Would it be funny to you if the ad said “White Person’s Quality, Black Person’s Pricing?”
(Yes, it needs to be rephrased so it scans better but you get the point.)
I’d believe you in Arkansas, but not in Manhattan.
Everyone pretending like this advert was some misconstrued commentary on the meekness of Hanukkah instead of taking it for its obvious face value as a cheeky joke about the stereotypical frugality of Jews is fucking stupid. That said…
I think you misunderstood me. I’m saying the ad was meant to as a joke about Jews being cheap, though of course, not in the same sense that hookers are. But I dunno, maybe hookers are frugal too.
Ya, except the annoying little shit is actually right this time.
Ugh. Every time some idiot tries to pretend every off-color joke based on a stereotype is equivalent to “Let’s denigrate the niggers… again!” baby Jesus kills a school-bus full of volunteers headed off to the local orphanage and raises your taxes.
As soon as I read the title, I thought if it’s written on a Jewish storefront in a Jewish neighborhood, it’s hilarious, otherwise it’s not. Of course, it’s not, but the ad designer is Jewish, and I can easily imagine that he was seeing it through a lens of “we can tell these jokes about ourselves.” What I find much harder to believe is that neither he nor anyone else realized in reviewing the ad that that sense of things would not be present when the words are plastered on a billboard. Still, these things do happen. The ad’s offensive, but not intentionally so.
This is also true, and is the first thing I thought when I read the guy was Jewish.
MeanOldLady, I’m Jewish. I am curious if you are.
So you are saying anti-Semitic jokes are funny and less offensive than jokes about black people?
Well I do like bargains! Hi-yoh! Am I right, guys?
Seriously, though, of course I’m not. I’m a militantly atheist colored person. And? The point was people make jokes about themselves that can –can, but not necessarily-- be very not kosher (heh) when made by others.
Analog, I’ll maybe answer your question later when I’m less drunk and irritable. And I say maybe because I don’t believe for one second that is an honest question. Many a joke is made by poking fun at stereotypes which are a far cry from “Hey guys. Aren’t black people the worst?” Or “Aren’t Jews/Muslims/gingers the worst?” etc.
^^Including jokes about black people. One more thing: I honestly looked for Wodka in the store today but couldn’t’ find it. Oh well. Whiskey is always around.
I’m not getting this distinction. I think it depends on the context including who is telling the joke. Many Jews laugh when Jackie Mason jokes about Jews. Likewise, many blacks laugh when Chris Rock jokes about blacks. However, take a phrase either of them says out of context and stick it on a billboard for Vodka and it will become offensive to many of the same people.
The Wodka exec leans forward on his elbows with his fingers steepled. “Yes, I think I understand what you’re saying.”
*Cut to the new television ad.
Chris Rock: *“Wodka! Christmas quality at Hannukah pricing!”
OK, if you’re not a moron for your (still rather) tortured point about intent. But you are a moron for misconstruing my post. I didn’t say that malevolence is more likely than incompetence; in fact, I said the converse.
I’m not above telling a joke that plays on the stereotype that Jews are cheap. In fact, I made such a joke here. But I told the joke within a specific context; that is, the thread was about Jewish obituaries and how newspapers charge by the word for obituaries. That billboard didn’t have any context at all; people who saw it or heard about it can only go by the billboard. Hence the problem under discussion.
Not sure I get the distinction. Black people make jokes using Black stereotypes all the time, which would be offensive if White people made 'em. Jews of course do the same - that is, make jokes based on Jewish stereotypes that would be offensive if non-Jews told 'em. This ad seems to me at least to be an example of the latter.
Why is it the act of an idiot to to say the two are basically equivalent?
I was merely curious. Don’t be so mean!
Moishe’s Cut-Rate Liquor:
Black neighborhood liquor store hours with white neighborhood safety!
P.S. We also hate the Irish and Italians. And Poles. Like nazis. Kill homeless people for the sexual thrill.
Not you. You’re fine. I was talking to Mr. Signal.
Oh, Malthy, not you too.
Okay, look. First, I don’t buy the argument that jokes at the expense of a certain demographic must be made by one of its members in order to be funny and inoffensive. “But it stereotypes us! Wah!” Of course it does; that’s the joke. “No, still not funny. Insert black people in place of the offendee and you’ll see why it’s not funny.” Wrong. All jokes and stereotypes are not created equal, and they are not interchangeable. Some comments *are *more offensive when directed at certain groups than others.
The ad in question, for example, plays on the stereotype that Jewish people are frugal and good with money. There is no such similar stereotype about black people, so if the ad were to read “White people quality at black people prices,” what would that even mean? That would seem to me like nothing more than saying black people aren’t as valuable as white people (more in line with their hookers vs. escorts ad), which is just unpleasant. So no, that joke would not be funny even if Chris Rock himself told it. There’s no humor to it, just nastiness.
There are, however, plenty of jokes that stereotype black people told by non-blacks that are hilarious. Like nearly all comedy, the humor depends on, well, everything: what the joke is, who’s telling it, delivery, the audience, etc. For example, I nearly died when I saw this.*
This is why I get irritated when people go “Jokes that play on any stereotype at all cannot be funny, with the possible exception of it being made by a member of the group being stereotyped. For proof, pretend the subject of the joke was black people.” Stupid oversimplification that ignores reality. Ya dig?
I actually like this one. I dunno, maybe I need to learn how to get butthurt more easily over ethnic jokes.
*Apparently Seth MacFarlane/Fox/Rupert Murdoch roll hard. Every time I try to find Family Guy clips, they either do not exist, or are mobile phone recordings of someone’s TV set. Apologies for the crappy video quality, but that’s all I got.
No-one is arguing that the jokes are exactly the same in import or offensiveness. Nor that being butthurt about an ethnic joke is mandatory! 
What I’m saying is that it is often the case that ethnic humor that ‘plays well’ within an ethnic community does not ‘play well’ outside of it; and that making a “Jews are cheap” joke falls into that category.
The only reason Blacks are at all relevent in this context, is that you, the poster, happen to be Black yourself, so presumably you can relate to humour coincerning your own ethnicity; it would make no difference for this purpose if you happened to be Polish, or Fillipino, or whatever.
I think this is a ‘truism I’m amazed is in the slightest bit controversial’ rather than a “Stupid oversimplification that ignores reality”, but I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.
Also, referencing the stereotype of the cheap, greedy Jew is probably a tad more similar in obnoxiousness to anti-Black stereotypes than your characterization of “Jews are frugal and good with money”. That’s putting a rather happy spin on it, isn’t it? Again, no-one is arguing they are exactly the same, just that can both easily be seen as offensive.
Myself, I laugh at ethnic humour so long as it isn’t intended to be mean-spirited, but I also know that you gotta be careful about context etc. because many people interpret much if not all of it as mean-spirited. The right context for a “Jews ‘r’ Cheap” joke probably is not a billboard advertising Vodka …
Chris Rock, really? I was envisioning Jackie Mason in blackface, myself.
You’re thinking of the Jazz Singer.
You know, Jews aren’t the only ethnic group stereotyped as cheap or miserly. The Scots are too, or they used to be, and the ones I know are proud of it.