Poking fun at ...

[davemarc]

> From: Henry M <gravity at nicom.com>
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: Poking fun at ...
> Date: Thursday, February 20, 1997 10:19 AM
> 
> I have always assumed that people that have the intelligence and
> cultural understanding to be able to read Pynchon would by necessity
> be able to bring those qualities to other discussions.
> 
> I therefor find the inability to see the difference between "poking
> fun at African-American dialect = BAD (unless the person poking is
> also an A-A) and exaggerating a  Norwegian-American's accent (a la
> Fargo)" likely to be disingenuous. You'd have to be pretty thin
> skinned to feel that Fargo suggests that Norwegian-Americans are
> basically inferior, or that they should conform to coastal norms.
> 
> When Norwegian-Americans are subjected to slavery, lynchings, 
> "drug-wars," medical experiments, arson, torture, genocide, and  a not
> uncommon belief that they are genetically inferior and the "spawn of
> the devil," -- then I'll say "Don't make so much fun of those people.
> Enough people hate'em already." While I haven't heard the particular
> Latin wit in question, there's a good chance, based on "Jewish jokes"
> I've heard from gentiles, that the humor in question isn't quite
> friendly to an already persecuted group. Fargo is friendly to its
> protagonist.
> 
Nevertheless, I know of one Minnesotan who's really bugged by the
caricatures he finds in Fargo.  He also happens to love Seinfeld.

Humor's a funny thing, isn't it?

davemarc