A useful response, particularly given a lack of talent for witty retorts and a personal distaste for the more aggressive fringe of jokes at others expense is to completely ignore them. Not in the sense of a trite “there, there, it doesn’t matter you’ll be ok Raw Power”, but in the sense of the holding a strong frame that can potentially completely undercut and marginalize them if done well. It does require the resilience and self control to completely suppress any facial expression indication that you were vulnerable to the attack and to not lose track of whatever your goal was in the conversation. It usually works best of you open or continue a completely unrelated thread with someone else in the vicinity.
A useful response, particularly given a lack of talent for witty retorts and a personal distaste for the more aggressive fringe of jokes at others expense is to completely ignore them. Not in the sense of a trite “there, there, it doesn’t matter you’ll be ok Raw Power”, but in the sense of the holding a strong frame that can potentially completely undercut and marginalize them if done well. It does require the resilience and self control to completely suppress any facial expression indication that you were vulnerable to the attack and to not lose track of whatever your goal was in the conversation. It usually works best of you open or continue a completely unrelated thread with someone else in the vicinity.