Really, M-A, you don’t get it? If someone insults me I get annoyed. If I tell a funny story about something I did that was dumb, and people laugh, I’ve shown that I’m down-to-earth and willing to joke about myself. People will respect me fot that, so it’s a positive. Does that make sense?
I didn’t say it wasn’t funny. It definitely brought a smile. I’m just not sure how comfortable I would be telling it or hearing it told by a white person amongst people of color. Occam hit the nail on the head. It’s one thing to hear people make jokes at their own expense. It’s quite another to hear humor directed from outside at a group that has been oppressed in the past.
Our culture is changing faster than we old farts are.
I didn’t say it wasn’t funny. It definitely brought a smile. I’m just not sure how comfortable I would be telling it or hearing it told by a white person amongst people of color. Occam hit the nail on the head. It’s one thing to hear people make jokes at their own expense. It’s quite another to hear humor directed from outside at a group that has been oppressed in the past.
Our culture is changing faster than we old farts are.
I thought every joke on here was a good one. I like all kinds of jokes. I too have exchanged racist jokes with people of other races. I love it when people of other races make jokes about my race too.
The funniness from any joke is the construction, and the punchline. It’s the craft behind it. Lot’s of jokes use race, or sex, or stereotypes to deliver that “hook”. Without that little moment of tension the joke would have no hook and wouldn’t work.
The preacher joke from Jericon is a good example. We see a farmer complaining to a preacher. The tension there is that the farmer is breaching a stereotypical idea of societal status. The farmer gets sassy with the preacher. The preacher’s ego gets hurt. Not funny at all until the jokes construction is used and the “story” is told.
I thought that preacher joke was really funny too.
That being said I have seen lot’s of gratuitous jokes about race that aren’t funny at all. I’ve seen people use these jokes to simply put forth racist ideas of demeaning quality. I guess some people find these jokes funny too though.
Personally, I like jokes that poke fun of stupid stereotypes by using double entendre and irony. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know if the joke was meant to be demeaning or sarcastic. In this case it was ironic and reminded the listener that this actually happened. I’d call it a groaner at worst. Oh, BTW did you hear the one about the cannibal who passed his mother-in-law in the jungle?
Thevillageatheist - 15 August 2012 01:31 PM
Oh, BTW did you hear the one about the cannibal who passed his mother-in-law in the jungle?
Was he black?
Well, did you ever hear of a “white” cannibal? I mean there are no white cannibals right? Oh, the Donner party, uh the Essex crew, the ruggers in the alps, I don’t know, maybe. Dammit George, you’re spoiling my joke with your racist innuendos!
It’s not about self-depreciation; it’s about actually finding the racist joke funny, but being afraid to admit it.
“disingenuous” = lying. And I don’t give a s__t if you think I’m lying because anyone who would think that is stupid. There. Now that we’ve gotten the balanced nastiness out of the way, you’re wrong. I meant precisely what I said.
Jokes that are based on a particular group can 1) Br designed to put down that group; 2) Be humorous but dependent on stereotypes of the group; 3) Have a strong humorous components independent of the group. Over the years I’ve enjoyed working on the type 2 & 3 to maintain the humor but to either change it so the tables are turned or so that it’s independent of any group.
Group 1 jokes are obnoxious, not worth repeating, and when I hear one, I enjoy telling the one who told it that s/he’s a stupid bigot right then so all the group hears my comment. It may not change his/her opinions, but it sure keeps him/her from telling more of those dumb jokes around me.
