--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], anon_couscous_ff <no_reply@> > wrote: > First, I don't think a comedy that features a > particular minority-type character with flaws can > really be said to be attributing the flaws to the > minority as a whole, especially if the character > is a sympathetic one.
Some of the examples do this, some don't. > And if it's a group being demeaned, but at the same > time the members of the group featured in the comedy > are also shown to have attractive characteristics, > it also falls short of the kind of thing I think is > offensive. Some of the examples do this, some don't. > > At any rate, the shows you mention, partly because > they're *shows*, are all in pretty much a different > category than a piece of writing in which a group is > demeaned without ever showing the group's positive side. Well South Park -- from what I have seen of it, pretty much demans everyone -- does not show a positive side when doing so -- and is hilarious. > One other point: When the unattractive characteristic > is actually harmful, there's a lot more basis for > holding it up to ridicule. The caste system in > India is clearly harmful. I've heard the veneration of > cows criticized as harmful--can't recall the reasons--but > among the world's evils, it doesn't seem like such a > big deal. And what on earth is harmful about cooking > over a fire? > > Those two were just plain gratuitous, suggesting that > Indians are basically uncivilized. Of course these > things would be harmful *on a plane*, but nobody actually > brings cows on a plane or tries to do their cooking over > a fire on a plane. > > If they'd wanted to keep it consistent and inoffensive > while still criticizing the caste system, they'd have > thought of something that lower-caste people tend to > do on planes that *isn't* harmful but is disdained by > the higher castes, so that the criticism remained > focused on those who are scornful of the lower castes, > not those who are the object of the scorn. I think its pretty clear (to me) that if you tried your hand at writing comedy, it would be political correct, inoffensive, and not funny. > I'm sure it wasn't intended to be bigoted, it was just > not well thought out. My take on the two lines you found offensive in the piece are different from yours. Why you don't find the satire (I didn't say high satire) in the piece -- ridiculing stereotypes -- by making such extreme and silly, is a bit mystifying.I am sure you feel mystified as to how I can be so dimwitted as to see such. So a stand-off I suppose. :) To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
