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From: malik@delphi.DEC
Newsgroups: net.jokes.d
Subject: offensive jokes
Message-ID: <79@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-May-84 16:54:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.79
Posted: Fri May 11 16:54:01 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 13-May-84 07:33:40 EDT
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 33

Subj; just what is an offensive ethnic joke?

	I had this discussion with a group of friends in a bar and
managed to come away with no clear idea of what constitutes an
ethnic joke.

	Is it ANY joke that makes fun of an ethnic group? 

	And of course, women, gays, short people, handicapped people,
etc, are the brunt of many jokes. Should all of these catagories
be suspect?

	To what extent does the degree of the humor/cruelty enter
into it?

	Two old jokes come to mind - 1) how do you stop black kids
from bouncing on the bed? Put velcro on the ceiling. 2) What's the
difference between a pizza and a Jew? The pizza doesn't scream when
you put it in the oven.

	The first joke strikes me as a very nice joke. Funny and
nonoffensive. It IS a bit racist, since the source of its humor
is to highlight a physical racial trait (curly hair). But it works
because of the surprize (making a link between curly hair and velcro)
not because of any intended violence.

	The second joke strikes me as sick. Jews really were put in
ovens and not very long ago. It wasn't funny. So, it conjures up an
image of human suffering and then trivializes it.

	What do you think? just where do we draw the line?

						- Karl