Humour? Or Racism?

[La_Dolce_Vita]

The loose definitions of racism point to a PC brainwashed, scared-to-say-anything bunch of ill-informed leftie educated youngsters.

 

Then what is your definition of racism?

 

I find it quite shocking that people think that such behaviour is not racism but rather some sort of idiocy and also that the problem is more to do with the joking rather than the racist outbursts of a judge.

 

In respect of myself, if that is where your point is directed, it is not so much that my opinions are formed from brainwashing on political correctness but rather than I have a very informed idea of what oppression is and how it manifests itself. It is not that I am scared to say anything, I think I say a lot more about racism and others controversial issues than most others would because I understand what discrimination is, why it exists, and why I wouldn't want to knowingly discriminate against others.

 

Racism is simply behaviour that is oppressive or discriminating that is often based on prejudice, but not always, relating to a person's skin colour or culture of their ethnic group. Thus, the Judge's jokes were racist. He wasn't cracking "Why did the chicken cross the road" jokes. Rather his jokes specifically related to stereotypical and prejudices notions of Middle Eastern people.

 

Whatever people say this is still a predominately white and christian country. IMO, 'when in Rome people should do a little more of what the Romans do' - including learning to appreciate a little humour and not see every such statement as inherently racist.

 

Surely you can appreciate why someone from a ethnic group that is non-white would not be able to see the funny side of jokes relating to cultural stereotypes.

 

There are many instances of PC gone mad over the past few years, such as ridiculous decisions on what can and cannot be done on religious festivals in this country, that you cannot say 'black board', that you cannot have 'piggy banks' in the banks (or something like that I remember reading. But because of these instances I think the term PC is becoming a term to often used, wrongly, to refer to anything to challenges oppression and discrimination in society. Much of what is now termed PC by the white, general public is in place to prevent discrimination but is objected to because the same reasoning for bringing in anti-discriminatory policies is similarly used to back-up other stupid decisions by government.

[VinnieK]

That said, the definitions of racism I'm hearing on here lead me to believe that we already do live in a theocratic dictatorship.

 

I don't quite understand how you've drawn this conclusion, since we're talking about race and not religion - the latter of which being fair game for criticism since it's a cultural construct and not a racial attribute or slur.

 

The loose definitions of racism point to a PC brainwashed, scared-to-say-anything bunch of ill-informed leftie educated youngsters.

 

No it doesn't (and I'm not really young or "leftie educated", by the way). There's a world of difference between being scared to say "anything", and disapproving of stupid remarks based on a person's ethnicity (especially when made by a figure of authority in a court of law).

 

Whatever people say this is still a predominately white and christian country. IMO, 'when in Rome people should do a little more of what the Romans do' - including learning to appreciate a little humour and not see every such statement as inherently racist.

 

Firstly, I don't see what being white and Christian has to do with the rest of your point, since surely mocking other races isn't an integral part of white, Christian culture, but it sounds worryingly similar to "if they don't want to be made fun of, they shouldn't be so bloody foreign!". In any case, surely insisting people learn to "appreciate a little humour", regardless of whether they find it funny or offensive is equally open to accusations of "dicatatorship", especially when there are plenty of "White, Christian, Britons " who would disagree with you on whether those comments were simple humour with no racial overtones - what, after all, makes your definition of humour any more valid than theirs?

 

Coming from the island, does that mean I have to break down and cry and take people to race-relations everytime someone makes a joke about me having three legs? FFS! - get a grip.

 

The Sheikh didn't break down and cry, as far as we know, he was offended. In any case, your comparison is flawed - the having three legs thing isn't actually based upon a caracteristic or attribute that's associated with the Manx in the same way that living in the desert scoffing turkish delights is for Arabs. Some people, in my experience, have thought of the Island as a backwards, incestuous place, so perhaps a better hypothetical situation for the purposes of comparison were to find you (or any of us) in a divorce court listening to a judge mockingly explaining that the electric lights in the court didn't light up by magic, referring to our partner as our cousin, and making a joke that about extra toes on our children.

[Pat Ayres]

That said, the definitions of racism I'm hearing on here lead me to believe that we already do live in a theocratic dictatorship.

 

I don't quite understand how you've drawn this conclusion, since we're talking about race and not religion - the latter of which being fair game for criticism since it's a cultural construct and not a racial attribute or slur.

 

The loose definitions of racism point to a PC brainwashed, scared-to-say-anything bunch of ill-informed leftie educated youngsters.

 

No it doesn't (and I'm not really young or "leftie educated", by the way). There's a world of difference between being scared to say "anything", and disapproving of stupid remarks based on a person's ethnicity (especially when made by a figure of authority in a court of law).

 

Whatever people say this is still a predominately white and christian country. IMO, 'when in Rome people should do a little more of what the Romans do' - including learning to appreciate a little humour and not see every such statement as inherently racist.

 

Firstly, I don't see what being white and Christian has to do with the rest of your point, since surely mocking other races isn't an integral part of white, Christian culture, but it sounds worryingly similar to "if they don't want to be made fun of, they shouldn't be so bloody foreign!". In any case, surely insisting people learn to "appreciate a little humour", regardless of whether they find it funny or offensive is equally open to accusations of "dicatatorship", especially when there are plenty of "White, Christian, Britons " who would disagree with you on whether those comments were simple humour with no racial overtones - what, after all, makes your definition of humour any more valid than theirs?

 

Coming from the island, does that mean I have to break down and cry and take people to race-relations everytime someone makes a joke about me having three legs? FFS! - get a grip.

 

The Sheikh didn't break down and cry, as far as we know, he was offended. In any case, your comparison is flawed - the having three legs thing isn't actually based upon a caracteristic or attribute that's associated with the Manx in the same way that living in the desert scoffing turkish delights is for Arabs. Some people, in my experience, have thought of the Island as a backwards, incestuous place, so perhaps a better hypothetical situation for the purposes of comparison were to find you (or any of us) in a divorce court listening to a judge mockingly explaining that the electric lights in the court didn't light up by magic, referring to our partner as our cousin, and making a joke that about extra toes on our children.

 

Nice to see someone put the pompous twat in his place for once.

A joke just for Albert;

Three man playing dominoes in a pub, 1st puts down a 3/2, second places a 4/6 against it, the third 'knocks'. Which one is English?

Humour or racism?

[slinkydevil]

This judge used racist/culturalist humour to get a cheap laugh.

 

Alright, you don't have to ramadan my throat.

 

 

ahem....

[Pat Ayres]

See context.

You got me bang to rights govnor. I can be as insensitive as the next man/woman. The difference is that I do it in an ironic way and knowing what and why I am doing it, some do it instinctively, there's the problem.

[Albert Tatlock]

Nice to see someone put the pompous twat in his place for once.

A joke just for Albert;

Three man playing dominoes in a pub, 1st puts down a 3/2, second places a 4/6 against it, the third 'knocks'. Which one is English?

Humour or racism?

You can be a real muppet sometimes.

 

Re-read what I actually said in my 3 minute post, and not the two hour half-arsed student teacher analysis of it that followed it.

[Pat Ayres]

No

[P.K.]

Nice to see someone put the pompous twat in his place for once.

A joke just for Albert;

Three man playing dominoes in a pub, 1st puts down a 3/2, second places a 4/6 against it, the third 'knocks'. Which one is English?

Humour or racism?

You can be a real muppet sometimes.

 

Re-read what I actually said in my 3 minute post, and not the two hour half-arsed student teacher analysis of it that followed it.

Well Albert, I started to read the response but then an alien life-form started to remove my will to live ............. zzzzzzzzz

[Albert Tatlock]

Nice to see someone put the pompous twat in his place for once.

A joke just for Albert;

Three man playing dominoes in a pub, 1st puts down a 3/2, second places a 4/6 against it, the third 'knocks'. Which one is English?

Humour or racism?

You can be a real muppet sometimes.

 

Re-read what I actually said in my 3 minute post, and not the two hour half-arsed student teacher analysis of it that followed it.

Well Albert, I started to read the response but then an alien life-form started to remove my will to live ............. zzzzzzzzz

....student teachers...god bless em!

[Pat Ayres]

As I said "pompous twat"

[Albert Tatlock]

As I said "pompous twat"

I see you are using your usual one liners...have you ever actually joined in a debate on here yet? I mean it's difficult to find anything over a couple of lines, never mind anything that actually says anything. I post not for fear of being proven wrong or having my views challenged, and certainly not for fear of being labeled as an anti-something - but mainly because of people like you, who sat on their arse, and allowed the UK to turn into what it now is. Some of us won't allow people like you to do it here, and certainly not to censor free speech in the process.

 

If you can't be bothered to read posts properly, god forbid analyse them and respond to them yourself, then I suggest you try and refrain from personal insults, buy a couple of books at xmas and make a new years resolution to try and put a paragraph together.

[Pat Ayres]

Racism or Humour?

"Graeco-Kraut relationships don't usually work out this well. But this week the lady on the stamps and Prince Philip celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. They have seen the country through post war travails, 11 prime ministers, accession to the EU and the introduction of the oyster card. They have produced three healthy children, and Edward. They got rid of Diana. Though her empire has crumbled, the Duke of Edinburgh has remained a rock to Elizabeth Regina, the yin to her yang, the chirpy racist to her solemn figurehead." Grauniad