Nationality oxymorons

In My Humble Opinion
41

OK, somewhat reluctantly, I return.

I honestly have not met anyone who was so sensitive about their nationality that they couldn’t participate in some lighthearted teasing. Sorry if you are. However, are any of these people the same ones who would argue that if you don’t like Howard Stern, you should just change the station?

I guess it’s funny for Dean Martin to assemble a group of movie and television stars to call someone a drunk for two hours, but naming of some national stereotypes in a “tease your friends” manner is necessarily offensive. Or, right as I type this, Richard Pryor is on an SNL rerun doing his “white guy” accent. This was on national tv, mind you.

As for the argument that there’s no difference between racial and national stereotypes, let’s admit that among friends, even racial ones are often used. That’s all I was trying to do here. It might be too big a group for everyone not to be offended, but I think it’s innocent enough that those who don’t like it could just ignore it.

As an aside, anyone who re-reads my thread about Texans getting over themselves will see that I VERY CLEARLY made the point that I’m not talking about absolutely every last Texan, but that I’m criticizing those who honestly think that Texas is the be-all and end-all of geography. These types are the ones who seem to wonder why anyone lives anywhere else. Someone in that thread actually started arguing that Texas has the prettiest shape on the map!

Can Ice Wolf really see into my mind over the internet and divine my motives?

I admit that I didn’t make statements about Americans, which is mostly because it’s hard to see the forest for the trees when I AM one. Ok, here goes an attempt:

World-wise American.

No, I wouldn’t be offended at that statement about Americans. I think there is a real difference about the others, because they are inherently linked to actual violence against those groups. I admit this, but point out again that those jokes are made every day among friends. That was the intent here, but on a much smaller scale of teasing.

42

If you can’t laugh at yourself, find someone else to make fun of.

43

Oh, I wish I could do that. Such a talent would be worth a mint. Alas, it isn’t mine to have.

I don’t think I’ve “divined your motives”, Cardinal. Merely offered the opinion that jokes about national stereotypes can be seen to be offensive, and that in other opinions they are just that. smiling bandit said:

The thread contributors may have continued in that vein, but unless you are Australian, Swiss, Italian or German, Cardinal, the OP cannot be said to be “self-satirizing”.

I do say again, however, that I don’t think you meant this to be an offensive topic. That is (seeing as I cannot read minds), I hope not.

44

I didn’t say the OP was self-satirizing. Someone else said it. I expected people from other countries to take care of that for me.

This is what prompted me to ask if you could divine my motives. Maybe you didn’t really mean me, but it wasn’t very clear.

I do understand this point, really I do (let’s not get into my personal examples right now), but as Coldie said, isn’t it so obvious that these are gross misrepresentations that it can’t be taken seriously?

Is there a drop of life left in this thread?

45

Cardinal,

Firstly, I apologise for derailing your thread. I realise you were only intending it to be some light-hearted fun, and not offensive in any way. That is obvious from the way your phrased your OP. Nevertheless, I was offended. And I posted my opinion, in the thread (in the IMHO forum, no less). Perhaps I should’ve moved on, closed the window and opened another thread, but I felt like stating my opinion on the OP. Regardless, I am sorry for killing your thread.

Secondly, I apologise for using the term ‘rascist’ to describe your OP. Coldfire is correct on this point. I withdraw that comment and apologise for any offence whatsoever.

I also apologise for offending CRorex and TwistofFate. It was entirely unintentional. I am sorry.

A clarification : My husband is not Dutch, he is only half Dutch. I just wanted to clear that up too, so as not to get accused of lying at a later stage.

Please note that I stated several times that I never for one second thought that you were intending to be offensive, Cardinal. This is perhaps one of those things that we may have to just agree to disagree on. I do not feel I am overly sensitive, though you may a differing opinion on that. I thought it was just as offensive to the Germans, Italians, et al as it was to Australians. I have no doubt that I responded primarily due to the Australian comment, but I do feel the same way about the other comments. I guess we look at it differently.

I think this statement of yours really sums up why we won’t agree. I would never make a racial joke. I find absolutely nothing humourous in them and they repulse me. While this thread wasn’t about race per se, I don’t think there is that much difference, and it’s not that much further down that slope. YMObviously V.

Perhaps we should just agree to disagree.

46

Yes, I was back-referencing to something gatopescado said, Cardinal. My apologies that you thought my last-but-one post was entirely a reference to your posts.

And I was quoting smiling bandit that the thread was “self-satirizing”. Last I knew, an OP is the start, and included in, a thread.

Goo’s last line just about sums all this sorry business up.

47

Goo’s last post sums this up for me.

Humour is an elusive thing (so is humor, for you damned uneducated Americans :smiley: ). Here in Australia, we have some folks who are humourless, politically correct wastes of space. As a general rule, however, we are probably more open to self-deprecating humour than many other nationalities are.

I found the OP mildly offensive. I don’t apologise for that. I also appreciate that it was written in good humour. That may sound like a contradiction, but that’s the way humour is. It’s especially vulnerable to misinterpretation in media such as this, without the ability to hear the tone in which it is given.

I wouldn’t have started the same thread about Americans. I would do it about New Zealanders and it would be ok. Aussies and Kiwis have been giving each other crap for years. More contradiction, but again, that’s the way it is.

The Humourless Australian?
The USA a very complex place, and as a result of the export of American culture, folks in other countries have an understanding of its complexity. We know that Americans range from Carl Sagan to Cletus. Australia on the other hand, while equally complex, is much smaller. We don’t have a massive export of Aussie culture to the US. Unfortunately, this means that the stuff you do get is somewhat skewed. Paul hogan, Yahoo Serious, that Crocodile Person, and Kylie. You don’t know about the fact that we lead the world in many areas of medical research, science, technology, etc. That is to say, you don’t necessarily know. The Average Doper is intelligent and open minded, and probably does know a little more about my home country than the average Joe in smalltown USA. So, when we read stuff like “there are Australian scientists?”, we have to be sure of the angle it’s coming from before we can form an opinion. That Angle is hard to divine on a messageboard, so we remain wary. We’re not all called Bruce. We don’t ride kangaroos down the street. But we do know how to laugh.

48

Just to be clear, what I meant about racial jokes being made among friends is not the stuff that would happen when I lived in rural Georgia: Wait for the black people to leave the room and then find out what the white people really think by their comments and “jokes”. What I mean is relating to people well enough that almost nothing they say could be offensive. Anyone ever see “Brian’s Song”?

I am honestly stumped by this one:

Now, I don’t mind, it’s exactly the kind of thing I thought would be going on here, but why is it ok as long as you put the smiley face at the end? Aren’t you arguing that this is just the sort of thing that you find offensive? Well, looking back, maybe you aren’t, exactly. So can’t we agree that the people in this thread are the kinds of people who can get away with this kind of thing? Aren’t they that type by definition, since they’re participating?

But you DO own one, right? At least for the boxing practice?

49

When I was in college (in the early seventies) the room next to mine was occupied by the only two black students on that floor. One of them was in a lot of my classes, so we had gotten to know each other pretty well. They referred to their room as “the Ghetto” and occasionally when they played their stereo too loud I would pound on the wall & yell at them to “turn that n***** music down”; they would yell back “f*** you, honkey” and then turn it down. Similar remarks were exchanged if I was being overly loud.
This and similar “racist” behavior was acceptable by mutual agreement; I never used that sort of language with others present and once got into an argument with my brother-in-law over his casual use of “the n-word” in the presence of his own children.

50

Well I did say “reserved” Texan was an oxymoron so here goes.

TEXAS was an independent nation for a very long time…11 whole years…but anyway, as such, we are entitled to a nationality status that is distinct from all those other so-called “states”*.

**Except for of course Vermont, Hawaii, California, West Florida, South Carolina in 1861, and possibly Block Island during the infamous moped dispute of the 1980’s. Other than that, no other states or regions were ever real countries like we were. *

51

I’ll help you out with this one, Cardinal:

The whole sentence reads:

The joke’s about the extra (or missing, depending on your p.o.v.) “u” in the word “humor.” Obviously if we can’t spell write, wee mussed bee dum. And to be honest, I thought it was funny. But I’m running on insomnia, so YMMV.

52

Actually, the whole quote includes a smiley, but my control-V must not be context-sensitive.