Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!ssbn!bill
From: bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: RACIST JOKES
Message-ID: <256@ssbn.WLK.COM>
Date: 21 Nov 88 17:38:40 GMT
References: <8030@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> <1058@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> <1060@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> <1057@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.ed <347@sulaco.UUCP> <8088@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: bill@ssbn.WLK.COM (Bill Kennedy)
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Organization: W.L. Kennedy Jr. and Associates, Pipe Creek, TX
Lines: 42

richmond@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan E. D. Richmond) writes:
[ deleted stated qualifications for sense of humor ]

>quite widely read, and I had a good laugh at it -- I usually
>enjoy jokes made at my personal expense, especially if they have
>an element of truth to them.  What I cannot tolerate is "humor"
>which puts down and which has been associated with the persecution
>and murder of races.

The crux of the tale in question revolved around the widely held (if
inaccurate) belief that Scottish and Jewish people are very thrifty.
I'm unsure how you undo the notion that they are penny pinchers but
it has been the butt of many an amusing story.  I found no hatred or
"persecution and murder of races" anywhere in it.

Some of the funniest stories about Jewish people have been told to me
by my Jewish friends.  Perhaps the folks I know are unique in that they
have a good sense of humor regarding themselves and others of the same
religion, but JEDR claims to be amused by "jokes made at my personal
expense".

>There is plenty of humor around that does not convey racial prejudice.
>Let's stick with that.

There's plenty of humor that is funny because it's patently ridiculous
even if it's related to a particular segment of society.  As others have
already pointed out in this group, some people just over react when their
particular group gets included in a humorous story.  In Texas we tend to
pick on "Aggies", but I doubt that anyone, Texas A&M graduates included,
misinterpret the stories to promote hatred or murder as has been claimed.

I suppose that I should be outraged because of my Scottish heritage but
I'm not.  Had the groups been swapped, i.e. "Scottish ventriloquist" I
would have been equally amused and certainly not outraged.

It appears to me that suggesting something sinister was conveyed in a
ridiculous tale is as ridiculous as the story itself.  I can't find anything
in the story that begins to resemble what my dictionary says for "racial"
or "prejudice".
-- 
Bill Kennedy  usenet      {killer,att,rutgers,sun!daver,uunet!bigtex}!ssbn!bill
              internet    bill@ssbn.WLK.COM