My point is that I wonder what you base your MAIN assumption, that jokes/laughing cannot hurt someone, on? Is it just an inate FEELING you've got? Have you read it somewhere? I base my opinion that jokes can hurt on life experience (when someone laughs AT you, it can hurt) and academic experience (my graduate degree in Rhetoric, which included many hours studying how our language affects other people around us). SO, while my conclusion may be wrong in the end, at least I'm basing my opinion on something other than "I think its funny, heh heh." If you want to clarify WHAT you base your opinion on in this matter, please do. Until you do you are making claims with no warrants to back them up. Ok, lets take fat jokes. If you were fat and I sat next to you telling fat jokes, don't you would think it would hurt you? If people LAUGHED at those jokes, don't you think that would hurt more? Now imagine the jokes are about something you CAN'T change, like you race. Don't you think those jokes AT LEAST cause pain to the subjects? And, as I've asked MB, is it worth it if you're wrong? Is it worth increasing a racially charged environment? Is it worth HURTING other people for a laugh? I don't think so. If you do, please explain how you are (a) 100% sure you are right or (b) so important that you laughing is more important that other people's oppression. OK, a few examples for you. Are all the corporations in the world incorrect? They ALL advertise in one way or the other. At its core, advertising is based on the belief that WORDS affect how people act. Are all the governments in the world incorrect? They all have propaganda outlets. At its core, propaganda is based on the belief that WORDS affect how people act. Every organization in the world uses rhetoric to influence people. Need more? OK, studies into how mobs react, the so-called 'mob mentality' show how normal everyday people, non-violent people can be swept up in the rage and rhetoric of a group, and do things they WOULD NEVER DO by themselves. Words have power. You are in a unique situation (I"m assuming you're white, so correct me if I'm wrong) in that you are part of the oppressing class, not the oppressed class. So its natural for you to say "well, it doesn't hurt me, I just shrug it off." I guess you 'feeling' that words don't have power is more reliable. Cool. If I confused you and MB, I apologize. And to clear up my position, King DID initially get whacked because he was not responding to officers requests to go down spread eagle. It's the subsequent continuous beating he took that I've got a problem with. It begs the question to say they are rich. First, they weren't rich when they started with these jokes. Second, being RICH doesn't mean they have the equal power with white folks. There are thousands of documented cases of RICH minorities experiencing racism (for example, the son of a rich black man gets pulled over in a Mercedes and the cops assume he's a drug trafficker or that he stole the car). Being rich might solve the CLASS based oppression (can't get food, can't get out of a rundown neighborhood), but it doesn't solve RACE based oppression. Only rejecting race based judgements and stereotypes will fix that. These jokes you are talking about trade on those stereotypes, and intentionally (by the creators of those jokes) or unintentionally (by those who continue to tell and laugh at them) they reenforce those stereotypes. I didn't say you were part of his 'constituency' ??? That would mean you're a follower of Osama. Booger jokes are tasteless, ethnic/racial jokes are racist. Big difference.
I have had jokes made at my expense. Even some that were meant to hurt me, I guess. But I quickly put it behind me. I was able, with those that had better structures and deliveries to even recognize them as quality jokes. I did not feel that it create an environment that would be intolerable for me to live in peacefully. I was not in a position of power. I was the nerdy kid in high school. At that point there was little I could do about my situation. I was able to move on because I realized that some people telling jokes did not really have any tangible effect on me. I can understand what you are saying about words having an effect. I am just trying to say that words only have an effect if we let them. In the end we all have free will. Not everyone joins the mob. Many people did not join the looters in the aftermath of the Rodney King trial. I would blame those events (rioting) on the rioters, not the jury who found the people who beat Rodney innocent. I blame the suicide bombers in Israel when they blow up a pizzaria, not the Israeli government. I blame bin Laden for 9/11, not the United States or the religion of Islam. Are people influenced by words? Undoubtedly. But in the end, everyone gets to make their own decisions. If a person decides to kill some white people after a steady diet of cracker jokes, I will still blame the killer only. No matter how many cracker jokes he has heard, it is his decision to turn his feeling about them into violence. In regards to your questions: I think laghter is one of the most important things in the world. Is it worth hurting people so that I can laugh, no. Is it worth someones feelings being hurt so that everyone can have a good laugh, even the very people who were hurt if they just didn't take it so seriously, imo yes. The world needs more laughter. If we cannot learn to laugh at ourselves, I don't know what we will come to. To say that being white gives me more power than Chris Rock is ludicris. It isn't like we have special "whites only" jobs, towns, universities, etc. There is probably some advantage to being a white man in America, but it is mostly in increased opportunity at a young age. Any black man who has "made it" is basically on equal or better footing than the white people in America. In the few cases where a black man is stopped wrongfully by police officers, there is usually little effect on their lives. It is an inconvinience. White people are wrongfully accused too. It is sad, but I sincerely doubt that there will be many convictions. I think many people exaggerate the amount of race based oppression that occurs now. I am not saying that it doesn't exist. I am saying that it is in steady decline. There are horrific incidents that happen, but there are many less now than forty years ago. The real end to racism has little to do with jokes, or even our rejection of all racist ideas. The real end of racism will come when we teach our children that all people are equal. My parents were definitley not taught that. I was taught that to some extent, but not as much as I would hope. If I have children I will certainly teach them not to judge anyone by any factor, skin color or otherwise, without getting to know them. I will also teach them that there is a difference between humor and reality. Hopefully they will try to take the same control over their destiny that I attmpt to take over mine. It will be a slow process, but it can happen eventually. I just think that getting into an uproar over little things that don't really matter in the long run does more to exacerbate the problem than to eliminate it. By the way: It seems to me that you are in fact calling me a constituant of Osama, or someone like him.
