dogstile said:
I'm intrigued. I got called racist yesterday for laughing at a racist joke. I also enjoy a good "sammich, get me one" joke every now and again and my female friends seem to have no problem with this.
I'm not racist and i'm definitely not sexist (Hell, some might say I like women a little /too/ much.) But I see nothing wrong with enjoying these jokes from time to time. Especially if you don't say them in spite or to anyone you know is going to take offence at them. But of course many people disagree.
So, lets keep this thread clean, no actual racism or sexism here please!
What are your thoughts on this?
Everyone needs to be able to laugh at themselves to an extent.
I think the problem with a lot of jokes in this genere is that there is a grain of truth in all of them which is why they are understandable and can make people laugh. That grain of truth being heavily exagerrated of course for the sake of being funny.
You get plenty of stand up jokes from people who are minorities that make fun of whatever minority they are a part of, this includes white people (the whole "Rednecks", "Blue Collar", or "Brainless Yuppies" subsets). Not to mention of course the fat jokes, political jokes, and just about anything else out there. The bottom line is that if it exists someone has exagerrated and made fun of it.
Truth is though some people can't take it, and you have to understand who your dealing with.
Typically when someone talks about busting on "minorities" as not being funny in a serious conversation, I tend to point towards "Seinfeld" which is perhaps the most successful sitcom of all time, which is pretty much busting non-stop on urban white yupppies (or want to be yuppies). The same could also be said for a lot of sitcoms where the people involved no matter their ethnicity are generally insane and mocked relentlessly for the show's very existance. This is to say nothing for "Married With Children" which for it's time pretty much went further than anything else before it in ranking on both the nuclear white family, AND just as directly other sitcoms.
So basically the point is everyone gets picked on when it comes to comedy and jokes, and there is a grain of truth somewhere in pretty much all of them which is why they are funny. If this kind of thing offends, then chances are you need to loosen up and stop taking yourself so seriously.