Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 11:22:01 +1000 (EST)
From: Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan-AT-qut.edu.au>
Subject: Re: M-I: jokes, language and sexism, etc.


Ad.
>
>Racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. "jokes" *AREN'T FUNNY*!
>
>Jerry


Interesting. But wrong methinks.  The problem with racist sexist homophobic
jokes is that  they *are* funny.  If racist etc jokes were not then they
would not be so dangerous.

Now the reason for the success of racist etc humor is that it is  offered to
us a consolation for the shit awful reality we inhabit.  we can tune into
the joke and feel a little better than some other poor bastard.

But equally we should be careful here to keep our analysis finely tuned.
When I came To Australia in 1975 it was just in time to catch the tide of
Irish jokes that the English had been using to such good effect in the early
70s.  I recall though the very chilling spectacle of a British comedian
named Ken Dodd regaling a group of British soldiers with Irish jokes.  the
soldiers were in battle gear.  They had just returned from "peace keeping"
duties in Catholic districts.  They sat back and heard Dodd tell them that
the people whom they had just beating to pulp  were a species of low life.
I will never forget the sight of row upon row of England's finest roaring
with laughter.

when I  heard the same jokes Down Under some months later I was far from
amused but they were performing a different function.  Still racist of
course but not a rehearsal for a brutal assault on a people.  It is a
complex question really trying to work out what the function of the Irish
joke was in Australia.  I tend to think it was in part at least the
Establishment's response to the revival of Australian Nationalism that took
place when Labor was elected here in 1972 after 23 years of Conservative pro
British-Empire rule.  But to some extent the Irish joke was aimed at
integrating rather than excluding the Irish as in Dodd's case.

regards

Gary



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