The_Kansan: Ok, here's the straight skinny: This same joke has been around, in one form or another, for more than 1,000 years. Whilst doing research on comedy and humor in various cultures/countries, I've seen at least fifty different translations of this same joke. American indians even had a version of it concerning the Indo-Europeans that "invaded" the North American Continent.
For every joke out there that makes some folks bust a gut laughing, there will be others who take offense to to it. The simple fact is that if humor weren't cruel, it wouldn't be humor. Even the most innocent joke or funny story is making light of or "poking fun at" someone/something.
The difference I've noticed over the years of telling jokes and writing comedy is that those who scream loudest when a joke/story is told about their particular race/nationality/skin color/football team/favorite brand of automobile, etc... are, themselves, the most short sighted, racist, least tolerant, most unforgiving, etc... These folks are also the same ones who laugh the loudest when the same joke or story is told about a different culture/losing team/favorite auto, etc...
Then of course, you also have those who simply are not happy unless they're pointing fingers at someone else. Like petulant children wanting a piece of candy because of the shiny wrapper, they won't hush until you ignore them. (Make the mistake of giving them the candy and they'll only whine for another piece in a different wrapper.)
There's an old joke that I could slip in here - and because I'm a truckdriver, I'll use that as the subject, but one could also substitute nearly any profession/ person's name and/or nationality - Q: What's the difference between a truckdriver and a puppy? A: After about six weeks, the puppy will stop whining!
You have summed it up quite well Kansan! BW is able to point a finger and whine and accuse someone else of racism (accusing me personally of causing a Humanitarian crisis in 3rd world countries) but is very shortsighted and cannot see it in himself.....even when it is pointed out to him by various CS members. It's typical that somehow the accuser always accuses people of attacking them when someone points out to them that they are using racist wording.
