When I was in middle school, my mother warned me about the duplicity of a “just kidding.”

From the kitchen, my father chimed in, loudly adding that I can’t say whatever I want and then expect the consequences of those statements to be counteracted by a “just kidding.”

It made a lot of sense to me. I thought of all the times I had heard a “JK” thrown on the end of a truly unkind statement.

“You’re such a loser. Just kidding.”

“Wow, do you even have a brain? JK.”

“Cool story. Just kidding.”

How hadn’t I realized sooner that one’s unkindness cannot be revoked by two little words still blows me away. From that day on, I decided I wouldn’t say any statement that needed a “just kidding” on the end.

This has been a strange effort, though. As the world around me became funnier — at the expense of itself, I would argue — I became starkly sincere.

If I complimented someone, that person would assume it was a joke. If I encouraged someone, that person would assume I was being facetious. If I appreciated anything, those around me figured I was being disingenuous.

My insistence upon biting my tongue largely kept me from unintentionally offending someone around me in an attempt to conjure a laugh.

But, why did everyone think I was odd or unusually positive?

I still wonder this, but now, I see a little more clearly that perhaps I have been isolating myself from those around me. Perhaps, I have failed to embrace our modern relationship with humor: hit home and hit hard.

Our jokes are attached so deeply to real life, real mistakes and real embarrassment that I think we all might be holding our breaths for that awful moment when we become the joke.

We make memes out of a real face or a real person doing real things. We laugh. They become the joke. They become our joke. “Watch her fall,” we say. “Look at him dance,” we demand.

Make the anti-Semitic joke, because obviously it’s fine when you’re “just kidding.” Wear blackface for the Instagram picture — yeah, I’m looking at you Low Hoop girl — because everyone will think that’s hilarious. And who cares if we circulate memes that compare our president to dictators. It’s just to get retweets, right?

Everything is one big “JK.” We’ll laugh at you, but we all know it’s all in good fun. No harm done because we’re “just kidding.”

Well, this has gone too far. What do we take seriously, now? We have an entertainer sitting in the Oval Office. We look to “Saturday Night Live” for our news report. And, we don’t even mind the fact that our reality is starting to look a heck of a lot like a sitcom.

Don’t get me wrong. I support Trump. I just am a little surprised that enough other people did to get him into office.

I think we have watched one too many shows like “Veep," “House of Cards,” “Parks and Recreation” and so on. TV shows and movies that sensationalize and trivialize our government have conditioned us to expect entertainment from our leaders.

I can forget how well our country is being governed as long as my computer has an interesting news update popping up on my screen.

Once again, I love half of those shows I just listed. I have nothing against them. And I think that’s the problem.

I love this highly dramatized political state we’ve found ourselves in. It is absolutely enthralling.

Tweets about federal policy and foreign relations; press conferences that always leave me with a ridiculous sound byte to share; elected officials tearing each other down on a national stage: All of this makes for a fascinating scroll through The New York Times website.

My classes are chalked full of fantastic examples of media missteps and federal faux pas. If you’re in a political science class, I’m jealous. This is the prime time to talk about our government. Sitting through a class on our officials’ rhetoric would be a blast.

We are, as Neil Postman predicted, amusing ourselves to death. A part of me wonders if we’re already a little bit dead. Can you feel your fingers? Have your toes turned blue?

Don’t panic. We’re definitely still breathing. But what happens when our demand for pageantry and pomp places us in the grave? I don’t think it’s worth it. I like laughing, but I like living a whole lot more.