Recently, on a blog hosted by my local newspaper, a blogger who focuses on language and writing posted a blog titled:
"Are 'Dumb Blonde' Jokes/Polack Jokes, Etc.. 'Politically Incorrect' and Thus 'Offensive'?"
He followed with two lame blonde jokes and an equally lame Polack joke. I left a comment about how I don't personally find them offensive, but that if a person is offended no one can tell them that they should not be. I ended up with some other thoughts that I'm going to make my first diary.
Follow the bouncing ball-
The blogger lays out 3 jokes:
#1
The "Dumb Blonde" goes to visit her gynecologist to have a sonogram. When he explains to her that she will be having twins, she bursts out in surprise, "Hey! That isn't possible. I've never once double-dated."
#2
The DB goes next door to visit her neighbor and to see her baby twin daughters. The neighbor tells her that twins are only once in 50, 000 events. DB: "Gee, how did you ever find time to do your housework?"
#3
In the village where the Dumb Polack was raised, it was the custom of the uncle to name his sister's children. This DP's sister had twins, and so he named the girl Denise and the boy Denephew.
The last joke is of particular interest to me, because I am Polish. That is, my great-great-grandfather carried a Polish name across the ocean to America, and dumped on his descendents an unspellable and unpronounceable last name. Very few Americans, it seems, know exactly where Poland is. But they definitely know that it's full of dummies.
I can tell you everyone knows that Polacks are dumb. They do things like wave from trees when they only have one arm to hang on with, and put screen doors on their submarines. I've known this since I was a child. When I was young I found out that the Polish ancestor I have actually came here as a subject of William of Prussia, so I started telling people that I'm not Polish, I'm Prussian. I had no idea what that meant, but I thought it was much cooler. First of all it doesn't exist so no one is really sure how many of them it takes to screw in a light bulb. People just assume one of them can do it alone. I liked being Prussian, but as I learned more I liked it less, and that "ski" became more undeniable. I'm Polish, you see.
There is an inherent "it's funny because it's true" aspect to any joke dealing with stereotypes and identities. Argue all you like, but if you replace "Dumb Blonde" and "Dumb Polack" with "Some Person", the jokes lose the (little) effect they have. They are only effective because everybody "knows" Polacks and Blondes are dumb. Since no one knows anything that they didn't learn, somewhere along the line everyone learned that Polacks and Blondes are dumb. Where did they learn it? Probably from a joke.
So I could be offended by the Polack joke, but I couldn't answer yes to the question posed. I checked wikipedia, under Political Correctness, and I found this:
The term "political correctness" is used almost exclusively in a pejorative sense
So the original question is loaded. The blogger asks:
"Are 'Dumb Blonde' Jokes/Polack Jokes, Etc.. 'Politically Incorrect' and Thus 'Offensive'?"
tying political incorrectness to the offensiveness in a way that, in order to be offended, a reader would have to admit that they ascribe to the doctrine of PC, which is "used almost exclusively in a pejorative sense"
I read a little more wiki, and found this:
Some commentators have argued that the term "political correctness" is a straw man invented by conservatives in the 1990s in order to challenge progressive social change, especially with respect to issues of race, religion and gender.
Now we have to get into the definition of PC.
>From American Heritage Dictionary:
Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
Yes, I am that. I believe in supporting change to redress historical injustices. I live that. I am PC. But wait just a minute.
From Agustin Blazquez
Political Correctness remains just what it was intended to be: a sophisticated and dangerous form of censorship and oppression, imposed upon the citizenry with the ultimate goal of manipulating, brainwashing and destroying our society.
Ouch. Most definitely not me.
From Le Quebecois Libre:
political correctness (and multiculturalism) threatens free speech in both the academic sphere and the non-academic workplace and ultimately the very foundation of North American society.
Yikes.
So in order to be offended by a stupid joke, I have to admit to a plot to destroy America?
The thing I noticed as I looked up Political Correctness, is that the term is almost exclusively used by those claiming to be the victim of it, namely conservatives. This is the strawman. Conservatives have taken an idea to redefine how we think about and express race, class, gender, sexual orientation and made it into an oppressive plot to destroy America. This is the oppressor as victim, this is the creation of the Angry White Male. By creating this dismissive term for the liberal movement, conservatives have discredited the entire thing with ease. They have allowed the bigots to be victims. Why would they want to challenge progressive social change? Power and money, of course. Don't worry Southern Man, those northerners are oppressing you and we well protect you. Don't worry Heartlander, we won't let those San Fran loons get you. Anyone who tells your police not to profile black people, anyone who tells you that god doesn't hate gay people, well, they're just part of the PC thought police. They want to destroy America. So vote for us, and pay no attention to what is going on behind the curtain.
Not only is this the victimization of the oppressor, this is part of the breakdown of the line between truth and truthiness. When something is said to be politically incorrect, it implies that in some other context, in some other sense besides the political, it is indeed correct. So is it politically incorrect to say that Polacks are dumb? Yes. Is it just plain old incorrect to say that Polacks are dumb? Yes. There is, in fact, no context in which this statement not incorrect. Take the modifier "politically" off of "incorrect", and you still have a true statement. "Politically" is not needed. It only serves truthiness and controls the truth. Controlling truth equals power.
On an issue of more importance than Polacks, creationists have leveled the PC accusation at scientists. They don't want creationism in schools because it's politically incorrect, they say. And by adding that unneeded politically, they avoid dealing with the actual charge against them, that their idea is scientifically incorrect. See the difference? Politics are in the eye of the beholder, they are debatable, they are protected by the 1st Amendment. There is no scientific truth in politics. Equating evolution with the political, equating evolution with the religious, just gets people used to the idea of all truths being debatable, and the acceptance of truthiness over truth. That way, well, they can say whatever they want.
The problem will be that the right has become overzealous, and have turned into PC thought police themselves. Witness the Petraeus/BetrayUS add. Witness the Dixie Chicks. Witness the charge of anti-American, America hater, and/or Blame America First that is leveled against those that dissent. This is right wing political correctness, make no mistake. So next time you're confronted with one of these charges, just say:
Sorry, I don't buy into the whole PC thing.
whoa man! wait, what?