Humor - Theirs vs. Ours

Apparently, putting a cat in a washing machine in Russia is not funny:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/video-of-cat-in-washing-machine-earns-russians-investigation-for-animal-abuse/522903.html

But somehow when a Gary Larson "Far Side" cartoon implies the same thing, it is funny:

I'm not suggesting that we should put cats in washers or punish Gary, but there seems to be a fundamental contradiction here that needs to be resolved.

And perhaps that resolution can spill over into the situation we face over "Muhammad cartoons" which some people seem to think are so funny.

They're not funny, and decent people should be able to recognize this ... just like we can recognize that putting a cat in a washer is not funny.