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In Defense of Racial Humor
American Thinker ^ | 03/25/2013 | Selwyn Duke

Posted on 03/25/2013 7:05:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

If laughter really is the best medicine, it's no wonder race relations are in a state of ill health.

Many years ago I spent quite a bit of time with a Zambian friend. He remarked one day that he found America's hang-up with racial humor a bit strange, as racial jokes were not at all off-limits in his country. And call it my one concession to multiculturalism, but neither were they off-limits in our relationship. We would occasionally engage in innocent racial humor just as we would any other kind of jesting - and no hate-speech charges were contemplated.

The notion that racial humor is inherently damaging is utter nonsense. Whatever the type of humor, it can be innocent or cutting, good-natured or mean-spirited, and the difference is almost always obvious. And this is true of most any kind of expression. Political commentary, music, or art can be used to clarify or confuse, or to enlighten or benight, just as firearms can be used to protect innocent life or take it. It's not the tools, but the intentions of the worker.

And what have we worked ourselves into? If you have a friend who is fat, skinny, blonde, or bald, or has curly locks, or possesses any other notable distinguishing characteristic, it will likely be a source of humor between the two of you (this is especially true among men). Making light of our differences is simply part of normal human interaction - and it is actually a strength. After all, should we be unable to laugh at ourselves?

This brings us to an important point. What kind of person would you not engage in this type of humor with?

A stranger.

Before we're willing to poke even innocent fun at one another, we must have a level of familiarity.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: humor; race
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To: RFEngineer

BaDaBum!

No problem.


21 posted on 03/25/2013 7:41:43 AM PDT by stanne
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To: muir_redwoods
OK, here's an old one, Why is Sunday morning the best time to drive through NYC?
The Catholics are in church
The Protestants are still sleeping
The Chinese are making fortune cookies
The Jews are in Palm Beach
The Blacks are in jail
and the Puerto Ricans can't get their cars started
22 posted on 03/25/2013 7:45:44 AM PDT by Impala64ssa (You call me an islamophobe like it's a bad thing.)
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To: muir_redwoods
Tell me who’s offended by this one

Q: What is the difference between a slave, and a snow-tire?

A: The snow tire doesn't sing when you put chains on it.

(there really aren't any great snow-tire work songs)

23 posted on 03/25/2013 7:47:57 AM PDT by laotzu
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To: SeekAndFind
And it ain't just racial, don't dare mock the feminist movement either, like this:
How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?
4 one to change the bulb, one to write a book one the exploitation of the light socket, one to secretly wish she was the light socket, and one to secretly wish she was the light bulb. TAH DAH DUM!
24 posted on 03/25/2013 7:48:22 AM PDT by Impala64ssa (You call me an islamophobe like it's a bad thing.)
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To: laotzu

LOL!!!


25 posted on 03/25/2013 7:50:29 AM PDT by bikerman ("A gun is like a parachute. If you need one and don't have it you wont need one again.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Reminds me of my summer job in DC working with an all African-American crew (back then you could say black). I told them on the first day-You don’t call me honky and I won’t call you nigger. They all laughed, and we got along fine.
I don’t think that could happen today.


26 posted on 03/25/2013 7:55:13 AM PDT by GeorgeTex (Obama-Four M President (Mendacious Manchurian Muslim Marxist))
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To: longfellow

RE: Don rickles would never make it today.

What about Archie Bunker?


27 posted on 03/25/2013 7:56:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: longfellow

Also Don Imus. Over the years, he has made fun of just about every racial,ethnic and religious group imaginable. From the Southern Baptists getting him booted off some stations for his Rev. Billy Sol Hargis routines to the more recent “nappy headed hoes” incident. I lost a great deal of respect for the I-man when he groveled at the feet of al Sharpton begging him for forgiveness.


28 posted on 03/25/2013 7:59:41 AM PDT by Impala64ssa (You call me an islamophobe like it's a bad thing.)
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To: RFEngineer
Not just the Irish. The Poles, too. We had so many working in one area of a previous employer that it was universally referred to as "The Ski Lodge." Guess who coined the term?

If you guessed the targets of the joke, then go to the head of the class. One of them (a good Catholic) told me this joke when John Paul was Pope:

After his first trip to America, he was interviewed as to how he liked it.

"All except two things," he said.

"The Polish jokes were rather insensitive and demeaning. Then there were the M&M's candies."

"The jokes, I can understand," said the interviewer. "But why the M&M's?"

"Too hard to peel", replied the Pontiff.

29 posted on 03/25/2013 8:00:17 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: aomagrat

Jackie Chan got into trouble using the “N” word. Only Blacks can use it to each other.

See here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN2LJTCBPtg


30 posted on 03/25/2013 8:00:22 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: muir_redwoods
My turn...this is very, very old...

Q: Why do Puerto Ricans have such a low suicide rate?

A: You can't jump out of basement windows..

31 posted on 03/25/2013 8:04:42 AM PDT by ken5050 ("One useless man is a shame, two are a law firm, three or more are a Congress".. John Adams)
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To: SeekAndFind
In the modern USSA, the non-protected class is not allowed to offend the protected classes in any manner. Intended or not intended, the simple act of offending the protected is damn near a capital offense.
32 posted on 03/25/2013 8:14:25 AM PDT by Tupelo (Old, Bald, Ugly, Fat and Broke in Arizona)
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To: SeekAndFind

We should be able to make fun of ourselves, and others, with love in our hearts.

When laughter has been prohibited, wherever it may be, there is no joy in life.


33 posted on 03/25/2013 8:22:05 AM PDT by wizr (We are "one Nation, under God " or "one nation, trod under ". Keep the Faith.)
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To: aomagrat

Oh, yeah. I am a n-—— (just so it doesn’t get extinguished by the editors). We ALL are, to the government, and THEIR slaves, too!


34 posted on 03/25/2013 8:27:15 AM PDT by wizr (We are "one Nation, under God " or "one nation, trod under ". Keep the Faith.)
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To: bikerman
Dear Abby,

I live in West Virginia with my parents, and four brothers.
I go to school, and usually keep my grades up.
I raise chickens, and help harvest in the fall.
I'm thirteen, and still a virgin.

Are my brothers gay?

Yours,
Darlene

35 posted on 03/25/2013 8:29:36 AM PDT by laotzu
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To: SeekAndFind

One of the MANY things leftists cant distinguish between is humor and riducule.


36 posted on 03/25/2013 8:39:51 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (Obama being re-elected is the political equivalent of OJ being found not guilty.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Their idea of racial humor is to call white people “cracker” “honkie” “whitebread” etc., and then dig out their patented affectation of what a white man with a stick up his ass sounds like.

Then you just have people like Chris Rock, Dave Chappell, George Lopez, Carlos Mencia, and dozens of others who just plain hate white people. They all act like they were ghetto born and bread but nothing of the kind. Rich looters peddling hate.


37 posted on 03/25/2013 8:40:43 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: wizr

I have to deal wiht a lot of “reverse-racism” on this job. And it is NOT challenged by the management, either.

One guy in particular is openly hostile to “those dirty white people” as he called a couple employees a few days ago. Also—he feels and says, loudly,”whites need to go to the back of the line” when any other race is needing to use the microwave ovens, etc—to the point he will REMOVE a white persons food from one MWV and put his own food in there—if it is a white person. This too is not challenged..but I WILL say something if he does it to ME!!


38 posted on 03/25/2013 8:40:51 AM PDT by Rca2000 ( Still too shocked to have a tagline....)
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To: RFEngineer; stanne

Just doing my part to make this less of a humorless thread!

39 posted on 03/25/2013 8:50:52 AM PDT by rlmorel (1793 French Jacobins and 2012 American Liberals have a lot in common.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Q: What is 12 inches long and white?

A: Nothing.


40 posted on 03/25/2013 8:54:45 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?)
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