When is it safe to tell a racist joke? How can offence be sidestepped - or even legitimately be provoked?
You might enjoy my brief and shamelessly wicked analysis of racist humour at:
http://www.writers-village.org/writing-award-blog/how-to-write-humour-yet-stay-out-of-jail
John Yeoman, Writers' Village 
Quote: John Yeoman @ June 21 2011, 6:32 PM BSTWhen is it safe to tell a racist joke?
Yes, provided it is about the French.
Do you find other races especially amusing?
I don't know any jokes about athletes so I wouldn't know...
Yes.
*pauses*
Humans suck!
Quote: John Yeoman @ June 21 2011, 6:32 PM BSTWhen is it safe to tell a racist joke?
Off the top of my head I would say 1974. Then it was "safe" because the general society potrayed in the mainstream seemed to do that kind of thing quite often, not to be edgy or controversial, that was just the attitudes.
Last night I watched an ep of Only Fools... on vhs box set and Del Boy gives a kid some money and tells him to run along to the "p*** shop" and buy some sweets, del boy wasnt a potrayal of a racist character yet this casual terminology was a reflecion of the attitudes.
Nowadays attitudes have progressed - So, its my guess a writer/comedian/filmmaker/broadcaster/artiste should be making statements/jokes/work that has relevance to his/her own audience and reflects his/her own time, and to be honest glib racist humour had its time then, not now.
One's religon is one thing, their nationality is another, gender another, hair colour/weight/sexuality another so as per your essay: Yes, you can make fun of yourself and your "category" because the primary experience of being yourself outweighs a secondary observation about you.
But you can't really poke fun at anothers beacuse it lacks any truth, witty/funny observations about anothers national identity etc are just that, observations,that's fine, but to go gung ho and say "this is a fact about 'them'" is plain nonsense...
Why? In the same way you're free to punch yourself in the face but not free to punch others. And to anyone who wants to quote "freedom of speech" etc, fine, if public recycling of playground stereotyping is "Freedom" go ahead, just maybe stick to a political/ideological rally rather than a comedy club.
PS- this is all just merely opinion and maybe hypocritical because Ive laughed heartily at many a family guy cutaway that could be deemed "....ist" but it feels different to say, a Jim Davidson Red, White & Blue diatribe.
Quote: Jack Daniels @ June 22 2011, 1:14 AM BSTDel Boy gives a kid some money and tells him to run along to the "p*** shop" and buy some sweets, del boy wasnt a potrayal of a racist character yet this casual terminology was a reflecion of the attitudes.
In this case, all that's happened is that "the P word" has changed meaning. Back then, it was simply an abbreviation of a longer word, and was no more racist than calling someone an 'Aussie'.
Quote: Nogget @ June 22 2011, 6:30 AM BSTIn this case, all that's happened is that "the P word" has changed meaning. Back then, it was simply an abbreviation of a longer word, and was no more racist than calling someone an 'Aussie'.
Saying to call someone a Paki is just like calling someone an Aussie couldn't be more wrong...
If you look at Britain and its empirical allies they all give each other non offensive nicknames like Digger, Cobber, Yank, Jock, Taffy etc, they're delivered like simple jingoistic terms of endearment, no offence given, none taken...
On the other hand, look at Britain's 'traditional' enemies like Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc. and you'll find terms like Kraut, Frog, Dago, Spic etc., all words that are really quite intentionally offensive even if used in the most simplistic fashion...
'Paki' fits quite clearly into the second category, during the sixties when Pakistanis first arrived in Britain in large numbers, they weren't seen as 'Our friends from the Empire', they were demonised by the popular media as thieves and deviants, only here to either steal our jobs or scrounge off us hard working Brits by wasting their lives away in white people's houses on unearned state benefits...
The word Paki was about as an offensive term you could imagine so please don't confuse it with some romantic notion that Brits used it in fun and the Pakistanis accepted it as such...
Quote: Jack Daniels @ June 22 2011, 1:14 AM BSTAnd to anyone who wants to quote "freedom of speech" etc, fine, if public recycling of playground stereotyping is "Freedom" go ahead, just maybe stick to a political/ideological rally rather than a comedy club.
Of course the important thing about freedom of speech is that you are free to say what you want but it doesn't give you any right whatsoever to an audience.
So, if someone is unpleasant enough to want to call people p***s and n*****s, refusing them stage time in a comedy club no more infringes their freedom of speech than say, them not letting me stand on their bed at 3am calling their mum a slut infringes on my freedom of speech.
And, as with all rights, our own rights end where someone else's start. Hence the law will crack down on people inciting violence - as that infringes someone else's right not to have the crap kicked out of them.
And the important thing about THAT is that you have a pretty unlimited right to get offended by anything you want but very little right to NOT getting offended. i.e. being offended does not equate to being 'harmed' - you taking offence at something I do, say, wear or believe is your own business. As long as I do no harm, you don't have a right to stop me being/doing any of those things.
In answer to the question posed by the thread title: you can if you want to. Why you'd want to is beyond me.
Not if you are Frankie Boyle I dare say and not raise multi-media coverage.
Quote: RedZed333 @ June 22 2011, 7:11 AM BSTSaying to call someone a Paki is just like calling someone an Aussie couldn't be more wrong...
If you look at Britain and its empirical allies they all give each other non offensive nicknames like Digger, Cobber, Yank, Jock, Taffy etc, they're delivered like simple jingoistic terms of endearment, no offence given, none taken...
On the other hand, look at Britain's 'traditional' enemies like Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc. and you'll find terms like Kraut, Frog, Dago, Spic etc., all words that are really quite intentionally offensive even if used in the most simplistic fashion...
'Paki' fits quite clearly into the second category, during the sixties when Pakistanis first arrived in Britain in large numbers, they weren't seen as 'Our friends from the Empire', they were demonised by the popular media as thieves and deviants, only here to either steal our jobs or scrounge off us hard working Brits by wasting their lives away in white people's houses on unearned state benefits...
The word Paki was about as an offensive term you could imagine so please don't confuse it with some romantic notion that Brits used it in fun and the Pakistanis accepted it as such...
Nogget doesn't need defending by me but I'll do it anyway. H's right and you're wrong.
Now jog on.
On the subject of Racist jokes, it's still very acceptable to racially chastise the Welsh, Arabs, and Slavs. Lead Balloon's Magda - from an un-named East European country, recently described how there were no pavements in her country, and you 'walk on the side of the road and try to avoid lorries'.
I'm not sure P word ever had a positive connotation.
It has no negative connotations in America, where it is used (very rarely) but just like Aussie, as said above.
But I have no idea if it was ever used as an innocent abbreviation in the UK.
Quote: sootyj @ June 22 2011, 4:32 PM BSTI'm not sure P word ever had a positive connotation.
It didn't. It's not acceptable, and the argument that it's just a harmless abbreviation of Pakistani is bollocks. It's a word designed and used as an insult in exactly the same way as the N word.