| Ethnic Joke |
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| ethnic comedy | |
| racism | |
| stereotypes | |
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Ethnic jokes exploit Ethnic Stereotypes . They are often Racist and frequently considered offensive. For example, the British tell jokes starting " An Englishman, An Irishman And A Scotsman ..." which exploit the supposed parsimony of the Scot , stupidity of the Irish , or some combination. It is sometimes held that such Stereotypes must contain a grain of truth; research suggests that this is not the case.1 Ethnic jokes are often aimed at Minorities within countries, or peoples from neighboring countries. A common ethnic joke format is the "stupid person" joke, where the Stock Character who is the butt of the joke belongs to an ethnic group singled out for abuse. Such jokes are often interchangeable, with the Stigmatized "stupid" group varying from country to country, and region to region. For example, the English tell such jokes about the Irish, Brazilians tell them about the Portuguese, and so on. Ethnic jokes come and go with Social Change , particularly with waves of Immigration from one country to another; for example, Polish jokes, once common in the United States during widespread Polish immigration, are now little used, as Polish and other Eastern European immigrants have long since been absorbed into the large community. Similarly, Irish jokes have become far less common in the United Kingdom as the Social Status of Irish people has risen with increased Wealth in Ireland, the consequent reduction in Irish Itinerant Labor , and the absorption of Irish people into the community; Irish people in England are now as likely to be accountants or lawyers as building laborers. Members of particular ethnic groups may often tell Self-deprecating jokes about their own group; for example, Jewish Jokes are popular among Jews, and British Humor is often self-deprecating. In general, members of groups telling jokes "against" their own group is regarded as more socially acceptable than members of other groups telling the same jokes. For example, the acts of many Black American Comedians feature jokes that would be regarded as unforgivably Racist if told by a non-Black comedian. At their most offensive, ethnic jokes depict their targets as being inherently subhuman, criminal or depraved. Such jokes are usually explicitly, rather than implicitly, racist, often describing their subjects using Ethnic Slur s, and are generally regarded as Hate Speech . People with different Skin Color are particularly singled out for offensive jokes, Black People being a particularly common target in many countries. In England, people of India n, Pakistani and Bangladeshi descent, who are a substantial Minority Group in that country, are the target of similar jokes. Jews are also a common target of ethnic jokes. As public awareness of racism has increased, racial and ethnic jokes have become increasingly socially unacceptable in recent years, and have become socially Taboo to tell in public in many countries. A closely related topic is the telling of jokes about people with Disabilities , such as jokes making fun of the Mentally Ill , which often mirrors that of racist jokes. In an effort to presereve ethnic humor while not targeting real ethnic groups, some people coined the term " Yougarian ," from Yugoslavia n and Hungarian . One such writer was Al Boliska , author of the joke book ''Wipeouts!'' SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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