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From: mayville@tybalt.caltech.edu (Kevin J. Mayville)
Newsgroups: news.misc,soc.culture.jewish,rec.humor.d
Subject: Re: The Good, the Bad, and the Stupid (LONG)
Message-ID: <8734@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Date: 29 Nov 88 15:54:18 GMT
References:  <1092@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu>  <8980@gryphon.COM> <1101@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu>
Sender: news@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu
Reply-To: mayville@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP (Kevin J. Mayville)
Organization: California Institute of Technology
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>>>But other ethnic
>>>groups, having suffered a significant amount of discrimination
>>>DO find such jokes offensive, and their wishes should be
>>>respected.
>
>>1. Why?
>
>It's called politeness and consideration for the feelings of
>others.

Nancy, that does not answer the question by any stretch of the
imagination.  One of the basic tenets of comedy is that it respects
*nothing*.  Nothing is sacred.  You can hop up and down, stamp your
feet, and yell 'Discrimination!' for as long as you want, and this
will never change.  Or if it does, that will spell the end of comedy.

>>2. How does one determine what jokes "other ethnic groups" find 
>>   offensive?  Who is the authoratative spokesperson for an ethnic
>>   group?
>
>No one person can be the authority.  I think it just depends on how
>many people complain.  If the number is significant, maybe the joke
>really is offensive.

But nobody (well, nobody rational) really cares if some people think
a particular joke is offensive.  Millions if not billions of people
think, say, Richard Pryor's comedy routines are offensive.  Yet that
hasn't stopped him from releasing new albums, or me from enjoying
them.  And I don't recall any great setbacks to the civil rights
movement caused by the ethnic flavor of some of his jokes.



Kevin
mayville@tybalt.caltech.edu

"She's beautiful, popular, and obviously going through some
emotional shoot-out to consent to date....the human tater-tot.
What did you do, Keith, threaten her life?"