Joy-
Not all of it is racist and there are certainly some funny bits
(heck, the conference fee itself is worth a good chuckle); but a
number of the jokes are very clearly based on broad stereotypes of
either Africa or those dark-skinned uncivilized folks of the third
world. If the focus was strictly on things like the use of capital
letters and some of the other aspects of the emails itself, it would
have been fine. It's the extraneous "cultural" elements which use
mocking disdain and broad stereotyping (crickets, some of
the 'inflected' speech, and the comment requesting that the
participants use the restrooms) as humor.
It's not that you can't make fun of how laughably inept some of these
scams are and about the thought processes behind them, it's when you
go beyond that and make fun of how "backwards" these people might be
in their day-to-day lives. (Let's laugh about what they eat, let's
laugh about how they don't even know how [or are unwilling] to use a
toilet).
- David
--- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, mayhem <meurtre_at_e...>
wrote:
> Racist!?
>
> It does play off against stereotypes about the developing world--
which
> functions in the context of the joke as a sort of "backwater" of
> civilization--but that isn't a lot different from the sorts of
jokes we make
> about rural white Southerners. The implication is that only someone
from a
> relatively unsophisticated culture would send out e-mails like this
and
> think people would actually bite and send them money.
>
> The joke isn't the con, it's how ridiculous the con appears to the
average
> American--particularly those from educated backgrounds or urban
areas.
>
> I don't happen to recall whether crickets are eaten in Africa. I
think not.
> Certainly indoor plumbing is a novelty in large parts of sub-
Saharan Africa,
> though. The point is not the details of the joke--any more than a
joke about
> "trailer trash" depends on the targets actually residing in
trailers.
>
> The joke has nothing to do with skin color, and everything to do
with
> culture.
>
> Clearly the producer of the web site is not targeting all Africans--
just
> e-mail scammers. Just as most jokes about "rednecks" don't (or
shouldn't)
> target all Southerners--just those who are undereducated and/or
racist.
>
> I just do not see a tie-in to the color of African skin, here. Just
don't.
>
> I think it's a little problematic to assume that everytime a joke
is made,
> and people of color--or a person of color--are/is part of the
target group,
> the term "racist" can be thrown around. This attitude can lead to
tiptoeing
> around anyone who is a member of any minority group (or females),
lest one
> be accused of insensitivity/racism/sexism/hetrosexism.
>
> And without humor, where the hell are we?
>
>
> --Q.M.
>
>
>
> Lenny-
>
> I don't consider myself overly touchy about these things, but this
> link is seriously racist. I know it's just trying to be funny, but
> jokes about eating crickets and making sure guests use the restrooms
> have nothing to do with email scams and everything to do with
> prejudices about Africans.
>
>
>
>
> --- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, "7visions"
> <7visions_at_p...> wrote:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > http://j-walk.com/blog/docs/conference.htm
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
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Received on 2003-06-14 13:04:55