Q. What do you tell a woman with 2 black eyes?
A. Nothing, you've already told her everything. Twice.
When someone told me this, my mouth and the mouths of those around me just dropped. We didn't even have anything to say. Why would someone even say something like that? Finally my friend Clara gets out, "That's horrible." The person responds happily, "Yeah, I know!"
So why do people say things like this? Do they think it's funny? Is it for shock value? Is it out of ignorance?
I think that in a way, these jokes are a direct reflection of how far our society has come in the past 100 years. Hearing them is a reminder of how different things are now then when our parents grew up. Times are changing and we need to realize that.
The second related thing is telling people how terrible these jokes are when they are said. Now I'm all for saying "Wow that's terrible," and standing up for our rights, but do people really need a lecture for saying jokes like the one above? I certainly know people who think yes, but I think no. I'm sure that 99% of the time, these jokes don't come from ignorance. And I am pretty sure that people don't truly find these jokes hilarious. I think that they say it for the shock value and lecture only increases the shock.
On a slightly different point, my friends and I sometimes say things like this to each other because of how ignorant other people sound saying them. We mean it to laugh at the people saying the joke not the joke itself. Does this make us horrible ignorant people? I should like to think not.
I'd love to know what you guys think. Agree with any of this? Disagree?
3 comments:
Very interesting subject, Emma! When a joke is overtly racist, sexist, homophobic, or just plain nasty, I'll speak up, because it really bothers me. But sometimes I make and hear jokes (between my friends or family and I, not in public) that, with the political correctness standards today, would be construed as ignorant, prejudiced things to say. I mean, if I laugh at a joke that teasingly ridicules the standard of dress in, say, a Jewish Orthodox community, it shouldn't implicate at all that I am somehow prejudiced against Orthodox people. Now, if I were to make a "joke" about the Holocaust, that's a completely different story. I think it's fine to joke about things in THE APPROPRIATE CONTEXT, but not to a mean extent.
When I hear a joke that bothers me (such as "ching-chong" Chinese jokes or George Bush jokes), yeah, I'll mention something to the person, just to let them know I found it offensive. But 99% of the time, I'm not going to get worked up about it, because honestly, the person probably isn't racist, sexist, homophobic, or whatever. They probaby just find the joke funny for whatever reason, or they want attention.
I'm not sure if this is a coincidence or not that you posted this now, but recently when President Obama was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he tried to poke fun at his bowling skills by comparing him to the Special Olympics (later the White House issued a statement apologizing and saying they think the Special Olympics is a wonderful program). Many people got really angry. While I absolutely think that's an offensive joke, I don't think it comes from ignorance, prejudice or hatred at all. I think President Obama just made a joke in bad taste, and some people took it too seriously. An interesting thing that I agree with for the most part -one of the editorials in the Wall Street Journal the next day said that instead of falling all over themselves with apologies, the Obama administration should treat Special Olympians as tough enough to take a wisecrack.
I was actually just having a discussion about this today! good timing. :) I know a bunch of my friends will make sexist or racist jokes also to poke fun at people who make them seriously, but sometimes i still take offense and lecture them. I think that people need to learn to recognize the difference between making fun of different races and making fun of racial tensions.
In response to snowflake's comment about Obama's remark, i also dont think people should freak out about it. He is so careful when he speaks (have you ever noticed how many times he hemms and haws while speaking extemporaneously? thats because he thinks through absolutely everything he says all the time) People shouldnt jump up at one mistake. If Bush made that same mistake, the media would not have freaked out anywhere near as much because Bush made stupid mistakes like that all the time.
I agree, Hannah. I think, yeah, you can make fun of a cultural thing in a teasing way, and it shouldn't imply that you're a racist person. But if you actually make a really racist comment, that's totally uncalled for, and not funny at all.
Oh my gosh, yes, Obama is such a careful speaker! I have to say, though, when he's off a teleprompter, it takes him a while to remember what he's going to say. Oh, well, it takes practice; I'm sure he'll have it down in a few months! As for Bush, actually, I think the media would've jumped on that, just as they always did, but I don't particularly feel like getting into the relationship between the media, Obama and Bush right now :)
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