Robert Reich is running for Governor of Massachusetts. On the campaign trail he often jokes about his 5 ft. 10 inch height:
Some organizations object:
Is Reich right or wrong to joke about his height?
I am appalled at prejudice based on height. I tend to doubt that mentioning it frequently and joking about it is a good strategy, however. To me, any sort of bigotry is no laughing matter.
He is neither right nor wrong to joke about his height. I fail to see this as a right or wrong situation.
I think you have a typo: Reich is four feet, 10 inches tall. (I read your OP and I was, like, “I’m a midget?” (I’m also 5’10") “Nobody tells me anything!!”)
In any event, I have two responses.
IMO, a member of a minority has considerably more leeway in making self-deprecating jokes about his status.
More to the point, bigotry is a laughing matter - using humour to demolish a stereotype is a very effective technique.
In politics, this type of humour is a long tradition. Was JFK wrong to make jokes about the Pope telling him how to vote in 1960? Or (a slightly different issue) to make jokes that his father shouldn’t buy any more votes than was absolutely necessary?
Sua
december: I am appalled at prejudice based on height. I tend to doubt that mentioning it frequently and joking about it is a good strategy, however. To me, any sort of bigotry is no laughing matter.
Well, over in the “Should African-Americans focus on minor racial slights?” thread, you just got done telling us how unwise you think it is to react to minor instances of prejudice by making a big deal out of them. Now you’re telling us how unwise you think it is to react to minor instances of prejudice by joking about them and poking fun at oneself. You’re pretty hard to please, december. 
But thanks for bringing up the Reich gubernatorial campaign, I’m excited that Reich is running and I’m pleased to see his campaign get some visibility on these boards (even on a very minor side issue). By the way, for the benefit of those who aren’t familiar with Reich and who will be totally mystified by your OP as it stands, I should point out that you typed “5 ft. 10 inch” in mistake for Reich’s actual height of 4 ft. 10 inches.
Among the unintentionally saddest lyrics in a comic song are these from What Can You Do With a Man?, by brilliant lyricist, Lorenz Hart. The song dsescribes an argument between a wife and husband.
In fact, Hart was only four foot ten, and his height had a serious impact on his personality. He tragecally became and alcoholic and died young.
I don’t see anything wrong with him joking about his height. Too often, short people are silently discriminated against. What’s wrong with calling it out in the open? I have to say though, I am kind of bugged by the article the OP links to:
C’mon - that’s not even the slightest bit clever. The whole article is full of bad puns about short people. While you’re at it, you might as well call the NAACP a “detachment of domineering darkies”, or NOW a “slew of sanctimonious sluts”. Apparently the author doesn’t get the difference between a politician making fun of himself, and an editorial article making fun of a whole group. Not cool.
I’m not sure what Egan’s point is. I don’t see anything wrong with a person in a wheelchair making a joke about it. Or is she just objecting to Reich not being funny? I haven’t heard Reich speak, so I don’t know. Is he totally overdoing it?
There is a difference between making jokes about prejudices and making jokes about an existing condition or situation. If Robert Reich was laughing at short people for being stupid, or incompetent, or whatever type of stereotype applied to short people, it would be offensive. But he’s joking about short people being short. There’s nothing offensive about that. He is short, he does need to use a stepstool to reach the podium. By speaking about it, he’s showing voters that he does not consider it a liability, and that they shouldn’t either. It’s not like his height isn’t the first thing people notice when they see him.
Besides, he’s just so gosh-darn cute.
Great, so now the Political Correctness police won’t even let us make fun of ourselves! I’m in big trouble.
Once, H. Ross Perot replied to a question about one of his proposed policies by saying:
“If anyone’s got a better idea, I’m all ears. AH!”
ha! you just referred to december as the political correctness police!
As a short person (5’4" male), I don’t have any problem with Reich kidding about his height. Such self-deprecating humor is often used be politicians…tracer noted Ross Perot’s use of it. And then there is Reagan saying that he didn’t think age was relevant and therefore would not make a campaign issue out of his opponent’s youth and inexperience. All of these are just fine in my book.
P.S.—I also thought the “Short People” song was pretty funny. I am not sure I totally believe the songwriter’s claim that he wrote it to parody discrimination and such, but whatever its purpose, it did seem to be meant all in good fun.
Reich is perfectly within his rights to joke about his height. In fact, he probably has to in order to defuse the issue. Much like Reagan joked about his age in order to take the issue away from Carter and Mondale. No problem.
Anyway, why would you want to attack Reich about his height? His ideas are a target-rich environment.