[debate] racism in humor (was blonde jokes)

[R K Singh]

Are you in US ?? here its 2:30 am
So, why would a people use 'Surd' instead of some other community?
Even surd use surd word and most of the offensive jokes on surd I have heard from surds.
And have you not heard jokes on Marathas/Madrasis/Gultis/Biharis/'UP Ka Bhaiya'/Bengali/Chinki...
if not then you have to go a long way.
If you have not seen a taj Mahal then it does not mean that Taj Mahal does not exist.
AW its just a trend .. follow it and enjoy or follow it in Basha's style :wink:
But in Basha's style, problem is if person is not sport then game is spoiled.
Why do we use 'surds' in jokes?
I dont use it to make fun of them. Dont know about you.
Why people use irish/blonde/redneck/Gulti etc community for their joke?
Ravish-- let us talk abt film .. Have you seen "Machis" by Gulzar.
You have not seen movie. This movie deals with punjab in a very sophisticated manner.
In this movie there is one dialogue:
======================
Un Logo Ne Hum Par Joke Bhi Sunana Band Kar Diya Tha.
======================
[Now they stoped telling jokes on us.]
This dialogue is in sad tone. A sikh is telling a problem of terrorism to his friend.[In the movie, the guy is terrorist.]
ad hominem (circumstantial): the person's character, nationality or religion may be attacked.
Still you need to see lot of things in life. I am talking about experiences.
can I guess that you have not been with any surd?
I can guess this because you think that surd jokes are to make their fun and I have lived with them for 4 yrs.
Check your fallacies site.... it must be one of the fallacies

[Bhau Mhatre]

Ravish ---------
Even surd use surd word and most of the offensive jokes on surd I have heard from surds.
AW its just a trend ..
---------------------------
Bhau--- Why did the trend start to begin with? Herb Slocomb may correct me, but i think his question was why do we have such trends of steriotyping a particular community? My reason was 'historical contexts'. What's your reason for such a trend about Surds?
Ravish --- Why people use irish/blonde/redneck/Gulti etc community for their joke?
Bhau --- Given three nationalities, British, Japanese, and Brazilians, can you guess which group of people might be cracking more jokes on the Irish? If you can guess that right, then you will probably also guess the reason why?
Ravish -- can I guess that you have not been with any surd?
Bhau -- Wrong.
Ravish -- I can guess this because you think that surd jokes are to make their fun.
Bhau -- Yes.
Ravish -- and I have lived with them for 4 yrs.
Bhau -- So?
Still you need to see lot of things in life. I am talking about experiences.
Prejudicial Language ?

[R K Singh]

My reason was 'historical contexts'. What's your reason for such a trend about Surds?

Surds jokes were started by Mughals and long before 1947 from the time of Aurangzeb or before that.
No more spoon feeding. Google net.
Bhau --- Given three nationalities, British, Japanese, and Brazilians, can you guess which group of people might be cracking more jokes on the Irish?
Your point.. even I use irish characters sometimes in my jokes.
In 'Mayapuri'[a 'C' grade hindi magazine] I will show you blonde jokes....
Bhau -- Wrong.
then I might be in worng company...
Bhau -- Yes.
Cant help you...
Bhau -- So?
I can say I know more about this community than you.
Prejudicial Language ?
I told you that you will find one on your site.
So now do me a favor.. please rephrase the joke in question ...
===========
A blonde.....
..... breathanalyzer
===========

[John Dunn]

MI: I'm Dunn on this thread!!!
Ha Ha!! Me too!

Herb! I was actually impressed that a man can be conserned with women sentiments, you do not see it too often, as this thread wonderfully illustrate. Thanks, and I am Dunn with this thread!

Every man but Herb is an evil-doing, woman-hater!
Herb, you attitudes regarding the blondes has a dangerous side. First off, think of how Cindy, a blonde, described the reasoning behind the jokes. (i.e. a joke about dumb women/dumb men)
If ALL offensive jokes are equal then the terms used to describe offensive behavior become watered down and people who are victims of overt offense suffer.
Here's an analogy that actually prompted my thoughts on this from an essay I read in the book the New Vitorians:
Date Rape was devised to distinguish the rapes that did not leave a woman necessarily beaten and bruised and that often fell between the cracks. (I remember it gained momentum around the late eighties, and until then these rapes were hard to prove and often went unmentioned. ) Okay, so finally the term got into mainstream due to the hard work of women's groups and women's groups then decide to do some legitimate studies to determine how extensive the problem of date rape really is. (no harm there...)
A survey was set up that to determine, via questionaire if a woman was date-raped. Problem was that some of the questions were so broad that seemingly innocuous encounters were showing up as rapes. For example, one question was something to the affect of "Has a man ever placed his finger inside you and made you feel uncomfortable" OR "Has a man ever touched you without your saying he could". Well some woman were answering "Yes" to the initial question but "No" in regards to "have you ever been violated by a man?" OR "have you ever felt you were date-raped?".
So the women's groups that were trying to prevent date-rape by nipping it in the bud and getting the word out, (a noble cause indeed), were actually trivializing the notion of date-rape in the minds of many women. Some women felt calling some of their experiences date-rape made them shrug off the whole idea as frivilous, even amongst themselves. (i.e. Hey, quiet Sally was date-raped - ...Oh she probably just doesn't tolerate anything but vanilla sex, I used to feel that way, its not big deal.)
The danger is that the when some women do inevitabley fall victim to date-rape, they be lumped together with some of the more trivial examples and the victims' credibility will suffer. So there is a tipping point to labeling offesive acts in which too much labeling actually becomes counter-productive.
So IMO, lumping blonde-jokes in with all the other issues women or other victim groups face actually does not do them any justice.
-----------
MI: If you mean me, then I posted my "thanks Herb!" simply to show some people how their so-called "good laugh" or "sense of humor" may look like!
I think we knew you were being sarcastic, but someone who didn't know you wouldn't know that.
( the perils of sarcasm...)
MI: Couldn't imagine anybody would actually find those jokes enjoyable or believe another human being would find them enjoyable!
Again, I ask Can you be politically incorrect if you are laughing at yourself? I have some black friends that laugh quite a bit a black jokes, as do Chris Rock, etc. (i.e. the Stevie Wonder joke about smiling cause he doesn't know he's black.) I've heard that in mixed company on many occasions.
My guess is that Herb has a very good understanding of the issue that most of us agree on, but is trying to be provocative. My gut feeling, from reading his past posts in other threads, is that he really doesn't believe his own argument either...

[frank davis]

Originally posted by John Dunn:
[/QB]
So IMO, lumping blonde-jokes in with all the other issues women or other victim groups face actually does not do them any justice.
[/QB]

I'm sorry you misperceived a "lumping blonde-jokes in with all the other issues women or other victim groups face". I had thought I was clear in several posts to note that the harm done by a joke may be small, and that by implication, this would not be in the same category as activities that cause larger amounts of harm. My point is that, yes, the damage done by a joke is small, but at the very least it perpetuates and reinforces an unhelpful stereotype that woman are currently still struggling against. Is that so controversial? Can't we laugh or joke or have fun without perpetuating stereotypes? Isn't humor possible without insulting groups of people?
Regarding the rascist jokes :
I didn't speicifically refer to Map as a person enjoying the rascist jokes because I suspected she might have been sarcastic, but there was another person as well if I remember correctly.
[QB]

[Michael Ernest]

Originally posted by herb slocomb:

My point is that, yes, the damage done by a joke is small, but at the very least it perpetuates and reinforces an unhelpful stereotype that woman are currently still struggling against. Is that so controversial? Can't we laugh or joke or have fun without perpetuating stereotypes? Isn't humor possible without insulting groups of people?

The real difference of opinion here is what forms of humor constitute an insult, not whether humor is possible without it. Several people here want to draw a line they feel personally comfortable with.
You could ask everyone to be nice and funny at the same time. Hold hands, be best friends all that. Nurture each other, help each other, understand each other share. Maybe some gentle sobbing together.
We could all be sincere, warm, generous, open-hearted souls, intent on making the world a better place in every thought and action. Lambs of God and all that. Just like you and I have been trying to do all this time, Herb.
Or you could wake up from that little dream of yours and recognize there's far more to life that we don't understand than we do. You could accept that people use humor all the time to cope with that. You could accept that between love and hate there's a ton of middle ground, and trying to drive all people to either pole all the time has little to do with the reality of the human condition.
Saints and sinners all come from the same pool of talent as the rest of us, Herb. If you're about tolerance, why not learn how to tolerate what you deem intolerable behavior? There's some real homework for ya.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Michael Ernest:

The real difference of opinion here is what forms of humor constitute an insult, not whether humor is possible without it. Several people here want to draw a line they feel personally comfortable with.
You could ask everyone to be nice and funny at the same time. Hold hands, be best friends all that. Nurture each other, help each other, understand each other share. Maybe some gentle sobbing together.
We could all be sincere, warm, generous, open-hearted souls, intent on making the world a better place in every thought and action. Lambs of God and all that. Just like you and I have been trying to do all this time, Herb.
Or you could wake up from that little dream of yours and recognize there's far more to life that we don't understand than we do. You could accept that people use humor all the time to cope with that. You could accept that between love and hate there's a ton of middle ground, and trying to drive all people to either pole all the time has little to do with the reality of the human condition.
Saints and sinners all come from the same pool of talent as the rest of us, Herb. If you're about tolerance, why not learn how to tolerate what you deem intolerable behavior? There's some real homework for ya.

Gee, didn't realize how "intolerant" I was being by having my "little dream" that was "driving all people to either pole" of love and hate, just by asking people to refrain from insulting stereotyping :roll:
Funny how I'm the progressive here and you're the conservative trying to preserve the status quo.

[Michael Ernest]

Political correctness is neither conservative nor liberal. It's just a form for limiting speech within a boundary one person thinks other people think is acceptable for all the people to think.
Pleading for "kinder, gentler" anything is and has been conservative dogma for more than a decade. At its heart is an attempt to repress speech that operates on the periphery, rather than the norm, of social tastes.
Nothing you have said on this point amounts to a progressive viewpoint, Herb. It's just another way of imposing your own sensibilities on what other people should be allowed to say.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Michael Ernest:
Political correctness is neither conservative nor liberal. It's just a form for limiting speech within a boundary one person thinks other people think is acceptable for all the people to think.
Pleading for "kinder, gentler" anything is and has been conservative dogma for more than a decade. At its heart is an attempt to repress speech that operates on the periphery, rather than the norm, of social tastes.
Nothing you have said on this point amounts to a progressive viewpoint, Herb. It's just another way of imposing your own sensibilities on what other people should be allowed to say.

Sorry Michael, amidst all your oration, generalizations, distortions, and gross simplifications of my view points, I'm missing the specifics of where we disagree.

Let's try to clarify things instead of obscure them. Which of the following proposition(s) do you view as false or distorted :
1. Harmful stereotypes about women exist in our society.
2. Humor can reinforce and perpetuate existing harmful sterotypes about women.
3. Humor can be used to cause harm by insulting or degrading women.
4. Humor can be enjoyed without #2 & #3.
5. If #4 is possible, it is to be preferred over
#2 and #3.
6. It is permissable to publicy advocate #5.
I'm pretty much a libertarian so censorship is not an option for me, but that doesn't mean I cannot or should not lobby for greater awareness on these issues or prod people people to act more responsibly. What's wrong with asking people to be nice for heavens sake?

[Cindy Glass]

Does this mean that I can't tell any "Man Jokes" anymore??
Tim Allen (the TV guy from "Home Improvement", not our own Tim ) made alot of people laugh by playing off the stereotype of the "typical man". Nobody accused HIM of being policically incorrect.
[ July 25, 2003: Message edited by: Cindy Glass ]

[paul wheaton]

It's good to see so many people getting offended. After all, if you're not getting offended at something, you aren't paying attention.
Do blonde jokes oppress women? Absolutely! Do they oppress any race? No way - because most blondes are blonde by choice, not heredity.
So really, the only issue we're dealing with here is oppression of women.
While most folks hear a blonde joke, they know it is based on a false premise. Their opinion of women is not lowered. The trouble is with the few people that are not certain about the mental ability of women. These folks may come to some errant conclusions based on the information they learn from these jokes. And then these people may present road blocks to women in the future.
The point is valid. Blonde jokes oppress women.
<h1>BUT ....</h1>
The other side of the argument is that of culture. If we stick to not using any joke that could possibly be offensive or oppressive to anybody, we will eliminate nearly all jokes. And once we start down that road, it would seem that we should take it upon ourselves to eliminate anything that is "bad" for society. Taking this idea way too far leads to where we all dress the same, say the same things, do the same things, and maybe the only food we eat comes from the government sponsored McDonald's food dispensery.
Damn near anything that is interesting offends somebody. If you want my site to be absolutely un-offensive, I think my site will quickly become a ghost town. It will be just that boring. And that's not what I want.
At the same time, there are some layers of offense that are too much for me (and the bartenders and sheriffs) and that's gotta go. Cuz if you offend almost everybody, you again end up with a ghost town.
In the case of these blonde jokes: Well, let's say they do five units of harm and fifty units of good. Therefore, the good outweighs the bad. They stay.
Next up! Quadraplegic jokes told to me by a quadraplegic!
(sample: what do you call a guy with no arms and legs sitting in front of your door? Matt.)

[Gail Schlentz]

Well, I feel that jokes of any type oppress those of us with no sense of humor. There should be a ban on anything to do with humor.
hahahahahaha

[ July 25, 2003: Message edited by: Elaine Micheals ]

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Cindy Glass:
Does this mean that I can't tell any "Man Jokes" anymore??
Tim Allen (the TV guy, not our own Tim ) made alot of people laugh by playing off the stereotype of the "typical man". Nobody accused HIM of being policically incorrect.

Cindy,
Do as thou wilt, just consider whether the jokes perpetuate harmful stereotypes. I'm not familiar with Tim Allen. How harmful are those man joke stereotypes? Do they make fun of a specific man or all men? Are these man stereotypes something men struggle against daily and cause them harm?
Those seem like simple guidelines if you need guidance.
I'm not suggesting every case is clearly black/white type of issue, but just asking for greater awareness of what may cause harm. I simply come to promote peace and love [insert Jesus/Buddha icon].

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
Do blonde jokes oppress women? Absolutely!
If you want my site to be absolutely un-offensive, I think my site will quickly become a ghost town.

In the case of these blonde jokes: Well, let's say they do five units of harm and fifty units of good. Therefore, the good outweighs the bad. They stay.

Good points, even though we weigh the good vs bad differently, and that I think there is no "need" for any bad. I'm no longer arguing for the banning of the jokes, although I will continue to argue and post against them.

[Michael Ernest]

HS: Sorry Michael, amidst all your oration, generalizations, distortions, and gross simplifications of my view points, I'm missing the specifics of where we disagree.
ME: Interesting that you should write about me what I think about you.
HS: Let's try to clarify things instead of obscure them.
ME: Only when you can recognize the P/A patterns in your own speech, my friend.
HS: 1. Harmful steretypes about women exist in our society.
ME: Ok.
2. Humor can reinforce and perpetuate existing harmful sterotypes about women.
ME: Ok.
3. Humor can be used to cause harm by insulting or degrading women.
ME: Ok.
4. Humor can be enjoyed without #2 & #3.
ME: Ok.
5. If #4 is possible, it is to be preferred over
#2 and #3.
ME: Not ok.
6. It is permissable to publicy advocate #5.
ME: JavaRanch is not a public forum in the sense of the word you are invoking. It is not a "free" space managed for all people to exercise their right to speak freely. It is not a common, governmentally-maintained trust. It may operate on those shared principles to some degree. It may seek the input of its subscribers and change its own policies to meet the needs of those subscribers or serve at their pleasure. But JavaRanch is not a public square. Why do you insist of language that makes it into something it is not?
HS: I'm pretty much a libertarian so censorship is not an option for me.
ME: As a libertarian you'd be opposed to governmental censorship, in principle. Governmental oversight on censorship imposed by non-public agencies would require more government, wouldn't it? You libertarians I thought believed in people governing themselves as they saw fit.
HS: but that doesn't mean I cannot or should not lobby for greater awareness on these issues or prod people people to act more responsibly.
ME: As a libertarian, that's what you should be doing, I suppose.
HS: What's wrong with asking people to be nice for heavens sake?
ME: From my perspective? You've already heard it.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Michael Ernest:

5. If #4 [humor without insulting and harmfull sterotype] is possible, it is to be preferred over
#2 and #3 [insulting and harmful stereotypes humor].
Michael Ernest: Not ok.

Ok, I just happen to have a value system more Jesus/Buddha like, where if harming others can be avoided, I think it should be.

6. It is permissable to publicy advocate #5.
Ernest: JavaRanch is not a public forum in the sense of the word you are invoking. It is not a "free" space managed for all people to exercise their right to speak freely. It is not a common, governmentally-maintained trust. It may operate on those shared principles to some degree. It may seek the input of its subscribers and change its own policies to meet the needs of those subscribers or serve at their pleasure. But JavaRanch is not a public square. Why do you insist of language that makes it into something it is not?

Again, more oration and distortion of my views. Javaranch is obviously not a "governmentally maintained trust" and I didn't imply it was. It IS an extremely public forum in the sense that anyone can view it and exchange views on it. Its this aspect, the extremely publicness of it, that allows widespread dispersion of harmfull stereotypes, that requires a little care, thoughtfulness, and consideration of all who participate. I'm just basically saying to be considerate.

HS: What's wrong with asking people to be nice for heavens sake?
ME: From my perspective? You've already heard it.

Well, we'll have to leave it at, I still see nothing wrong in requesting for people to be considerate.

[Michael Ernest]

Herb Slocumb:
Ok, I just happen to have a value system more Jesus/Buddha like, where if harming others can be avoided, I think it should be.

Now we have it, Herb. You consider yourself morally superior to people who don't agree with you. You haven't changed a bit.
All that back-patting will keep those elbow joints nice and supple.

[paul wheaton]

Did Jesus tell Blonde jokes?
Did Buddha?

[Jason Menard]

Originally posted by herb slocomb:
Well, we'll have to leave it at, I still see nothing wrong in requesting for people to be considerate.

Nothing is wrong in asking other people to act in a manner in which you feel is considerate. Falsely accusing people of racism, and generally handling the situation in an insulting and condescending manner seems to be a little bit off the mark from a simple request for people to be considerate however.

[Michael Ernest]

That's not at all what you said. If that's what you're saying now, good.

[Michael Morris]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
Did Jesus tell Blonde jokes?
Did Buddha?

I guess the real question is have you ever seen a blonde Jew or Hindu?

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Jason Menard:

Nothing is wrong in asking other people to act in a manner in which you feel is considerate. Falsely accusing people of racism, and generally handling the situation in an insulting and condescending manner seems to be a little bit off the mark from a simple request for people to be considerate however.

I did not accuse any person of being a racist. I did say the "joke" could be racist and I gave several explanations of why I believed that (some of them unique to my experiences as a member of a minority group). As in this case, my views are misreprestned and I am the one personally attacked. Given the context, I doubt racism was the actual intent and stopped mentioning it. I apologize if anyone felt insulted, I come as did Jesus/Buddha, to bring peace and love, but sometimes my zeal for truth burns too hot. [insert burning Buddha icon]

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
Did Jesus tell Blonde jokes?
Did Buddha?

Neither the Holy Sutras nor the Holy Gospel record a single instance of a blonde joke. Nor do we have a single instance of the 12 disciples, or the Pope, or the Dali Lama, etc, repeating or giggling at blonde jokes. In this case I fall into the category of the holy ones, and the posters of blonde jokes are, well, in a un-holy category.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Jason Menard:

BTW, does your blonde wife support all these jokes? I had asked earlier for you to rate her laughter, how did that go?

[paul wheaton]

I would imagine that if they told a blonde joke, or heard a blonde joke, it would most likely not be recorded.
Since this is not recorded, it is left open for speculation. I think that how you might speculate in this area would reflect a lot on yourself.
Both seem like generally happy guys and proponents of the common man. I think they not only told blonde jokes (or maybe Roman jokes), but they told really good ones! I bet they had a mastery of really bringing a joke to life.

[Cindy Glass]

After all, a joke is just a parable with a twist .

[Michael Morris]

Originally posted by Cindy Glass:
After all, a joke is just a parable with a twist .

Yes, and I would suggest that Herb check out a copy of the "Life of Bryan" and take the advice of my signature at the bottom.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Michael Morris:

Yes, and I would suggest that Herb check out a copy of the "Life of Bryan" and take the advice of my signature at the bottom.

As a victim of the US public school system, I cannot read Latin and consider myself lucky to read English.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Cindy Glass:
After all, a joke is just a parable with a twist .

Yet why was there never a recorded parable that was a joke?

Jokes are unholy, especially those that perpetuate harmfull stereotypes that
"oppress women" (to quote Paul Wheaton).

[paul wheaton]

I guess all the women I know are not threatened by this form of humor. And at the same time, they actually seem to enjoy it!
Let's see, it appears there is no measured harm (just hypothetical harm). And there is measured joy. As an engineer, I would have to say that this joke thing has been an enormous success!
All praise for the souls that braved the harsh words to tell their jokes! MORE! MORE! MORE!

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
I would imagine that if they told a blonde joke, or heard a blonde joke, it would most likely not be recorded.

Why would jokes by holy men "most likely not be recorded" ??
I would imagine that if any mainstream high holy men had joked someone
would have remembered the joke. Then it would most likely be repeated at every
official gathering and the congragation would be required to laugh.
Yet we have no jokes by either Jesus or Buddha, and none by Mohammed that I am familiar with. I can't recall any Shinto jokes neither. Myabe there is some obscure rainforest tribe that has holy men who tell oppressive blonde jokes that we just haven't heard yet? Maybe the Hindus have holy oppressive blonde jokes?
The evidence seems to be that blonde jokes are not holy.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
[QB]
Let's see, it appears there is no measured harm (just hypothetical harm). [QB]

It hasn't been but a few hours ago you said blonde jokes were "oppressive to women" and you even went so far as to estimate the relative harm to good caused by those oppressive jokes.

[Michael Morris]

Originally posted by herb slocomb:

As a victim of the US public school system, I cannot read Latin and consider myself lucky to read English.

Just watch the movie, particularly the last scene, then the Latin may become clear.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
I guess all the women I know are not threatened by this form of humor.

How many of the women you know are natural blondes? I think there is a difference in self perception on whether a characteristic is something you're born with or something that came from a bottle. The bottle blondes probably don't see their blondeness as part of their real identity in any way, so they could more easily laugh at the jokes. Of course the brunnetes may laugh simply because they don't identify with blondes (women can be catty). Or maybe some of the women are laughing because its expected of them having been raised in a culture that supports stereotypes. I've had woman who have liked me that have laughed at any damm thing I said if they thought I was trying to joke ( I realize I've left myself wide open here, but I'm brave). Laughing, its a woman thing, they don't know what their doing. They may not even be aware of how they are supporting the stereotype and how it creates/perpetuates a social climate that is not in their best interest. That's why I'm here posting, to raise the awareness of all Javaranchers, men and women.

[Kevin Thompson]

Paul - It has been extremely succussful!
Yes! Everybody now knows you are a dumbass pig.
Kevin

[Marilyn de Queiroz]

Originally posted by herb slocomb:
... women can be catty...

Only women?

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Marilyn de Queiroz:

Only women?

For the sake of brevity, I often don't qualify every statement I make.
Also, since the discussion and context centered on women, clarifying and qualifying each statement to include men would probably be more distracting than enlightening, at least on the major points under discussion. Since we were discussing blonde woman jokes and their effect on women, I though it best to focus on women rather than men. Please give me enough credit that you know the answer to the question that you ask.

[paul wheaton]

Paul sez: Let's see, it appears there is no measured harm (just hypothetical harm).
Herb sez: It hasn't been but a few hours ago you said blonde jokes were "oppressive to women" and you even went so far as to estimate the relative harm to good caused by those oppressive jokes.

and now Paul sez:
Yes, from a scientific/theoretical standpoint, there is probably some woman somwhere that could of lessor character than the women here and thus be oppressed by me for telling the joke. Completely hypothetical.
I will even go so far as to say that there could be somebody that read the joke that could be, in the future, oppressed in some small way by or, or might be an oppressor based on what they "learned" from the joke.
BUT! From a practical and engineering perspective, there is no measured harm.
To use your line of thinking: Do you refuse to acknowledge the joy, laughter and fun that clearly so many people get from the jokes?
What is your assessment of the good vs. evil of these jokes? You are quick to point out the evil, but refuse to admit to the good.
This is but one small thing that has a downside. There are millions of things with downsides. The automobile emits toxic gasses, poising scores of people, yet do you drive? A vast array of poisons are being used in agriculture, so do you not buy the products that advocate their use?
Are you oppressing laughter and joy?
While I'm no theologin, it did seem to me that Jesus was a big fan of Joy and happiness. Did Jesus tell jokes? Maybe not about blondes, but, lets say, about Romans. Maybe about a couple of Centurians walking down the street and they encounter a Jew .... Oh sure, it might be oppressive to Centurians, but they're pretty tough guys, they can probably take it. In the mean time, people can have a laugh and feel good for a little bit.
There's a difference between making the world a better place and making the world a boring place.

[frank davis]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
Do blonde jokes oppress women? Absolutely!

Weird how you sound so positive of the oppression there , then later
you claim no real harm.
You people are not serious. My work here is done,
and like the ancient apostles, I shake the sand from my sandals and leave this city.

[paul wheaton]

Originally posted by herb slocomb:

Originally posted by herb slocomb:
[QB]
How many of the women you know are natural blondes?

What does it matter? As I've repeatedly explained, I think that hair color is a non issue.

Originally posted by herb slocomb:

(women can be catty)

Wow! Talk about being opressive to women!

Originally posted by herb slocomb:

Laughing, its a woman thing, they don't know what their doing.

Dude, I think you're digging your own grave here. I think the jokes aren't nearly as harsh as the things you've said here. And there was some side benefit to the jokes. I think you had better start apologizing like crazy or you're gonna catch hell!