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From: guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: net.jokes.d
Subject: Re: "Offensive" jokes, minorities, real men, &c.
Message-ID: <1939@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 20-May-84 23:37:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.1939
Posted: Sun May 20 23:37:05 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 21-May-84 05:52:10 EDT
References: <1791@randvax.UUCP> <811@ucbvax.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
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> Racism is a terrible thing, but how many of the people who tell
> these jokes do you think are really racists? I think very few.

I don't think so; some of the implications of BLKTRN were perniciously
racist (such as the implication that blacks, as a group, are thieves,
as presented by the use of "STEAL" as the keyword for allocating more
memory).

> And certainly reading jokes like this is not going to make a
> racist out of somebody who isn't one already.

No, but telling these jokes may reinforce already existing racism.  The
groups in which these jokes are told may think that it's OK to tell
these jokes because, after all, they're based in truth...

> People make jokes about a certain stereotype of black people, which
> few people would consider to be representative of the majority of black
> people...

I guess you're more optimistic than I am; Ed Hall said that a sizable
minority of the population *does* consider the stereotype representative,
and I agree with him.

I don't think jokes are the most important issue facing blacks, women, Jews,
etc.; on the other hand, I would not be surprised, shocked, annoyed, or
not understanding if a black were very angry at the poster of an article
like BLKTRN.

	Guy Harris
	{seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guy