"What's the difference between a boyfriend and a husband? About 30 pounds."
-- Cindy Gardner
Interesting that if somebody said that about women, they'd be strung from a lamp post. But you can say it about men, because they are currently seen as an oppressor, so you can say what you want about them.
Funny in general, who you are allowed to make fun of. For instance, stand-up comedian Ron White (whose early album Drunk In Public was fantastic, but seems to have run out of material) has a spiel about the Inuit in Alaska, I think it is. About how ugly they are. Imagine he was saying that about blacks, or Asians? But when it's a tiny minority like the Inuit, the audience is laughing it up.
What can we learn from that? It suggests to me that Politically Correct fads like who we can criticize or which words we may use are not so much based on compassion as they are on fear. Obviously the Inuit are not less deserving of our compassion than the blacks or Asians, but they are much less deserving of our fear because there are so few of them, so who cares if anybody disrespects them?
But who's really afraid of them? It seems more accurate to say that they're so far removed from our day-to-day lives that we don't spare them so much as a thought unless we're watching a documentary, a news report, or in this case a stand-up routine. There's no weight, positive or negative, behind the jokes so if the comedian is compelling we will laugh.
ReplyDeleteRacism involving blacks or asians hits home not only because they intermingle with good ole' whities, there's also a long history of oppression. Looking at American history, blacks were once our slaves and asian americans of Japanese descent were put in concentration camps during the second world war.
It's okay for blacks and asians to joke about themselves. It's okay for them to make fun of white people. It's not okay for a white person to make fun of them because of the eye-for-an-eye principle: you did this to us a long time ago so you're not allowed to say anything offensive about us or even defend yourselves until you've made penance. The thing is that there's no way to right such wrongs, especially when those responsible died a long time ago. The most precious things that were taken can never be given back, and though I share the skin color of my ancestors I am not responsible for their crimes. The most we can work for in the here and now is true equality. There's still plenty of racism to go around but it doesn't make any sense to blame whitey for the thoughts and actions of certain individuals.
I laugh at jokes about race. I laugh at jokes about any race. I don't laugh because of what the jokes are about, I laugh because humor cleverly reveals common absurdities. I know stereotypes don't apply to every black or asian person. They do apply to some, and I've met blacks and asians that fit into those categories. I've met white people who fit those stereotypes! One of the reasons it's so funny is because it doesn't just apply to one skin color. It's funny because all of us- blacks, asians, whites, hispanics, etc.- still take race way too seriously. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the differences between us develop as a result of geography and culture as opposed to genetic traits inherent to skin color.
There's nothing wrong with honoring the dead who suffered unjustly or in recognizing the suffering of their descendants. There's no question that some black people live in slums today because of slavery and racism. That said, if we can't laugh about it it'll drive us insane.
It's actually really mild from a standup comedy perspective. If you heard that joke during a comedy act you wouldn't even blink, and treat that as a setup for further jokes.
ReplyDeleteBut the simple fact is that most people get fatter as they get older, and the less need they have to attract a new mate, the less attention they pay to what they eat. Men don't have the excuse that their bodies change because they bear children... We need better excuses, that's all! ;)
Alternatively... married people are lazier. Take that, religious right!