its not PC...but

Why is this here? Not even funny. Just really, really sad reflection on the poster. Perhaps next time you post racist trash you can post your name and phone number as well.

Thalia, this is EXCELLENT!!!. Nice to see people in this city can have a sense of humor despite the stress of living/commuting here. People are waaaaaaaaaay too PC nowadays, whatever happened to 'funny'? This is funny. People are too quick to be offended, everyone in this city is looking to fight or sue each other. Anyone who finds this racist probably IS a racist at heart.

white people against blacks. blacks against whites. and all against asians. i see how this works.

/stocks up on guns and ammo

come and get me!!!

Drano wrote: I'll only say that I've never seen anyone of any persuasion smoking on the subway.

Agreed. I've seen a few people on platforms, but that's it.

There have been many late nights where I wanted to smoke on the subway.

I give it +2 Karma points

Subject: Re: its not PC...but

laura wrote: [quote=Emily][quote=thalia]
5. When in groups of 2 or more, please speak English, and make sure you keep the volume under the decibels of any busy airport!

WTF?

This kind of humor is generally improved by being actually funny.
Yeah, I don't get that one at all. Decibel-wise, the group I have problems with is high school girls. All that screeching and silly forced laughter echoing at ear-splitting levels.

I know what you mean. It's like they are trying to convince themselves that they are having some grand, HI-larious time.

Emily wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior]white people against blacks. blacks against whites. and all against asians. i see how this works.

/stocks up on guns and ammo

come and get me!!!

I really think armchair_warrior is the only one to have picked up on the actual subtext of this post. The observations about whites and blacks are so commonplace as to be utterly banal and unfunny (wow, white people like Starbucks? and black people listen to rap? You don't say! :roll: ). Those not-so incisive observations are just an excuse, or cover-story, to repeat a bunch of xenophobic canards about Asian people--the actual purpose of the piece.

So yes, I do think it's offensive. However, I think it would only merit removal under a "kittens and rainbows" rule, which is not what we're about. On the other other hand, I find it sort of disturbing that this appeared ex nihilo--I feel like most times when people post offensive thoughts here it's in the processing of actually thinking through an issue. In this piece there's not much thought and no issues.

thanks for posting this, Emily. I've been struggling to figure out something to say beyond "what a racist, lame pile of crap" and, obvi, was incapable. so I'm really glad you did. and yeah - for once I agree with AW. :shock: :shock:

I agree that high schoolers should be banned from subways....They suck.

thalia wrote: y'all are even funnier than that list...lol

So, shall I mark you down for one "doesn't know what 'xenophobia' means," then? I agree with you that there are more important things in life. But you're certainly not taking much responsibility for the content of this post, and you posted it! And I came here because someone complained to me about it, FYI.

Emily and Alfairnidia.

Do you think any observations that are based on generalizations about an ethnic group are bad?

I see an awful lot of comedians on tv making fun of their own ethnic group (forget about making jokes about others for a second)

I saw a black comedian a few weeks ago who made a ton of jokes about blacks along the lines of those above.

This humor is part of our culture. We should embrace it instead of rejecting it out of knee jerk political correctness I think.

Of course, I'm just a jew boy that likes to make jokes about everything and shit Jewish comedians are a dime a dozen.

Okay, steve, I think we are more on the same page about this post.

First, it sets white and black people in humorous contrast (each group speaking about the other) and then says a bunch of things about Asian people, apparently in the voice of both white and black people, while never giving these supposed Asian people a chance to make fun of white or black people. That seems somehow unfair and imbalanced, even in the context of the joke. As AW says, the punchline comes off like "But after all, the one thing white and black people can agree on is how much we hate Asian immigrants!"

Second, it says things about white and black people that I can imagine members of each group saying about themselves, but I have more difficulty imagining Asian people finding "you should speak English" or garlic jokes funny. I could be wrong about that, but the evidence so far (AW) suggests that I'm on the right track.

Third, I don't see this as a racial thing at all. I see it as a natives-versus-immigrants thing: white and black people, presumably born here, implicitly ganging up on Asian immigrants. I don't think it's funny when people are jerks about how others should speak English, whether the others in question are Latino, Asian, or from wherever else. Most people who make a big deal about how others should speak English are huge assholes about a variety of other issues affecting immigrants, so I guess I don't like to let it slide.

So no, I certainly do not think that all jokes based generalizations are bad. Often, they are pretty funny. What I object to here is items 2, 5, and maybe 8 on the list about Asian people, which I find xenophobic, mean-spirited, and so far, not funny to any member of the group in question--which makes what you say, while interesting, not entirely germane. I couldn't care less about the lists of observations about white and black people.

And to thalia--the general spirit of this board is to debate things rather than censor them. I'm a Site Admin, so I could easily delete this entire thread if I felt like it, but that's not how it's set up to work. You are free to ignore me, and the only penalty is that my opinion of you won't be improved.

alafairnadia wrote: I'm one of the folks that brought up racism with respect to the supposed humor. in essence, all three of the lists, with a few exceptions, are issues of simple courtesy and are descriptions of discourteous behavior perpetrated by all sorts of people of all different backgrounds.

While the lists threw a humorous light on awkward moments between passengers on crowded subway cars, I did not understand why specific bad manners were attributed to specific ethnic groups. When riding the subway daily, I see people of various backgrounds acting badly in various ways.
I can relate to some of the experiences the lists described, such as seeing some idiot spreading personal objects on a free seat, but can't relate to the notion that only certain ethnic groups do specific annoying things on the train. This joke could have been told in another way, without the racism.

What bothered me the most was the idea that black people lean towards violence. I've seen plenty of white boys snap in rage.