Bigoted Am I; A Discussion on Racism, Homosexuality, and Humor - General

[QUOTE=Jo The Shmo;30733021]I'm half Jewish, and sometimes I'll make an occasional light-hearted Jew joke, normally when someone reaches over for a penny or something. One of my friends who is barely religious, but is officially fully-Jewish gets really angry at me for doing so, but his only reason for doing so that I'm not Jewish like him. I've talked with him, and he says he isn't even offended by the jokes himself, he just gets mad because I'm "not allowed" to make those jokes. I think that's stupid.[/QUOTE] how are you "half jewish"?

[QUOTE=Oecleus;30733077]how are you "half jewish"?[/QUOTE] Jewish parent, non-Jewish other-parent? I actually know a guy who's like that. Jewish mother, (x nationality here) father.

[QUOTE=Oecleus;30733077]how are you "half jewish"?[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_is_a_Jew%3F#.22Half-Jewish.22[/url]

It's just troubling when jokes become so common that they permeate the cultural perception of a group. That's when you start to marginalise people. Of course a couple of jokes never seem like they're doing any harm and anyone who is against that seems like an antsy pussy, but that's missing the point that there are significant repercussions from continuing to make a certain group the butt of all jokes.

it's just odd how there are no "half christians". Like their needs to be a certain category just for Judaism.

[QUOTE=Oecleus;30733125]it's just odd how there are no "half christians". Like their needs to be a certain category just for Judaism.[/QUOTE] judaism feels like an ethnic group to jews because jews were often discriminated against it as an ethnicity

making a racist joke doesn't make you racist. I can joke all day about mexicans being lazy but until I actually think they are I'm all good. Ironic racism, despite popular belief, is not racism.

[QUOTE=thisispain;30733150]judaism feels like an ethnic group to jews because jews were often discriminated against it as an ethnicity[/QUOTE] how can a religion be a race

ahh so you aren't half religious jew, you are a half ethnic jew. I guess that makes sense

[QUOTE=Pace.;30733220]how can a religion be a race[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashkenazi_jew[/url] i don't know you tell me :allears:

[QUOTE=Jo The Shmo;30732928]I read to here, but this really made me question how much you know about racism. "Black" is not an offensive term at all, it's the correct term to call someone who's... well... black. If you were to call all black people "African American", that might actually be worse, because you're also assuming they are American citizens of African descent. (It might be true, but it might not be true) If you really want to be politically correct about it, call them black. There's nothing wrong with that.[/QUOTE] I used that in lieu of a much more intense term. [QUOTE=Jo The Shmo;30733021]I'm half Jewish, and sometimes I'll make an occasional light-hearted Jew joke, normally when someone reaches over for a penny or something. One of my friends who is barely religious, but is officially fully-Jewish gets really angry at me for doing so, but his only reason for doing so that I'm not Jewish like him. I've talked with him, and he says he isn't even offended by the jokes himself, he just gets mad because I'm "not allowed" to make those jokes. I think that's stupid.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I find that hypocritical. [QUOTE=YouWithTheFace.;30732654]are you sure you were as calm and rational as you are portraying yourself to be? i would ask for the thread and site but i don't want to risk being banned for "raiding"[/QUOTE] The most aggressive thing I said was "I don't think you understand how racism works".

what's a black man's idea of foreplay? shut up bitch or i'll cut you

[QUOTE=Oecleus;30733125]it's just odd how there are no "half christians". Like their needs to be a certain category just for Judaism.[/QUOTE] pretty sure there's technically a jewish ethnicity or family line or something like that

Im commonly not offended by much but the only thing that really pisses me off is when people use the terms "gay" or Jew" as insults. Honestly grow the fuck up.

There are a lot of discrepancies on the definition of race. It differs greatly from region to region. Such as Hutus and Tutsis. You can't even tell the difference if you look at them, honestly. Same with Persians and Arabs, etc.

To everyone: If people are offended by your joke, you shouldn't say anything similar to "you're extremely sensitive, grow up", it's going to make things worse. Just say that you weren't aware of making an offensive joke and don't make that same type of joke to him/her again.

[QUOTE=johnlmonkey;30733760]Im commonly not offended by much but the only thing that really pisses me off is when people use the terms "gay" or Jew" as insults. Honestly grow the fuck up.[/QUOTE] ur gay [editline]13:37[/editline] what pisses me off is when one of my friends say something's gay and then realizes and says "oh". its not that i find the insult insulting (in fact, i dont even give a fuck about it- i even do it sometimes), its that they think it insults me.

[QUOTE=Pace.;30733220]how can a religion be a race[/QUOTE] You're getting confused between Judaism and the Jewish ethnicity. Historically, Jewish people migrated from the middle east and many spread to Europe and lived separately from the already inhabiting population. Not really gonna explain this in detail today, it's an hour past midnight here.

I poke at myself for being white, and at my friend for coming from a Mexican background, yet he makes fun of me for being white all the time, yet he can't stand anything said about him. I can't stand that, at all :mad:

[QUOTE=Oecleus;30733125]it's just odd how there are no "half christians". Like their needs to be a certain category just for Judaism.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure when someone says the Jewish race they mean the Hebrew race, not those that follow the religion of Judaism.

My asian friends and I always make jokes about our own and each other's race. Depends on the person, I guess.

[QUOTE=Tim Henson;30731768]I think if everybody got a sense of humor the whole world would be a lot nicer. Stop letting words control you, for fuck's sake.[/QUOTE] words have meaning you know, that's kind of the whole point of words

[QUOTE=Oecleus;30733229]ahh so you aren't half religious jew, you are a half ethnic jew. I guess that makes sense[/QUOTE] Religion-wise I am much more Jewish than I am anything else, if you look at what I celebrate. If you're talking about what I actually believe, I'm pretty much atheist/agnostic. If you're talking about my actual genetics, only half of my family is actually Jewish.

When it comes to stuff like this, the crime is in the intent. Meaning if you're trying to be vicious and hurtful with your "joke", then you're a racist. But if you're just doing it lightheartedly, with close friends, etc then it's just humor.

I'm bisexual, but I've got a habit of using faggot, queer, dyke, ect. as joking insults, like if a friend says "Why wont this work for me?", "Because you're a faggot.". I do get offended when someone uses it as an actual insult though.

If you're offending more people than you're entertaining, it's probably time to start telling some different jokes. Once you alienate somebody, you're not going to be able to argue them into changing their mind. With any joke that backfires that badly, it's usually best to just say, "sorry man, didn't mean to offend," and move on.

Something some people should learn Stereotyping =/= Rascim

What I hate is when people jump the gun and outright refuse to let go even when the original person explains themselves. For example, I remember having a discussion in my LA thread about sleeping with other people in the same bed. It was specifically about gay people, so someone went and said "I wouldn't want to sleep with a gay dude in the same bed." Now, this statement by itself sounds bad, but in the context of the conversation it was just poorly worded. That didn't stop a dude from going and attacking that poster with hardcore "omg ur a homophobe you terrible human being." The original poster explained himself, stating that he wouldn't want anyone that he isn't in a relationship sleeping in the same bed with him, no matter what gender or sexuality they are. He only stated a gay male because the conversation was about gay males. Sure, he used some poor words, but it was an honest mistake, not an act of homophobia. However, the attacker just refused to let go, and called the guy a homophobe for 3 pages or so. I just think there's a lot of hypocrisy in those that attack others for homophobia/general bigotism. They're pretty much attacking someone for being close-minded, but often they are close-minded themselves. Once they've made up their mind that someone is a bigot, they just refuse to change it no matter how well the person explains themselves. They seem to forget that sometimes people make mistakes. Is Tracy Morgan a bigot/homophone and whatnot? Probably not, he just made the mistake of writing some bad jokes. The sad thing is that no matter what he does to try and redeem himself, people will always attack him for that one time he made some bad jokes about gays.

[QUOTE=MaverickIB;30744323]What I hate is when people jump the gun and outright refuse to let go even when the original person explains themselves. For example, I remember having a discussion in my LA thread about sleeping with other people in the same bed. It was specifically about gay people, so someone went and said "I wouldn't want to sleep with a gay dude in the same bed." Now, this statement by itself sounds bad, but in the context of the conversation it was just poorly worded. That didn't stop a dude from going and attacking that poster with hardcore "omg ur a homophobe you terrible human being." The original poster explained himself, stating that he wouldn't want anyone that he isn't in a relationship sleeping in the same bed with him, no matter what gender or sexuality they are. He only stated a gay male because the conversation was about gay males. Sure, he used some poor words, but it was an honest mistake, not an act of homophobia. However, the attacker just refused to let go, and called the guy a homophobe for 3 pages or so. I just think there's a lot of hypocrisy in those that attack others for homophobia/general bigotism. They're pretty much attacking someone for being close-minded, but often they are close-minded themselves. Once they've made up their mind that someone is a bigot, they just refuse to change it no matter how well the person explains themselves. They seem to forget that sometimes people make mistakes. Is Tracy Morgan a bigot/homophone and whatnot? Probably not, he just made the mistake of writing some bad jokes. The sad thing is that no matter what he does to try and redeem himself, people will always attack him for that one time he made some bad jokes about gays.[/QUOTE] Tracy Morgan made it very clear he wasn't a homophobe in some statements. Supposedly he cried on a man's shoulder when he was confronted about the incident. What really put me off about these people in question is that when we were having debate they immediately assumed that since I was defending "offensive" jokes that I was a racist. It probably didn't help that the moderator was gay and black, so I'm sure he has had a few offensive jokes thrown his way during his lifetime. Doesn't make him any less of an idiot for saying "these people can say this but these people can't".

Something being racist is subjective, either the person who the joke is aimed it takes it light heartedly or doesn't.