brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (11/19/88)
In <8011@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> richmond@athena.mit.edu writes >I am having some friends in Waterloo do some investigations into >Looking Glass Software, where Templeton works, their operations and their >clients. I am in the mood to take some "affirmative action" on this >individual. Hey, why investigate? I'll tell you! I own LGS, it's a software company. (Somedays I suspect I spend more time processing jokes than developing code) Our customers are everywhere, and they seem to like us. Not wanting to turn down an excuse for a plug, let me brag that our latest, the "3-2-1 Blastoff" spreadsheet compiler, was picked by PC World as one of the top microcomputer software products of 1988. But enough about me... :-) After my examinations of the various messages, and the good volume of support mail I have received, I think this series of attacks upon me is really the view of a very small minority. Not that I'm paranoid. I know everybody *thinks* I'm paranoid, but I'm not. You think it, sure, and I know you send secret messages around about how paranoid I am, but really, I'm not. What bothers me the most is the people who cry "racism" on jokes where the true "ism" is to see race (or whatever) in the joke. For example, the joke about "Run, Jesse, Run" bumper stickers on the front bumper was a political joke about a candidate with some rather controversial political policies. The colour of his skin didn't even enter my mind when I posted the joke, although I can see how some might find it there. Too bad. The joke about Liberace and John Turner(1) refers to AIDS. Hate to tell you this, folks, but AIDS doesn't care about sexual orientation when it hits you. If you equated an AIDS joke (or even an anal sex reference) with homosexuality, that's your problem and not mine. If you've made it this far, here's the hardest principle to understand. With most of the extreme racist/sexist/etc.-ist jokes that I post, I find them funny *becuase I am laughing at the extreme racism*. I won't claim that everybody's like this, but my sense of humour includes the ability to laugh at a joke for its sheer offensiveness. For the sheer audacity the joke has in crossing the barriers of polite society. (Hyperbole is a central technique in humour, if you haven't noticed.) It is the racism that is funny, not the race. Now, I will freely admit that some people find these jokes funny for the wrong reason, and usually their authors wrote them for the wrong reason. If I see humour in 'em, I post 'em. That's the rule and that's the way it stays. (Quick quiz for Matt Crawford: This year I posted around 30 Bush/Quayle jokes and around 3 Dukakis/Bentsen jokes. What are my political leanings? [Readers of can.politics & talk.politics.theory aren't allowed to answer.]) Finally, while I have noted my Russian-Jewish heritage before, I will admit that I was exposed, in youth, to mild racist attitudes from my mother. She has always been a bit prejudiced against the German people for what they did to the Jews, whom she considers "her people." I guess my dad's not perfect either, but he does take pride in the fact that he organized what he feels was the first integrated public meeting south of the Mason-Dixon line. Got to go now. I have to get my Klan uniform out of the dryer, or it will get all wrinkled, and then, boy, will I look dumb. ====== (1) Ok, I admit I knew that all you uneducated Yankees(2) wouldn't get that joke. It's only fair after I posted all those Quayle jokes into the rest of the world, just to get comments of, "Huh?" John Turner is the leader of the Liberal Party in Canada, trying to become Prime Minister again in the election on Monday. He vows to tear up the Canada-US free trade agreement, so this election is probably the most important Canadian election in U.S. history(3), if you get my drift. Before his popularity swung up due to the debates, Turner was about to be done in by his own party for doing so badly in the election. (2) That was a real racial slur. (3) Did you know that the USA does more trade with Ontario than with Japan or Germany? If you didn't, then (2) wasn't a slur.(4) (4) If you did know, then (3) was a slur as well. The dryer's still buzzing. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
ggw@dukeac.UUCP (Gregory G. Woodbury) (11/22/88)
In article <2359@looking.UUCP> brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) writes: >In <8011@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> richmond@athena.mit.edu writes >>I am having some friends in Waterloo do some investigations into >>Looking Glass Software, where Templeton works, their operations and their >>clients. I am in the mood to take some "affirmative action" on this >>individual. > >Hey, why investigate? I'll tell you! I own LGS, it's a software company. > >For example, the joke about "Run, Jesse, Run" bumper stickers on the front >bumper was a political joke about a candidate with some rather controversial >political policies. The colour of his skin didn't even enter my mind >when I posted the joke, although I can see how some might find it there. >Too bad. Of course the color of skin doesn't matter! Here in North Carolina, one MIGHT assume that the Jesse was Jackson, but more than a few would be meaning HELMS with that bumper sticker. ;-) This whole flamefest has the flavor of a tempest in a teapot. Those who wish to crucify Mr. Templeton for a small lapse of urbanity wy forgetting to ROT13 a questionable joke are overlooking the facts. As was noted not so long ago in these forums, USENET is a voluntary activity, and there is no guarantee that the participants will be free from all "uncomfortable" influences. This reminds me of the "ultra-liberal" attempts to have everybody completely protected from cradle to grave. To reduce it to its absurd conclusion, soon no one will be allowed to be born -- because life is an ultimately fatal disease. 'Nuf said. -- Gregory G. Woodbury ggw@dukeac.ac.duke.edu ...!mcnc!ecsgate!dukeac!ggw System Manager - dukcds Center for Demographic Studies, Duke University also at: ggw%dukcds@cs.duke.edu dwolfe@tucc.tucc.edu dwolfe@tucc.BITNET The Line Eater is a Boojum Snark! 2117 Campus Drive; Durham NC 27706 -- Gregory G. Woodbury ggw@dukeac.ac.duke.edu ...!mcnc!ecsgate!dukeac!ggw System Manager - dukcds Center for Demographic Studies, Duke University also at: ggw%dukcds@cs.duke.edu dwolfe@tucc.tucc.edu dwolfe@tucc.BITNET The Line Eater is a Boojum Snark! 2117 Campus Drive; Durham NC 27706
gal@atux01.UUCP (G. Levine) (11/29/88)
The comments remind me of the period when "All in the Family" premiered on TV. Some claimed the program perpetuated racial and religious stereotypes and bigotry. Others saw that its purpose was to lampoon racism, to make us laugh at it for the silly that that it is.