RE: [HoB/D] Humor and Culture (was The Last Word on Words)

[Louie Crew <lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu>]

It would be a terrible loss if we get so sensitive we cannot laugh lest we
hurt someone's feelings.   God made the funny bone, and it will atrophy if
we don't use it, especially to join others in laughing at ourselves.

When we lived in China, we frequently encountered Chinese stereotypes.  For
example, it was not at all uncommon to get on a bus and hear passengers all
around say DA BIDZU ("the big noses").  I would laugh and say rather loudly
to Ernest, SAI BIDZU ("the little noses.") Some would laugh with me, and
others sat in appropriate silence.

Sometimes they would say, HAAK YUN (black person), to which Ernest would
reply HUANG YUN (yellow persons).

In either case, most were shocked that we knew what they were saying and
somewhat relieved that we could joke about it.

I have seen straight folks so fearful of eggshells that they won't get real
in conversations about lgbt people.

Humor not only hurts; it can heal, especially minority humor about the
majority.  Jesus was a master of it.  See my article, "Jesus Laughed" at
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/jlaughed.html

And the malicious should walk on eggshells:  In the mid-1970s I was sitting
in the student center drinking coffee alone. Most tables around me were
occupied.  A student that I did not know came by and whispered in my ear,
"Faggot!"  I replied very loudly: "Five dollars?! I wouldn't do that for
5,000 thousand dollars!"  He started to reply but when he heard everyone
laughing at him, he realized that he could not speak without making his
situation worse.

Louie

Louie Crew, 377 S. Harrison St., 12d, East Orange, NJ 07018.  973-395-1068
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/ Queer Eye for the Lectionary

"If Michelangelo had been straight he would have painted the Sistine Chapel
off white with a roller."  -- Rita Mae Brown