Bad Jokes & Ebonics

[Henry M]

The implication with these others groups isn't that they are an 
inherently inferior RACE incapable of speaking the standard language
of their own native land. Now it's just possible that when a Brit
makes fun of Indiotics <sic grin> that they are similarly racist. 

A little racism isn't the end of the world  (uh, oh. better duck
inside my inflammable orgone box) any more than a little sexism, a
little classism, weightism, heightism, stateism, familyism,
individualism, microcosm.... There is an innate distrust of the
"other." Best that we recognize and not promulgate it by pretending
that it doesn't exist.

No, Joe. You'r no more a racist than I am.

On 19 Feb 97 at 21:06, Joe Varo wrote:

> On Wed, 19 Feb 1997, David Casseres wrote:
> 
> > As for Ebonics "jokes," they're just the latest in a long American
> > tradition of using exaggerated dialect to portray blacks as
> > mentally inferior.  In this context, they are unmistakably hate
> > speech.
> 
> But doesn't a hell of a lot of humor use the exaggerated dialect of
> many other ethnicities (southern American, Italian, British, German,
> even Canadian)? Are we no longer allowed to use this for humorous or
> satiric purpose? What about the Jeff Foxworthy "you know you're a
> redneck if..." schtick? Is this "hate speech"? Or is it hate speech
> only when certain groups are being lampooned?
> 
> This discussion is leading me to one of two conclusions: either I am
> in fact a racist or a clueless naif.  And I don't care for either.
> 
> Joe
> 
> 

AsB4

Keep cool, but care. -- TRP
Moderation in moderation. -- Husky Mariner