Mayor's "White House Watermelons" E-Mail Causes a Mess

When did racial jokes & humor become racial attacks? I'd seriously like to know. We've got jokes about every race, creed, class, and orientation of man imaginable. The difference is some are allowed to take offense and the rest of us are supposed to be shocked and mortified alongside them, while others of us are supposed to just take them in stride. NONSENSE! Sticks & stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.

I laughed at the opening picture in this thread. Ooops, did I admit something wrong? I also saw a few of those Bush chimp pictures that made me laugh. I have been known to burst out laughing when someone trips and falls down around me. I make jokes about fat people and am about 320 myself. I know more Christian targeted jokes than anyone I know, and am a Christian myself. There's something seriously, seriously wrong when the world starts painting mere words as being a bigger threat than actions. Nowhere in any legal document, the US Constition, or any official decree have I ever seen that any American has the "Right to never be offended." It's life, sometimes you run into something which personally offends you, get over it and move on or make a scene and become an ass. Problem is, we've become a nation that glorifies the asses because we're all so afraid they'll turn their wrath onto one of us. Case in point, everyone falling all over themselves to placate Al Sharpton... ridiculous!

reply to post by The Last Man on Earth


I sometimes find it almost surreal that America is the home of tv show South Park when I see folks getting upset about this kind of humour.
Makes you wonder how the show even got made...but I digress...apologies.

Originally posted by MBF
I don't know what the problem is, I'm white and I grew watermelons several years ago and have eaten lots of watermelons, sometimes several every day. Heck, if I was the president, that's what the lawn would look like. Heck, WHEN I'm president, that's what it WILL look like. People will find racism in anything they want to.

Don't be ridiculous.
The intention is clear.
The joke is obvious.
It was a stupid thing to do.

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
Nowhere in any legal document, the US Constition, or any official decree have I ever seen that any American has the "Right to never be offended." It's life, sometimes you run into something which personally offends you, get over it and move on or make a scene and become an ass.

I get the whole knee jerk reaction to the "political corectness police".

Honestly though...a racial joke isn't a "personal offense". It's an offense to a large swath of the population. Not "personal" and that is part of the issue.

I guess in the end I don't tell or laugh at racist jokes becuase I don't want anyone to feel affirmed or encouraged in their racist views. These jokes are how racists "feel out" eachother for like views in general conversation.

And a "Mayor" is not some drunk at a bar trying to be funny. He works for the people...he shouldn't be dismissing them as a stereotype. He is an idiot with bad judgement.

I proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the chimp cartoon was only racist to people who see racist behind every tree or people that think money/chimp means black or people that are completely ignorant of how government works. I posted in my Education Thread the WHITE GUYS who sponsored The Stimulus Bill, the other WHITE GUYS co-sponsoring the bill, and even Al Sharpton has backed off this one because he figured out he jumped to fast on the Chimp cartoon against Harry Reid and David Obey.

This E-Mail on watermelons bothers me on several levels and I hope that the people of that city remove that Mayor at the first opportunity. This is one of the most racist/stereotypical pieces of trash I have seen. And I have received some of the emails going around about Barrack and being black as most probably have. I find the fact that some on the right can not yet attack Barrack on any substance of his Presidency (so far), so they attack his race which shows the inherent hatred built into some people (of both parties).

We need more Americans and less Democrats, Republicans, Whites, Blacks, Men, Women and the other plethora of divisions they put us into in this Nation today.

Last thought is "IT IS ON PURPOSE" a distraction a magicians trick of watching the right hand while the left screws us... Why would a Mayor of a city send a Racist Email to a black activist if it was not with the intent of distraction. He had to know it would be news, he had to know it would be widely criticized, he has to know it could cost him his job at least in the next election. So why would he do it with all those costs of doing it, unless that is what the plan is. Those traitors in D.C. are screwing the American people and the next 3-4 generations of Americans everyday with their bills/laws and handouts. They are rapidly destroying this nation brick by brick as we look at the racist cartoon, latest sex scandal, missing children, the woman with 8 kids, or whatever the distraction of the day is. I will give the powers that be this though, giving us a black president gave them an automatic distraction piece whenever one is needed, how easy it is to distract us by offending us...

Keep your eyes on the ball Americans, and never tolerate this kind of behavior from any public servant. But also don't let this kind of behavior distract you from the big picture.

EDIT - DISTRACTION OVER Mayor is resigning, now let's get back to those scumbags in D.C. selling our future...

[edit on 2/27/2009 by theindependentjournal]

Originally posted by lee anoma

Wonder why he thought she would get a kick out of that?

- Lee

Probably, and simply because it is funny as hell!

Originally posted by theindependentjournal
This E-Mail on watermelons bothers me on several levels and I hope that the people of that city remove that Mayor at the first opportunity.

Yeah, the mayor says he plans on resigning soon. At the very least, he's taking responsibility for his actions, which is more than one could say for what else is happening throughout our government.

An African American is the President of the United States. Now, Grow a Sense of Humor!

Originally posted by AshleyD
reply to post by lee anoma

 

They did the same thing with Palin by 'white trashifying' the White House:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/df50e0952fab.jpg[/atsimg]

Yes and this would mean that both are justified since the "joke" was made with a different stereotype against two different races or both are equally offensive?

Thanks,

- Lee

- Lee

Originally posted by OKCBtard

Originally posted by lee anoma



In my opinion this is out of line, and people need to get a grip.

- Lee

Oh wow. Just for the record, my friends and I joke about this kind of stuff all the time. I have seen far worse photo shops of the president with watermelons/fried chikenz/spinning rims/ the whole shabang. Who cares about this story or the pic included in this persons email.
[edit on 26-2-2009 by OKCBtard]

I understand that people racially joke amongst themselves, and for them it seems fine since they clearly have an understanding of each others personal tastes.

As far as who cares?

I'd say the recipient of the email, as she and the mayor are not of the same mind in terms of racial humor. I mean you can't think that all of your racial humor is as hilarious to others as it is to you correct?

She was offended and she certainly has a right to be. This was the Mayor and a public official. His actions are whether justifiably or not, placed above those of the average citizen. I am sure he was aware of what his political status would entail.


- Lee

Originally posted by Doom and Gloom
reply to post by OKCBtard

 

In another thread I just completely disagreed with you. On this subject I absolutely agree with what you say. People take these thing way too far. There is too much media saturation.

Is this the first place you've found this story?
I didn't find it anywhere but on some obscure site by accident and it wasn't even something I was looking for. It wasn't even on the same day that it was released.

Maybe people do take things too far, I don't know if this is the case with this email though.

If you are to allow people the right to have a broad scope and leeway in terms of potentially offensive racial humor and claim no one has a right to reign them in on it, then who are you to gauge just how far someone goes in relation to the offense they may feel toward such humor?

You are granting a lot of freedom to one side, and yet curtailing it in another.

I wonder sometimes if there is any humor that we would find offensive at all?
Does it have to specifically relate to us in order to be offensive?

Our race?
Our religion?
If we cannot relate or empathize does that make the offense null?

The media has nothing to do with the offense the recipient of the email felt.
I didn't see this story get that much national attention either.

- Lee

Originally posted by Flighty
reply to post by The Last Man on Earth

 

I sometimes find it almost surreal that America is the home of tv show South Park when I see folks getting upset about this kind of humour.
Makes you wonder how the show even got made...but I digress...apologies.

I liked the first season of South Park but I just watched last year.
I loved the movie.

Like I said, it depends mostly on who you tell the joke to.
If you have the freedom to tell it, they certainly have the freedom to be offended by it.

Whether it was right or wrong depends on the perception of the two individuals and if they come to a certain conclusion based on what discussion takes place once they talk about the situation.

Is anything at all offensive?
Should we just rule out all consideration?

If I think it's funny to call cashiers a certain "dirty name" should I expect them to laugh along during our exchange?

- Lee

reply to post by theindependentjournal


Thanks for the info, I had no idea he was resigning.
Also, although we may differ in terms of the chimp toon, I agree with you on this card.

I think the artist pulled a brilliant move on this one, but his past work wasn't so ambiguous in it's intentions. That was a stroke of genius on his part yet this is from a man who copied one of his earlier strips, redrew it slightly and posted it as new with a simple horizontal flip.

Go figure.

- Lee

What's with all this "The Constitution is being ripped apart" stuff, but you cannot get away with a simple joke protected under the First Amendment. I think that if people want to criticize people based on an arbitrary distinction, they should be able to.

Who cares? It's funny. Since when is joking around illegal? People today are far too serious and I think that is a huge part of the problem in this country. Clint Eastwood touched on this subject the other day, here is his quote:

"People have lost their sense of humour. In former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth or you will be insulted as a racist," the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

"I find that ridiculous. In those earlier days every friendly clique had a 'Sam the Jew' or 'Jose the Mexican' - but we didn't think anything of it or have a racist thought. It was just normal that we made jokes based on our nationality or ethnicity. That was never a problem. I don't want to be politically correct.

We're all spending too much time and energy trying to be politically correct about everything," he added

It's funny and thats all there is to it. I have a lot of black friends who would think that picture is hilarious. We, as a people, shouldn't be controlled over the fact that a small amount of people are upset over something.

If I were that mayor, I would NEVER apologize.

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