Humor at the expense of a party to the discussion does not facilitate dialogue, it alienates the other party. Mr. Cohen's analogy is clear; his imaginary giraffe provides the same degree of comfort as a service dog. In other words, there is no real need for service dogs; any benefits are the imagination of the owner.

My skin is quite thick, thank you very much, but I've had it with people who think the responsibility for not being offended falls upon the target of derision. We've all been unintentionally callous at times; if this was a joke gone bad because he didn't consider the impact to someone in that position, the remedy is a simple apology.