find another means.
Fine.
Let this task then exercise their ingenuity and creativity.
The only consequence of removing the laugh emoji would be sacrificing the ability to express genuine mirth so that people who are expressing mockery will have to do it a different way.
That is exactly what I am pleading for.
They have made a mockery (all puns intended) of the laugh emoji, by traducing it so that it is no longer rclear what someone means when using it.
For my part, I only ever use it - and then, very sparingly - with posters I know well, that is, people whom I know will understand that this is a used as a device to signal admiration for wit, or genuine amusement.
In fact, precisely because I am all too aware of how the use of this emoji has come to be interpreted, I deliberately do not use it to express mirth; instead, I will use words.
In fact, to remove all ambiguity, these days, I will usually write - in words - that I have found a post funny, or witty, or subtle.
The problem with the laugh emoji is that it has become so abused, so traduced, so contaminated, that one's first reaction when seeing it here is that this is not expressing "genuine mirth" but, rather, is expressing mocking derision. That is what it has turned into.
Thus, because of the way it has become abused, the meaning of the emoji can no longer be taken at face value; it is like any evolution of a living language.
The circumstances of its use (abuse) mean that it no longer means, or solely means, still less, mainly means that which it had been designed to express, namely, "genuine mirth".
And that, in turn, means that either it should be reclaimed to allow it, to enable it, to express "genuine mirth", and a new emoji added to allow for the expression of derisory mockery, (assuming that the forum wishes to allow for the forml expression of sneering derision; it may not wish to openly allow such a thing).
Or, it should be acknowledged that the "laugh" emoji has failed in its intended purpose, and that the new meaning it has acquired through use (abuse) - an expression of sneering derision - is what this emoji has come to mean, and allow it to remain as it is, but with a new - different - emoji designed (or created) to express "genune mirth".
Or, failing that, perhaps it should be removed entirely for the lexicon of emojis.
How is that a win for anyone?
Clarity.
And it removes the possibility of hiding behind pretend good intentions for those who wish to use the laugh emoji to mock, jeer and deride, but who - when called out - attempt to seek refuge behind the feeble excuse of "only joking".
.......
People sometimes find other people's opinions worthy of disdain. That is a fact that will not change, no matter how much some other people might want it to.
Sure.
But they won't be able to use a "laugh" emoji to do so.
