[GCFL-discuss] Lesson in Marketing

[Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies List]

Well, let's see, the only observant Jewish member of this discussion
group thought it was funny, AND said there was a better version of the
same joke in Yiddish. The orthodox rabbi I sent it to said it was "Cute!"
So apparently, observant Jews are not offended. In fact, it might be a
good laugh at the gentiles. So apparently, whoever found it racially
offensive (who did not mention being Jewish themselves) doesn't want
anybody making fun of much of anything. In fact, I have some further
notes from the same rabbi, on a distantly related topic, which puts this
navel-contemplation about racial sensitivity in perspective:

"The white kids who "playfully" hung the nooses were jerks.
Unfortunately, there probably isn't a law in LA against being a jerk,
but they very much need to be told off, in no uncertain terms, along the
lines you suggest: "Just who do you think you are?"

"As for the rest, I've suggested on several occasions that the Holocaust
is being misapplied with Jewish kids, in much the same way as you
suggest that slavery is with "black" kids: Especially secularised,
non-observant Jewish kids have aquire a primarily negative, sterotyped
identitiy as a potential victim from this constant harping on an
historical event which affected their great-grandparents (my parents'
generation), if anyone at all in their family. We were very careful to 
minimise the Nazi business when [our son] was young, and
maximise the positive, religious identity."

I note that growing up Protestant in a Catholic neighborhood, I learned
LOT's of Catholic jokes at an early age -- all of them from Catholics.
Who else knew enough about being Catholic to make up such jokes in the
first place? And, let's remember, for all the really disgusting jokes
people who choose to think of themselves as "white" have told about
people classified as "black" (or whatever the term du jour was), there
ARE some really funny jokes that African Americans tell about themselves,
including some that are in good taste and can be shared with other
ethnicities.

I guess this joke is qualitatively different than Tommy Thompson
remarking that making money is part of the Jewish tradition at a campaign
speech. Well, Tommy Thompson is the fly in the ointment that helps me
appreciate everything about Wisconsin that is not like him.

Native Americans have culture heroes who are devious, including the
ubiquitous Coyote (not the one who chases the Road Runner), and Glooscap.
Maybe we should suppress all traditional tales which honor a devious folk
hero?

I still think the joke was funny.

Siarlys

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:15:00 -0500 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <gcfl-discuss at gcfl.net> writes:
> On Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 10:31:04AM -0500, Discussion of the Good, 
> Clean Funnies List wrote:
> > John, nothing from GCFL has caught me more by surprise or gotten 
> me
> > laughing faster when I got to the end than this one.
> 
> Thanks.  Not everyone liked it...
> 
> "I found this joke to be racially offensive, portraying
> Jews as being cunning, money hungry, without religious
> respect, and devious. I would like you to offer some sort
> of apology for insinuating similar messages to the ones
> Hitler portrayed during his political reign. This is
> totally unacceptable."
> 
> No apology will be forthcoming.  I think the joke was
> clean and funny despite it's stereotypical nature.
> 
> jp
> 
> -- 
> Perfection is our goal.  Excellence will be tolerated.
> 
> Have a great day and don't forget to laugh!
> 
> http://www.gcfl.net (The Good, Clean Funnies List): Good,
> clean daily funnies you can safely tell your Mom!
> _______________________________________________
> GCFL-discuss mailing list
> GCFL-discuss at gcfl.net
> http://gcfl.net/mailman/listinfo/gcfl-discuss
> 
>