I think you’re full of shit. People with family members who are actually convicted criminals don’t go blabbing it to their dim-bulb coworkers.
I’m half Irish, and I think Irish jokes are funny. Why? Because Irish-Americans are no longer discriminated against in the United States, so the stereotype is not hurtful. I don’t think the Italian mobster stereotype is funny at all, because Italian-Americans are still discriminated against in the United States. (Since this is the Pit, I won’t provide any cites, lest I be made fun of some more.) And just because some other stupid Italian-Americans do think Mafia jokes are funny, that doesn’t make them any less hurtful.
I am rightfully proud of my heritage. I don’t like it when mob movies go out of their way to associate the symbols of the Sicilian culture (especially food) with organized crime. It’s cultural assassination. I’m not accusing Tranquilis of this, but because such things do happen, I am sensitive to ethnic slurs.
And Scylla: Suck on it. You Internet smartasses are always too pussy to say things to peoples’ faces, so you get out your aggression hiding behind a computer. Go beat off to that naked picture of J. Edgar Hoover you’ve been carrying in your wallet.
Due to the excessively slow speed of this board, it took me 20+ minutes to get the thread in question open. It took another 5 minutes to read all of the posts in that thread. It took an additional 5 minutes to reread said thread to make sure I hadn’t missed the insult. On top of all that, I come back to this thread to find out that its been hijacked into a “secret club” thread and that its now unanimous that the OP is the hypersensitive idjit he/she didn’t want to be.
I’ve got no point to this post. I figured if I’ve wasted 30+ minutes of my time on this, I’d come back and share the wealth.
Well, I know you’re full of shit. My great-uncle worked for Meyer Lansky. While its not something I’m proud of, I don’t hide it from anyone either.
And your “I am sensitive to ethnic slurs except when it comes to Irish ones and I won’t provide cites about the existing stereotypes because you’ll make fun of me” is about the worst argument I’ve ever heard.
It used to be La Cosa Nostra was organized crime in Philadelphia. The LCN has been injured by bad leaders and good police work. But, with Glasnost and the flood of Soviet emmigrants came Soviet criminals.
About a week ago, a small operation calling itself The KGB was busted in my own neighborhood. The boss was a 21 year old Russian.
Now I can play the Mob game if I want. My great grandparents were Ukrainian, so I look the part. I just put on my Russian accent and "I say only that I am well trained. I admit nothing. But Soviet criminals had to deal with KGB. The Russian Mob is tougher, smarter and meaner than LCN. LCN 'hits' people. The Russians just make people disappear."
I’m working on using the accent to win fights “My Uncle Istvan was Spetnatz, Soviet special forces. He taught me many things. You want me to give lesson?”
I'm also experimenting with pretending to be newly-arrived in order to pick up women "Yakov Smirnov is right. America is great country. But, many things strange to me. What is meaning 'to get jiggy with it?"
Based on the posts to this thread, I now realize that it’s considered funny to be mean to people in the Pit. I really don’t have the stomach for it, so I’ll confine myself to more civilized forums in the future. Y’all have fun.
Wrong again Hyper. Maybe they just haven’t blabbed about it to you (which would, by your hypothesis, apparently identify you a dim-bulb). However, I (and clearly others) have encountered such people, and their families, and their stories. Just because you’re ignorant doesn’t mean what you’re ignorant about doesn’t exist.
You think perpetuating negative stereotypes about people is funny? OK, just wanted to get that straight. So… you think perpetuating negative stereotypes about Irish people is OK, but not Italians? Care to try to explain that one?
Irish-Americans are no longer discriminated against in the U.S.? When, exactly, did we win the war? When, exactly, was the last time you identified yourself as “Irish-American” and looked for a job here? Probably never, based on your post (“I’m half Irish” but specifically not “I’m Irish-American”). From what I’ve encountered (albeit limited to New York City) Irish-Americans are considered suitable for only construction (men), bartending (both), or being a nanny (women), and only Fire or Police if they have a relative/friend to push for them (“grease the wheels”) getting on the force.
** Oh, please… just a few cites? And something a little more objective that the “Italian-American Anti-Defamation League” please. Post cites that detail active, institutionalized, ongoing discrimination. A bunch of ignorant rednecks bitching about the “wops” doesn’t count. Don’t show me people who don’t like Italians, show me how “Italian-Americans are still discriminated against”.
** Which is why you find Irish jokes funny? Gee, for not identifying as half-Italian you sure have a strong knee-jerk reaction to its purported “cultural assassination”. But yet identifying as half-Irish you think perpetuating negative Irish stereotypes is funny? Hmmmmmm… off your meds today?
So…let me get this straight. If you repeat what a person of Italian descent says about themselves, then…you’re racist? You would rather we edit their speech for them, when telling stories? (Silly Italian – they aren’t really capable of deciding whether their jokes are insensitive to Italian people.)
I know just what you mean. It’s just like when they keep trying to association the symbols of German culture with WWII. I keep writing to complain but does the History Channel even have the courtesy to respond?
This sort of cultural assassination is outrageous. How would the rest of you like it if they re-made The Godfather using the cast of Fargo? Not so funny now, is it?
Well, that, and silly stunts like putting bombs on the Schuylkill. Actually, I drove through one of the killings that went on in South Philly in '95. IIRC, it was the brother of some rat getting rubbed out. All I knew was that a car had crashed, and way more police than usual were showing up. Figured it was a good idea to be elsewhere, and didn’t learn what was up until lunchtime. That’ll give you the creeps…!
I know just what you mean. It’s just like when they keep trying to associate the symbols of German culture with WWII. I keep writing to complain but does the History Channel even have the courtesy to respond?
This sort of cultural assassination is outrageous. How would the rest of you like it if they re-made The Godfather using the cast of Fargo? Not so funny now, is it?
We’ve been known to have impromptu contests as to who’s relations are the most infamous - one tech’s family is Canadian 'cause they were thrown out of Ireland for stealing sheep. Another is a distant relation to that notorious Canadian traitor/hero, Louis Riel.
I win, so far. Nobody has been able to beat the cannibal chief/impeached US president combination.
[quote] Originally posted by Hyperelastic ** Based on the posts to this thread, I now realize that it’s considered funny to be mean to people in the Pit. I really don’t have the stomach for it, so I’ll confine myself to more civilized forums in the future. Y’all have fun.**