I have, I never said I didn’t. Usually, from my father. Almost all the Polish jokes I know are from him. No Polack I know takes Polish jokes seriously. My point was that my Polish ethnicity has never hampered me. I’ve personally never felt victimized by Polish jokes, nor have I ever felt one iota of prejudice against me because of my Polish heritage/last name. Obviously, I am not speaking for all Polish people everywhere, but, in my experience, my ethnicity has never made me a target of hatred. In other words, lighten up.
::sigh:: If US News Review would have searched Google Books, he could have simply posted a link which looks like the play book he’s been using.
A History of the Polish Americans by John J. Bukowczyk. This is a limited preview of the book. Unfortunately, you can’t read the part about the Johnny Carson joke.
You can read the Carol Burnett one, and it says(to summarize) that they did a skit about a Polish airliner, complete with stereotypes, and Burnett publicly apologized two days later. This was of course CBS.
I didn’t say those people didn’t exist, I said they were Polish.
I mean, stupid. Sorry.
Seriously, though, U.S. News, I don’t think anyone thinks you’re lying. What’s suspect is your ability to correctly perceive and report on the reality surrounding you. I’m reasonably sure that you’re being absolutely sincere in your beliefs that there is a vast, anti-Polish conspiracy in Hollywood. I’m even more certain that there is, in fact, no such conspiracy, nor any particular anti-Polish sentiment in the nation at large. Honestly, no one hates the Polish. No one particularly cares about the Polish. You’re just one more indistinguishable group of Europeans. No one thinks any differently of the Polish than they do of the Danes, or the Germans, or the French, or the English, or the fill-in-the-pasty-white-person-of-your-choice. And no one picks on the Polish any more than they pick on any of those other groups. There are plenty of jokes about all these ethnicities. You’re only noticing the Polish ones because they tie into your particular monomania.
So you think all those TV “comedians” were fair with Polish people? That their bashing of Polish people had no impact on the Polish people? Fine. I tell you what why don’t you ask random people you meet how they would compare the intelligence of Polish people with other ethnic groups especially European ethnic groups? Especially ask all those people who watched these media bigot “comedians” pushing these racist Polish jokes on mass media/TV.
Ask strangers you meet what they think about the accomplishments of Polish people and their contributions to the US and the World? The Polish people will come in LAST place. When you bring up the word “Polish” they will automatically think of INFERIOR INTELLIGENCE etc because of the decades of negative TV and Hollywood motion picture negative imagery of Polish people. So I guess you’re OK with that. So great, good for you if that makes you feel good. Stay in denial.
As for Don Rickles mocking various ethnic groups EQUALLY… what a crock of BS.
What other ethnic group does Don Rickles portray as having inferior/subhuman intelligence??? What other ethnic group does he mock with a Nazi stereotype like he does with the Polish people?
The Nazi stereotype that Polish people have inferior/subhuman intelligence is a filthy BIG LIE especially when a couple years ago Polish students from Warsaw beat out students from all other countries including Japan, Germany, US/MIT Univ., India, China, Britain etc. in a difficult computer programming contest called “Battle of the Brains”.
2007 World IBM Battle of the Brains Computer Programming Champs are from Poland
http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2007/10/22/University/Students.To.Try.Out.Programming.Skills-3046665.shtml
But it doesn’t matter how much good the Polish people do or what they accomplish when these Anti-Polish bigots get on TV, Hollywood movies or other mass media and trash Polish people.
As for Don Rickles he is a sick Anti-Polish Bigot.
You are correct. Other TV Networks have indeed bashed Polish people.
One of many Drew Carey Show Anti-Polish skits was where the disgusting slob Mimi who is identified as being Polish wants to meet the “King of Poland”. The “King of Poland” meets her and he is a disgusting slob himself. Of course the audience laughs at these two Polish slobs acting like idiots. Millions of American watched this show and I’m sure said to themselves “look at those filthy dumb Polacks”. Needless to say Polish Americans didn’t deserve this slanderous imagery from ABC-TV.
What other ethnic group has been portrayed like that on TV?
But NBC-TV has been sued by the Polish American Guardian Society about 12 years ago with documentation of what I have said NBC-TV has been doing to Polish people including Johnny Carson’s mocking of dead Polish passengers on a plane and vicious anti-Polish “jokes” by Joan Rivers, Caroll Burnett and so many other NBC people.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4323709.html
Even if you didn’t agree with Pope John Paul II, I don’t think he deserved to be mocked as some kind of “Polish pervert” which NBC did repeatedly.
Even though the Chicago Polish American Society Anti-defamation lawsuit wasn’t successful against a powerful media titan like the NBC/GE corporation, it did appear to bring about a decline in the constant Anti-Polish propaganda coming from NBC. Especially when more Poles were complaining to the various NBC affiliates after this lawsuit.
That link you posted is an excellent link to how the TV/mass media was just bashing the living crap out of Polish people with all types of crude sick and degrading “jokes” and portrayals. Pages 112 and 114 are good summaries of the rabid Anti-Polish hate-through-humor going on in the so called “American” TV media & Hollywood.
What kind of sicko Anti-Polish Bigots are these “people” in the TV/Hollywood media?
For Gods Sake you would think Poland was the NUMBER ONE ENEMY of America with all these vicious attacks on the Polish people.
Did I miss something? Did Poland attack America or something? Wasn’t that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan that started WWII?
Even those countries weren’t as viciously mocked, ridiculed and attacked in the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, etc by these TV/Hollywood maniacs.
Miller - you’re killing me here. Absolutely killing me.
And can I just take a moment to reassure US News Review that any opinions anyone here may hold about his/her intelligence are entirely unrelated to his/her ethnicity.
Sure your’re believable after you just bashed the Poles.
Yeah I’m sure you make deragatory comments portraying the Germans, French, English as having inferior/subhuman intelligence like you do with the Polish. Yeah right. Save it.
The only recurring character on All On the Family who called Mike a Pollack, or claimed his Polish heritage made him stupid, etc, was Archie. The bigot. The loudmouth. He slung Pollack around the same as Spade, Spic, Hebe, and other racial slurs, and he certainly wasn’t shown as being right about Blacks, Latinos, or Jews, where in the hell is the idea he was shown as being right about the Polish coming from?
But USN’s argument is ridiculous on the face of it even before looking at that point, when you consider one obvious fact: Mike was generally, and obviously, the mouthpiece for the very liberal Norman Lear. Despite being cynical/realistic enough to allow him to occasionally stick his foot deep in his mouth, or have his occasional bouts of hypocrisy, (and even then, he was always right on the grand, if not the individual, level) - it’s ridiculous to think he’d make his mouthpiece part of a group he was setting out to systematically ridicule.
Well tell that to the people who would go up to Polish people the next day after watching the show calling them “Dumb Polacks”, “Meatheads”, etc which they obviously got from watching the show. They did this as a “joke”.
Why did the producer even identify the guy Mike as Polish to begin with? Even you admit that the guy would have bouts of hypocrisy and put his foot deep in his mouth. Not to mention the fact the guy was unemployed most of the time and there were many times he was slobbering with food coming out of his mouth looking like a slob when Archie would just look at him and say “What a dumb Polack you are”. At that point the whole audience was laughing WITH Archie Bunker. Its true there were days he was portrayed OK but many other days where he just came across as a big mouth “dumb Polack” unemployed slob.
Its interesting how people across the US had the word “Meathead” and “Dumb Polack” at the tip of their tongue and other Anti-Polish slurs of Archie after watching the show. Evidently they would say these things to Polish people thinking it was OK because they saw it on TV. Whenever people describe Michael Stivic they always call him the “Meathead” or the “Dumb Polack”. You never hear people describing Stivic as the guy unfairly ridiculed by Archie Bunker.
Yes, they were. Every single one of them. Anyone who says otherwise is a comedy-bigot and hates freedom.
So what’s the more logical conclusion:
A.) A lot of people are fucking stupid, and/or bigoted like the character of Archie Bunker.
B.) Norman Lear was engaged in a secret plot to defame people of Polish descent and put on his liberal views as a smokescreen.
This scene from Ghost Dogs is for my money one of the funniest scenes ever put on film. If you’re really really not paying attention, you might think African Americans and Indians are the butt of the joke.
Edit: up to 1:20 in the video–and it cuts off the punchline. Still pretty funny, but dammit!
US News Review seems to be going off the “If I just keep talking and talking eventually I will win everyone over” playbook. I don’t understand where all this vitriol is coming from, but it’s gone from amusing to annoying. Archie Bunker? All In The Family? That show went off the air when I was three! It was the 70’s for chrissakes! I am not Polish but I love jokes told about my ethnicity, even when it’s people from other races. They’re jokes! If I think racist jokes aren’t funny, it’s because they’re not funny, not because of who’s telling them.
I heard that the Polish government bought up 5000 septic tanks on the cheap.
And as soon as they figure out how to drive them they’re invading Germany.
Well…now that you mention it, I do hate freedom…
It feels like you seem to just be complaining that you don’t like the stereotype that Polish people are stupid. The United States has PLENTY of European Stereotypes, but you’re taking umbrage more that the Polish get stuck with the “Dumb” one. Would it be better if it was another stereotype? Why are you so hung up on the Polish and not the plight of the French (Cowardly), Germans (All Nazi’s, fer sure don’tcha know?), Mexicans (Lazy and taking all our jobs!), the British (Stuffy and uptight), the Indians (Drunks and Casino Owners), Canadians (… you got me there), Asian Indians (All tech support guys and taxi drivers), even Americans themselves (Fat, Stupid, Lazy, Gun Nuts, Republican idiots, Left Wing elitists) etc… et cetera…
There’s been stereotypes of almost every nationality on TV if you’re going to go back 30-40 years and complain about television. But most of it isn’t really taken seriously- it’s just a stereotype that every culture has put up with- some better than others. So hearing you complain that Pole’s are given the stereotype of stupid… yeah so what’s the point?
Do you actually feel that the polish are being picked on MORE than other groups?
Or is it that you just don’t like the “stupid” stereotype and wish you had another one? Because any one who really tries to base their assumptions on just stereotypes- that’s just not really going to go that far in life. Do you really care what BillyBob out in Podunkville, USA has to think about the Polish thanks to TV?
Most people are able to see stereotypes for what they are and know that’s not an accurate portrayal of the truth. If you asked me what’s the Polish one- I’d agree with you- they’ve got the “stupid” stereotype (and the best jokes for it); but if you were to ask me if that’s how I actually felt about the culture of people- I’d think you were just plain silly. The biased people who actually DO just believe in Stereotypes get enough scorn from the rest of us usually and keep it to themselves, because if they say that stuff for real in public, they’ll probably get called out for it and looked down on.
So that’s why I feel it’s okay to laugh at a culture, your own and others- it’s just an attempt at humor that may not be for everyone, but that doesn’t mean just because you can’t enjoy it, everyone else should automatically be dumbed down to your level and NO ONE gets to tell the jokes.
And that’s why your arguments aren’t really ringing in my ears- you keep mentioning the Polish stereotype, and I’m still wondering- why focus so much about JUST the Polish jokes?
Is it the content of the Jokes (the Stupid Stereotype) that you dislike?
Or that you honestly feel that the Polish are the most picked on in the Media?
Because I disagree with the latter, and think that perhaps your own bias is causing you to notice it more often than you notice jokes about other cultures and such instead.
And actually to be honest, I’ve never really recalled hearing the Polish stereotype in the Media much- more just in jokes told by people and on the internet- and that’s the generic stuff where you could have put any culture’s name in there and it’d work. It’s like the “A priest, a rabbi, and a ______ walk into a Bar” or a “dumb blond” sort of joke. Just a familiar riff, that can be changed around to fit the needs of the joke teller as needed.
The way I see it, if you can’t laugh at yourself first, what gives you the right to laugh at another group? I don’t really see the difference between the “Dumb Blonde, the Stupid Polish person, the Redneck hick, the ignorant country bumpkin, the stupid Mexican, the dumb Canadian, the (insert name of person from rival College town)” sort of jokes. I’ve seen the same jokes just applied to different cultures, people, whatever as it suits the joke teller and the audience. But I haven’t really noticed that the Polish have been getting the short end of the stick more consistently than other groups.
Just my thoughts on the matter.
Christ. It’s a stupid stereotype.
The Polish are stupid.
The Americans are fat, lazy, and insular.
The British are stuck up, unemotional prats.
The French are cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
Thr Chinese all have laundry or take-out businesses.
I could go on. Those are just the stereotypes I can think of off the top of my head. You’re not special. Get over yourself.
On preview: Dangit, Ro0sh beat me to it. Stupid website timing out.
Really, it is a stupid stereotype. Nothing to get up in arms about by itself (especially not the joke that started this). Yes, there probably are some people prejudiced against the Polish, but there you will find people prejudiced against practically any group. How offended you are is a personal matter, but please, don’t turn this issue into some kind of cultural war. The Polish were in enough wars as it is.
One of my favourite Polish jokes (and I live here) uses the stereotype of the Pole as a contrary and stubborn type, and also utilises German, English and French stereotypes. So please, don’t use more energy for this issue than it warrants, drink some tea, or other beverage of your choice, and relax.
Speaking as a moderator: AGAIN, no more of this.
Generally speaking, they’re comedians. They say things to be funny. That’s about all the ‘fairness’ involved.
None of those people have been on television regularly in decades, unless you count Jerry Lewis’ annual muscular dystrophy telethon. And Carson and Allen are dead. Most of your examples in this thread have been several decades old.
Don Rickles uses existing stereotypes as the basis of his humor. I’ve seen him make all sorts of vicious, stereotypical, insulting jokes about Irish, Blacks, Jews, Mexicans, Russians, English, French, and any other group you care to mention. That’s his shtick, and if you think he’s singling out the Poles because he is using the already existing stereotype then you simple don’t understand his humor. It’s not for everyone.
This is an insult to bigots everywhere. Don Rickles is no bigot, he hates everyone equally.
(Actually, he’s a very nice man from most accounts. His humor is an act.)