“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
Clint is a tough guy, but he assumes (demands, really) that everyone else possess his very thick skin.
If different siblings in the SAME FAMILY react differently to insults and taunts, imagine the variation in response with ethnic backgrounds? What might be crippling to one sibling or person may strengthen and motivate another. It’s presumptuous, as Roberta and James point out, to speak for the whole gang when you are top dog and want to keep it that way. Why assume that it’s ever OK, except in the hands of talented comedians who poke fun at everyone, to offend someone else for pure sport?
Two years ago, in a very quiet neighborhood near my home, a man was murdered. The motive was revealed to be a few racial jokes and slurs that the murdered man had made at his place of employment (seven years prior) at the murderer’s expense. Those public slurs, made in the presence of other employees, had simmered in this formerly non-violent man for years. I guess he didn’t “grow a pair”, per Clint, or he totally lacked a sense of humor. Maybe he just didn’t realize it was all done “without a racist thought”, as Clint insists.
On the other hand, “Political Correctness”, as in carte blache tolerance taken to the extreme, relativizes ethnic evils like child slavery, the subjugation of women, genocide, etc., and replaces them with a fake tolerance that sugar coats the truth.
The very term has had many incarnations and is engineered…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness
Intellectual debate (which is different than the pointed language that Clint describes) about the merits of a culture or globaliztion or immigration, needs to continue, not be stifled. Writers like Orianna Fallacci, who fought facism for her entire life and found herself furious with fundamentalist Muslims in her home city of Rome and then raged at Mexican prison guards after being brutalized in Mexico, sharply criticized the wrongs in these two cultures and was exiled from Italy for hate speech as a result. Silencing critics, even Rush Limbaugh, is very scary business.
The un-PC Chris Rock, with his “grandfather” routine of “Cracker-ass cracker”, is hysterical precisely because it pokes fun at we white people who are at the head of the pack with “supremacist” fantasies, all the while decrying other people’s sensitivity and abilty to stand pain.
Very often I have found Political Correctness a cover for racism. Sometimes people honestly mistake political correctness for not being racist. More often they claim that (or talk as if) since they are politically correct, they are not racist.
And what about the equal-opportunity jokes: What is a flaming arrow through a trash can? Ans: A ______ shish kebab. (Fill in the blank with your favorite group. (“Club sandwich” may work better in some cases.)
Actually, the media and Americans can make fun of any nation, race or religion EXCEPT ONE. I constantly hear bad things and jokes being made about Islam, Arabs, Mexicans, Iranians, Chinese, Blacks, Christians, Catholics etc…….
The ONLY things WE just cannot have honest discussions about are Jews, Judaism, Israel, Zionism. Why you may ask? Just look at who owns the Media and Federal Reserve System. What is their goal? World Domination and unthinking obedience to their lies and crimes.
Judaism = Racist Religion
Zionism = Racist Political Ideology
Israel = Racist State
No real American should support a racist state such as Israel or support a racist 2 state solution. That is UN-American
Israeli Zionism = German Nazism = American KKK
All 3 are “racist political ideologies” that seek to create a pure race state for their bigots.
Eastwood was great in Grand Torino (2008) its about an old guy “archie bunker” type who has asians move in next door, and at first they don’t like each other. Its a great movie I recommend everyone see it.
Here’s an article on the history of “political correctness” and the use of this concept as a political strategy. And the director of the British Libertarian Alliance, Sean Gabb, wrote recently about some high-profile cases in the media of people being politically incorrect and the consequences. Gabb writes “the highly selective use of speech codes and hate speech laws has nothing really to do with politeness. It is about power”, and “We should also at all times bear in mind that political correctness is not about protecting the weak but disarming the potentially strong”. On Golliwogs, One-Eyed Scottish Idiots and Sending Poo Through the Post
ubject: Fw: Doctors’ Opinions
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 10:55:06 -0500
Doctors’ Opinions of the Financial Bail Out Package
The Allergists voted to scratch it, and the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.
The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve, and the Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.
The Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.
The Pathologists yelled, ‘Over my dead body!’ while the Pediatricians said, ‘Oh, Grow
up!’
The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, the Radiologists could see right through it, and the Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, ‘This puts a whole new face on the matter.’
The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists felt the scheme wouldn’t hold water.
The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn’t have the heart to say no.
In the end, the Proctologists left the decision up to the !$#@&^ in Washington !
I can understand how certain remarks about race or ethnic groups might be offensive to some people; but let’s not forget that we as American’s have the right to express ourselves. We can’t control what everyone will say; but we can leave the conversation if it offends us.