“People have lost their sense of humor. In former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth otherwise you will be insulted as a racist. I find that ridiculous.
In those earlier days every friendly clique had a ‘Sam the Jew’ or ‘Jose the Mexican’ — but we didn’t think anything of it or have a racist thought. It was normal that we made jokes based on our nationality or ethnicity. That was never a problem. I don’t want to be politically correct. We’re all spending too much time and energy trying to be politically correct about everything.”
– Clint Eastwood
I really value people taking time and energy to consider the needs of others for respect. I know Clint values humor, and I do, too. Today, I’m relieved and excited about the possiblities of new jokes that affirm and meet our needs for humor, but also respect and honor one another’s ethnicity and nationality. In the end, we do sometimes take life too seriously and need to relax, but for someone who has been oppressed for a long long time in ways that those with priviledge have taken for granted (such as white US maybe Christian men like Clint), the ones on the receiving end of the jokes might not share in the humor. Thanks for bringing this issue up, Catherine. Interesting topic…
Agree with Greg. Whenever we kids would get into an argument about some play in a pick-up game of football, baseball, etc., we had a slur for every national group we were aware of. And we would use them to intimidate each other to make a favorable decision. The animosity was short lived and we all grew up to be productive citizens. But little psychic scars were left. In reflecting, the only group that didn’t have a slur was the white Anglo-Saxon group. They were like an unseen,third rail. It was difficult to even make fun of their names. They could be criticized for their playing abilities,looks,etc. But when it came to the slurs, they were bulletproof. I think in the long run it resulted in more, secure,social capital that they ended up with, and less for the rest of us. They had to prove less and the rest of us, more.
jokes, slurs – these are words folks.
someone once said that if
we take words too seriously we destroy
everything.
i would say ditto for life.
i am a grammer school teacher.
in my school there are a mixture of
puerto ricans, blacks, equadorians, blacks, etc.
one time in one of my classes a puerto rican
student jokingly called a student who was part mexican
“a smelly mexican”.
i chided the student for saying this, however
the student who was the butt of the joke just
shrugged it off.
kids have that innocence in understanding not to
take words too seriously.
humor is the fundamental fabric of who we are as human beings.
to laugh is to be one with the universe.
when the intent is purely for humor’s sake,
no matter how crass the joke is,
joking about somebody’s ethnicity can never
insult or deride a people and their
history of struggle in this world.
i would say clint’s quote is esp. true of
religion.
the elites, through the churches, schools and media,
have institutionalized GUILT and use this PC decadence
against us to divide us.
humor always brings us together.
lest we allow this to happen:
United Nations Wants To Regulate Free Speech Of Every Nation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uadgk2kveRU