Is 'racist' humour ever acceptable?

[Blue]

As Helen has explained that she has a number of reasons for not liking the word 'handicapped', other than her error about its origin, I will refrain from commenting any further.

 

[Auntie Helen]

I've caused tremendous thread drift from the racist discussion about this thread initially, so I apologise.

May I put my hand up to be racist about Americans, far too quick to judge them as potty evangelical 6-day-creationists with no brains. Racism is presumably not just about skin colour, I know that I tend to feel a sense of superiority over your average American which is probably (!!) unjustified.

 

[Blue]

I tend to feel a sense of superiority over your average American which is probably (!!) unjustified.

Oh, I don't know.

 

[PaulB]

May I put my hand up to be racist about Americans,

No. For several reasons but mostly "American" isn't a race. Equally, some of the people you feel superior to will be of the same race as yourself so I would think racism would be difficult in that circumstance.

 

[Mr Pig]

I've caused tremendous thread drift, so I apologise.

Don't be daft, isn't that what how conversation is supposed to go? Interesting ones anyway.

Are the words and phrases mentioned really offencive or are the people suggesting that they are just people who like to complain? I think the later. They complain about one word until they get it banned, then they move on to the next and before you can say golly's your uncle you're terrified to open your mouth! Soon you run out of words and have to replaces words with idiot phrases, like 'vertically challenged' or 'less ably bodied'. And no, just because someone complains about something does not mean they are right or should be able to expect all others around them to conform to their whims. It depends.

Sometimes people are just grumpy. Being disabled isn't a very good thing and I can see why some disabled people would feel grumpy. I would. Life's unfair, people don't understand, no one cares, I would feel that way probably. Maybe have a moan about it, about how I'm made to feel downtrodden and unequal. But do I feel unequal because of the things other people do and say, or do I feel unequal because I am?

But at least you have some justification in moaning about your own hardships. Some people just like moaning. Professional, serial moaners. Politicians, campaigners, grownups who are still in collage. Generally speaking, people who don't work. Maybe conducting a study into how many tooth brushes the average person uses in their lifetime but not 'real' work. Not living in the real world allows these clowns to dream up whatever daft ideas they like and find validation among their technicoloured friends. Then foist their genius on the rest of us! :0(

How did it happen that the sane majority of people in this country allowed these bampots to be in charge of anything? Are we all too busy to stop them? Are their wacky causes thought too irrelevant for sensible people to involve themselves with? Head's up children, they're running amok. You thought they were way over there but you better check your garden! Maybe you can't stop them, maybe you can't kill them but you really should tell them to shut the f*** up.

 

[Pedaldog]

I was going through my nursing training, back in 1992, at the time when I was a "Registered Nurse to the Mentally Handicapped" and even before I had finished the course we had to use "Learning Disabled"! I think it then went on to "Learning Difficulties" so PC had moved so fast that I don't know what terms are current. I put myself into a coma in '96 with a serious accident. As a result of that I am physically disabled (Hemiplaegie/ Hemiparesis) and I have many difficulties with the "Fat Controller" inside my skull. Am I mentally handicapped, learning disabled, or learning difficulties? The 2nd two describe people in their Learning years so I suppose I am mentally handicapped. It might not show in public so people might just think I had a few odd mannerisms. If I told any organisation that I had a handicap they would go into Shock at my crude language. What do I think? Anything that isn't meant as a putdown or direct insult is fine by me.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I remember when I was at university (or "Polytechnic" as it was then) there was an article in the student rag about how we should be referring to people as "dysabled" rather than "disabled". This was apparently a more positive way to do it, althopugh why misspelling things is more positive, I couldn't tell you.

 

[vernon]

Originally Posted by vernon
I live in a local authority where some over zealous fools insisted that the bin men used grey bin bags to avoid offending the black community. How daft was that?

Is that genuine?

That is genuine. We now have wheelie bins (grey) and I have no idea if there are still areas that still use bin bags.

 

[Headgardener]

New Forest District Council still do, they looked at wheelie bins but decided that they were impractical in the more rural locations of the forest where properties can be a hundred yards or more from the road. Not good for some of the more elderly residents to tow a full bin that far to the gate.
P.S. We also used to have pink bags for ordinary rubbish but we have gone back to black now.

 

[Mr Pig]

I'm not too bothered about the colour of bin bags. but I do wonder how thin they are going to make them before they realise they can't actually contain anything!

 

[Eat MY Dust]

Didn't the Liverpool council have to change their wheelie bins from blue as Liverpool FC supporters were up in arms about having "Everton" bins?

 

[Landslide]

Didn't the Liverpool council have to change their wheelie bins from blue as Liverpool FC supporters were up in arms about having "Everton" bins?

Not sure... They have got purple wheely bins, which a lot of people think is a compromise 'twixt the red and blue factions, but I heard it was because the more neutral colours like grey or green tend to be more popular and have a higher resale value if someone nicks them.

Thinking on, this may be another red herring intended to point fun at "thieving Scousers"...

 

[Fnaar]

Thinking on, this may be another red herring intended to point fun at "thieving Scousers"...

Only true if the wheelie bins are found propped up on bricks

 

[Maz]

Only true if the wheelie bins are found propped up on bricks

 

[mr_hippo]

I was driving through Liverpool when I had a flat tyre - no problem, jack the car up and change the wheel. I had just opened the boot when someone opened the bonnet so I said "What do you think you're doing?", he replied "If you're having the wheels then I'm having the battery!"