Can it really be called racist if it's this inclusive?

The only people that should be offended by this are the people whose race he DIDN'T include.
😃
 
rob aylestone said:
It's what used to be called humour - having a laugh and taking the content as a joke
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No offence Rob, but in my whole life, the only people I've ever heard offer that explanation are the ones that tended to make the jokes that they count as humour. And in England, it has always been White Englishmen. Or Northern Irishmen. I'd almost bet my life you'd feel a whole way different if you spent an evening in Kingston or Detroit or even Stockwell being the butt of a continuous stream of "condescending towards Whites" humour aimed in your direction. And I'm not talking about the mild stuff. I doubt many of us would stomach a half-hour of a stand-up comedian cracking jokes about our Mothers' menstrual cycles or wives/girlfriend's/partner's lopsided vulvas or dry vaginas and applying a racial or cultural tag to it.

That all said, lots of unsavoury things are actually funny. To some people. I'm sure I could think of a few funny comments on the subject of someone's Mother dying on the loo and not being found for a few days or someone's baby bouncing like a newly blown-up basketball when dropped down the stairs by their big brother or someone flying like Superman straight through the windscreen of a car hitting a bus head-on.
rob aylestone said:
Nowadays, you have to have a committee to decide what is allowed to be funny - your own likes and dislikes were allowed
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It's not so much that there needs to be a committee on what is and what isn't funny. It's more that, after decades of having shitty comments and crap flung in one's direction, under the guise of "humour", those on the receiving end rather had enough and stood up and said, "Hey, you know what ? I don't like this. I never did, but now I'm going to tell you I don't and you can go suck on a horse's...um, mane 😸 if you don't like me saying so."
I do find it somewhat amusing that there are many people that complain that they can't get away with being condescending any more.
 
As for the actual advert, I wouldn't say it was racist.
But there's a major caveat to that. The overwhelming majority of people that I come across that use the word 'racist' clearly have no idea what 'racist' actually means. Racism is a belief in the inherent superiority of one race over another. It doesn't even have to be in favour of one's own race {although it nearly always ends up that way}. Taken to a certain logical conclusion, one could even be racist against their own race.
Racism is the least of our worries. The advert can't be said to be racist unless we're prepared to argue this on the basis of what was in the ad maker's or business's head. And we don't know that. What I can say is that the racial and cultural stereotyping was way worse than anything that could be construed as racist.
 
I never expected this ridiculous ad to lead to any serious discussion. I just thought it was hilarious.

It's my fault. I asked what I thought was a ridiculously dumb, hypothetical question, not expecting to get anything but laughs and eye rolls.

I haven't started a thread in Prime Time in over 7 years. Now I remember why. :)
 
Random dude said:
I never expected this ridiculous ad to lead to any serious discussion
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It's the power of humour ! 😜
There's an old saying that "many a true word is said in jest" which basically means that many times, when something funny or a joke is being told, it's actually covering up something that's serious to the person making the statement.
Off the top of my head, in 1967, the Beatles recorded two songs that bear this out, "Only a Northern Song" by George and "Good Morning, Good Morning" by John. George said that his one was just a joke but its subject matter was his bitterness at only being a contracted writer in the band's publishing company, Northern Songs. And John's one captured his utter boredom with fame, marriage and suburban life and shone a light into his acid addiction and made him ripe for Apple, the Maharishi and Yoko. But the song itself is funny. As Ian McDonald put it when reviewing the song, "No one in pop cursed more entertainingly than Lennon."
Humour has been used to pretty devastating effect historically and still continues to be. Liz Truss, who was our Prime Minister for 45 days a couple of years back, when it looked like she was going to struggle to keep her position, someone put up a lettuce to see whether it could stay fresher longer than Liz could stay in the job and the lettuce won. Now, that was funny.
Racial stereotyping in humour of the negative variety made many a life miserable ~ it couldn't fail to generate some interesting views on various sides of the debate.
 
Specifically referring to stand-up comedy, a friend once remarked that the only way to get people to laugh nowadays is to tell drawn-out stories about gang-raping babies.
grimtraveller said:
There's an old saying that "many a true word is said in jest" which basically means that many times, when something funny or a joke is being told, it's actually covering up something that's serious to the person making the statement.
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Come to think of it, I did that today. Twice.
 
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Every part of the world has characteristics, in appearance, way of speaking, clothes, hair etc but while everyone knows about them a few have decided none of us can mention them. Thats what i object to. If i am nasty to somebody, then if unjust probably i deserve what i get. Going to a fancy dress in a sombrero and dangly black moustache is stereotyping, and funny. Taking the p out of a UK posh accent is fine when an american does it. Our posh people just sigh and blame lack of education.
 
I used to love to watch Don Rickles. Some people would complain that he picked on certain people. That wasn't true, he picked on EVERYBODY and ANYBODY. It didn't matter who or what you were, he had a joke to insult you! He didn't care if you were a movie star, someone he was friends with, a fat guy in the front row, a waiter serving dinner, or a fancy lady leaving to go the bathroom. Black, White, guy or gal, Chinese, Mexican, Catholic, Jewish, fat, skinny, tall or short. He would have a crack about you in some way.

...and they say he was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet offstage.
 
TalismanRich said:
I used to love to watch Don Rickles. Some people would complain that he picked on certain people. That wasn't true, he picked on EVERYBODY and ANYBODY. It didn't matter who or what you were, he had a joke to insult you! He didn't care if you were a movie star, someone he was friends with, a fat guy in the front row, a waiter serving dinner, or a fancy lady leaving to go the bathroom. Black, White, guy or gal, Chinese, Mexican, Catholic, Jewish, fat, skinny, tall or short. He would have a crack about you in some way.

...and they say he was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet offstage.
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Never met him. But I did have an interaction with him once.

On the 101 freeway in the LA, a green Jaguar was on my ass. Despite me going over the speed limit this annoying driver kept on my ass. I guess I wasn’t going fast enough for him.

Finally he got an opening in the next lane to pass me. As he did, he flipped me the bird and yelled out his window ASSHOLE!!

Yeah, in real life, away from the stage, he was one hell of a nice guy. Seemed like just another dickhead to me.

But hey, it’s kind of funny. I got flipped off by Don Rickles. :D
 
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