The “genius” of the “just kidding” tactic is that the speaker adds injury to insult by putting the onus on you. You are the humorless prig who “can’t take a joke.”
Imagine throwing boiling water on someone you love then huffing, “Jeeez! Can’t you handle a few second degree burns?!”
“Just kidding” always gets tacked on to the end of the remark, but other expressions, when inserted elsewhere, are also supposed to negate whatever precedes or follows.
So when arguing with a leftist, always watch their “buts.”
When they say something like, “I’m all for free speech, but…” then you can safely assume that everything they say after that will cancel out the clause before the “but.”
Every word before that “but” is an outright lie…
