Ethnic Humor: Evil or Innocent?

[G Fresh]

[I guess what I'm saying is I'd rather be a self-righteous prick (by your definition) and enjoy life with a laugh every now and again than to not have a sense of humor at all (or at least a very limited one) and poo poo those that do.

Where did I say you were a self-righteous prick? You appear to be the person making claims (re: the bolded part of your quote).

Seriously though, everyone just needs to lighten up and stop being offended by every little damn thing.

You mean as offended as some people in this thread have been in regards to my take on their words?

I added the prick part just because when I think of self-righteous that's the first thing that comes to mind. My fault for not clarifying.

Other than The Hand of Poo with his

All the self-righteousness on this board really sticks it in and breaks it off.

And I'd like to add: f#ck off.

quote, who's acting offended? I know I'm not offended by anything anyone's said on here. Humor and people's perceptions of what's funny and what's not fascinates me. I myself am kind of in the "Hold Nothing Sacred" crowd when it comes to making jokes. That doesn't mean I think everything is hilarious or in good taste, but if I don't find something funny I don't automatically condemn it as offensive either.

[Massage...Bored]

Cross-dressers choose to cross-dress.

Chinamen (Asian Americans) don't choose to be Chinese.

Meaning, most of the time, an Asian cannot or simply won't speak the l's and r's of the English language properly and throughout time have been belittled by the English speaking population with drastic levels of racial hatred. Its disrespectful and rude.

A cross dresser can change clothes.

I can't believe you are trying to equate years of racism with the viewpoint of a transvestite.

[Oliver's Army]

Is there any way we can throw in a few jokes about Christians and their faith into this?

This pissing match really hasn't reached it apex yet.


"You know my stereotype about Asians does not represent my opinions of their race. And while is was meant as a a throw-away one liner, I can see how it *could* offend"

"Dude, I was a little short and flew off in an accusatory tone. I can't assume your one-liner is how I should define you as a person"

Has anyone EVER in the history on this internetweb thingy EVER shifted their position to accommodate?

damn.

[Massage...Bored]

Is there any way we can throw in a few jokes about Christians and their faith into this?

This pissing match really hasn't reached it apex yet.

You can't change the race you are Ollie. That's the point, respect among races.

Christians made a choice to be Christian, you aren't born a Christian. Choices are fair game for humor, but racial humor is usually in poor taste.

[Oliver's Army]

Noted.

Did we not have this very same discussion last year about a white guy dressed as a black man?


I am having a deja vu here.

[Massage...Bored]

Did we not have this very same discussion last year about a white guy dressed as a black man?


I am having a deja vu here.

It happens to you.

Yeah, this was a buzz topic last year around this holiday season.

[flapjacks]

as a general rule, i dislike white people that dress like black people.

[MrSpall]

Thank god for atherton, I was just about to call in a DeVito myself.

Thank you, and goodnight.

[=^-..-^=]

DeVito plays with Legos & Lincoln Logs?

(fixed . . . Perhaps you guys were right)


Go to Petsmart. . .

Buy a bird. . . .

and LET IT GO. . . .

[MynameisJenn]

I don't understand why people are getting their panties in a bunch because someone found something in poor taste...if someone would ask me if I would bring chicken and watermelon to a cook out-I bet more people might find the blatant poor taste in that request...I find the play on lincoln logs to be of the same caliber...I'm not saying my sh*t doesn't stink, I'm just saying that joke is in poor taste in my opinion.

[adam atherton]

I don't understand why people are getting their panties in a bunch because someone found something in poor taste.

jenn....no one else seems to understand it either. if you can figure it out, you've solved one of the biggest problems on these boards.

[bassjones]

That's why I stayed out of the conversation... I agree with Sankofa. That joke should go the way of black jokes/mexican jokes/polish jokes, etc...

At least on a public message board... My friends and I laugh at each other's shortcomings all the time, but I would probably get offended if somebody I didn't know were to call me a fat slob after seeing my picture on the internet. If it was Atherton or Gates, I'd know they were just joking around and laugh about (while secretly dying a little inside ). Same thing with this kind of stuff.

Lalo (sorry, I know most of you don't know him personally) and I joke about him almost drowning in the Rio Grande all the time (he actually came legally and is working very hard and going through the citizenship process), but if some asshat mullet-head in a rusted out 4x4 would yell some derogatory comment about him "going back where he came from", I'd be ready to fight.

If you feel the need to joke around with people in a friendly circle, cool, whatever... But on a public message board you're bound to find people who will get offended, especially by racially insensitive jokes.

I hate the overzealous PC crap as much as anybody, but it does help to consider people's feelings before posting that kind of stuff.

[echosauce1]

[quote="MynameisJenn"]I don't understand why people are getting their panties in a bunch because someone found something in poor taste...if someone would ask me if I would bring chicken and watermelon to a cook out-I bet more people might find the blatant poor taste in that request...I find the play on lincoln logs to be of the same caliber...I'm not saying my sh*t doesn't stink, I'm just saying that joke is in poor taste in my opinion.[/quote]

First off, my panties are not in the proverbial bunch because someone found something in poor taste so I apologize if my post came off that way. I understand someone made a joke in what they thought was funny. I also understand someone was offended by that joke because they thought it wasn't funny. Everyone has the right to express their opinions and I'm not knocking that at all.

What is bunching up my panties is that I really wanted to see lego stuff and geek out, as I said before. I love legos, always have and always will. I have always been fascinated by the stuff people build out of them. What I found was an argument, nah, I should say a discussion going that had nothing to do with legos. That happens all to often on these boards. I fault neither side, to each his own. I just wanted to see legos and was dissapointed. Maybe I just was hoping for a little innocent indulgence for once. So once again, sorry if you thought I was aiming personally at either party.

and zenman...Thanks for the pics!

[The Hand of Poo]

The joke was in poor taste. This is sincere: If I offended any members of the Asian community, I'm truly, honestly sorry. I think it's obvious that there was no malicious intent towards you. Gaijin will be gaijin, no?

I guess I shouldn't be watching south park anymore, bad influence that it is. I'm sure none of you who condemned me ever watch that show.

__________________________________________________

I once, for a school project, made a LEGO castle with a blood-filled shark pool and working guillotine (the head even rolled into a lego basket, it was tits.) I STILL have a monitor box packed with 'em... two pirate ships, a monorail and god only knows what other sets I had way back when.

[Garr]

I have my own theory on jokes. . .but it's not important.

Personally, the issue I see here is one's ability to deal with stereotypes and cultural differences. I don't necessarily think it is wrong or evil to find those things humorous. They exist. Generalizations won't go away because humans, by their very nature, tend toward categorical analysis. We like to put things in groups.

Worry less about the stereotype and more about the intent of the person finding humor in it. If you don't like the jokes, man, I hate to say it, but LIGHTEN UP!

I'm distraught that the thread was hijacked by it, but oh well.

@ Jenn, being white trash myself, I would not be offended if I was asked to bring hot pockets and NASCAR to the picnic.

back to the point. . .

Are the jokes in poor taste? Well, that's relative. Should you be careful when using such humor? I think so. Did Ollie intend his joke in a biggoted manner? I don't belive he would behave that way.

I think that people being so damned uptight about things like this is what lends to it being a problem. At times, political correctness causes more harm than good because it contradicts itself by trying to force conformity by exploiting differences.

It's like germs and antibiotics in a way. If you constantly find yourself in a protected and sterile environment, you'll find yourself utterly unable to deal with even the slightest change in that situation. If you constantly hide and protect yourself from bad things, you never build up any resistance to them. That's why I don't wash my hands after taking a sh*t. Unless, of course, I sh*t on them. (thank you, George Carlin)

I think that the celebration of our differences (in humor or otherwise) is a healthy thing that is conducive to a stronger human condition. Trying to act like those differences don't exist is just forking stupid. Sorry about the cursing. I needed to exhibit some fury.

Bah.