Funny? or Not So Much?

Spain's Olympic basketball team posing for "humorous" photo

Sometimes I think our sense of what's funny gets distorted. We are rolling merrily along telling "blonde" jokes and making ethnic groups the butt of stereotypical "humor" (e.g. Polish jokes). "Little moron" jokes were popular when I was a kid as well as the "how many __________s does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Nobody really thought about them, I guess, mainly because we were not the ones on the receiving end of these attempts at humor...nor did we KNOW anybody who might be associated with the punch lines. Thus, they seemed rather harmless...until somebody (maybe Tipper Gore) awoke one day and penned the term "politically correct." At that point in history, things changed dramatically.

For the better or for the worse? I guess we all have to decide for ourselves. Millions of people thought "Borat" was the funniest movie of the year, but I kept squirming in my seat, just as I always do when someone approaches me with, "Hey, did you hear the one about...?" Perhaps I'm more sensitive now that I've lived long enough to know a wide variety of individuals who do not conform to any of the stereotypes and who I would be loathe to offend. Maybe, like Title IX and Affirmative Action, the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction that we're all just afraid...all except Larry the Cable Guy and every "ethnic" comedian on TV. Maybe it's just the WASPs who feel uncomfortable. In fact, I read today that by 2050, caucasians will make up less than 50% of this country's population. Anyway, there are two examples that show we haven't all begun to feel embarrassed about denigrating others.

The men's Olympic basketball from Spain (pictured) along with its women's team, posed for a publicity photo (to be used in Spain only) pulling their eyelids back to simulate being Asian. The furor has erupted throughout the world, and the Spaniards are truly nonplussed. "It was all in fun," one team member said. Espoused another, "Hey, I have Asian friends. This is not a racist statement." Not to Spaniards, probably, but there seem to be many others who feel differently.

The about-to-be-released movie "Tropic Thunder" is another example of our callous use of stereotypes. The comedic effort by Ben Stiller portrays a group of Hollywood actors filming a war epic who really get caught up in a jungle conflict. Funny? Hilarious, some say. For me, there are two things that will prohibit my watching this film.

1. I still remember Viet Nam and all the military conflicts since then. I find nothing humorous in the setting.

2. The word "retard" is used extensively throughout the movie to describe an individual who is deemed less than capable. Perhaps this is meant to underscore our sensitivity to mentally challenged individuals...or perhaps this is another example of junior high verbiage which can do incredible damage. Either way, count me out.

This is not an effort to moralize on my part ("let he who is without sin," etc. etc.) but with the world becoming smaller and smaller, there are enough problems to be solved (like how to make an inexpensive latte) without tossing a gauntlet of elitism out at every opportunity.

Now I'm hoping that the furor over the photo will distract Pau Gasol and his teammates so much that the Redeem Team will hammer them.