The Jokes Thread - a point of view

Don

I guess the simplest response is that if you don't want to read such posts then you don't have to look. I find the joke thread dull and repetitive but not personally offensive (although I don't actually look at it very much) but I appreciate that others may feel differently. In general I think the Mods do a pretty fair job on here.

I try not to write anything on this Forum I would not be happy saying face to face, or having printed in a public letter for example. In general I think if people follow that premise they won't go too far wrong.

Bruce

I'm sure all who contribute to the Jokes thread apply their own censorship to the jokes they deem as suitable to post but of course, like everything else, this differs with each individual, as does one's sense of humour. Really, if we restricted our postings to those jokes we thought would cause no offense to anyone the jokes thread would indeed be a dismal and humourless place!

I guess most of the jokes I read on here don't amuse me, but then most of the postings in the other topics have no personal interest for me either. The only answer, if we're going to have a jokes thread on this forum, is to have someone sensible but with a good sense of humour act as moderator and in my opinion both Richard and Adam perform this role to perfection.

As always, the advice must be, if you're offended by challenging jokes don't read the postings and please, please, don't post the most meaningless response of all - "I don't find that funny".

The jokes thread used to have mostly chuckle button one liners - good fun most of the time.

Then some of it started getting a bit near the knuckle & tasteless (even for me)

Then a few peeps started pasting long winded boring stuff copied from www that most people had heard/seen a few too many times before & long ago.  Obviously the contributor(s) has lost the plot or hasn't a clue what a joke with humour actually is. 

I've lost interest - don't bother to look anymore.    

Echoing what Bruce said. I don't go in and I won't post there. It's more subjective than HiFi. 

Besides, the 9/11 thread was much funnier. G

While I agree with Don's sentiments in the sense that most people wouldn't tell a friend a joke they thought likely to cause them offence, I think TonyM is right. If everyone took an overly cautious approach the end result would likely lead to numbing blandness.  Some jokes leave me cold, some I find a bit tasteless (though for many people the latter judgement can vary depending on mood and company),  but some I really enjoy.  The moderators seem to strike a good balance so I vote for the status quo.

MDS

"Sticks & stones..."

I was in a Starbucks with my oldest and dearest friend. We have been friends for 42 years. He is jewish and appreciates a good jewish joke. So I told him this one

One day a Jewish grandmother had taken her grandson to the beach for a play when suddenly a huge wave washed over the infant and pulled him out to sea. The distraught grandmother fell down on her knees, and sobbed, "Please God, don't let my grandson die, please, he is my only grandson! He is the future of my family, please return him to me safely!" Instantly another huge wave rolls the infant back onto the beach and the grandmother looks up to the sky and said, "He had a hat!"

Whereupon my friend (despite having heard it before) convulsed himself with laughter. 

Then a woman on the next table told us we should be ashamed of ourselves laughing at a racist joke. My friend said he did not think it was racist at all and that it was very funny. She got more irate with every second. We asked her if she was jewish and she said no, why did it matter? my friend said 'well, I am jewish and I love this joke. She said, 'no, you are not jewish, you are an anti-semitic racist pig' and she stormed out of Starbucks leaving us a little shocked. We thought about the joke again and asked ourselves, is this joke racist in any way and decided it was more a celebration of Jewishness than anything else.

I guess the only way never to offend anyone with a joke is never to tell a joke and that would make the world a very dull place indeed.  

The woman has her labels confused.

Being Jewish is not a race..It is a religion...

So many people get,"race and ethnicity", confused with other factors like religion.

MN 

...er wrong.

Judaism is a religion, Jews are a race. My wife is Jewish, but an atheist.

No

Jews are considered a distinct ethnic and national grouping that is not defined purely on religious grounds. You can be a secular Jew. If you are born to Jewish parents you are considered Jewish by birth irrespective of your faith and belief. I'm struggling to think of a comparable situation but it is not the same as Catholicism (or indeed other religions that come immediately to mind).

To further muddy the waters some variations of modern Judaism allow conversion of non-ethnically Jewish individuals to 'become' Jews but this is not the established orthodoxy.

Bruce

I agree Judaism is a religion Bruce,  but a race ??? how can that be ???

Jewish people come from different part's of the world going back many hundreds of years & appear to me to be from very different races. Those from northern Europe may well be the same race or maybe better to say the same genetic heritage.  But surly those from places like Europe, Sudan, the  Mizrahim from the near east - probably the same race as the original tribes - all appear to me to be of either a European, Arabic or African heritage & cannot see how they are the "same race" 

Jews trace their lineage from the founding fathers (the Israelites), and consider themselves a family, a race with a distinct ethnic identity that is partly but not entirely religious based. The original Jews are a semitic race, waves of emigration and conversion have resulted in the widespread communities of modern Jews The Wikipedia article on Jews (as opposed to Judaism) has a good discussion, this is part of it:

Who is a Jew?

Judaism shares some of the characteristics of a nation, an ethnicity, a religion, and a culture, making the definition of who is a Jew vary slightly depending on whether a religious or national approach to identity is used.^[40][41] Generally, in modern secular usage, Jews include three groups: people who were born to a Jewish family regardless of whether or not they follow the religion, those who have some Jewish ancestral background or lineage (sometimes including those who do not have strictly matrilineal descent), and people without any Jewish ancestral background or lineage who have formally converted to Judaism and therefore are followers of the religion.^[42]

I think 'race' is a bit strong myself but the point I was making is not to equate the definition of being ethnically Jewish as being a follower of Judaism.

bruce

Catholics are considered a distinct ethnic and national grouping that is not defined purely on religious grounds. You can be a secular Catholic. If you are born to Catholic parents (mother) you are considered Catholic by birth irrespective of your faith and belief. I'm struggling to think of a comparable situation but it is not the same as being Jewish (or indeed other religions that come immediately to mind).

To further muddy the waters some variations of modern Catholics allow conversion of non-ethnically Catholic individuals to 'become' Catholic but this is not the established orthodoxy.

Interesting.....

Lets try and look at it a different way?

There is one race. The human race...

Due to isolation,there was the opportunity for this human race to adapt to certain climates and conditions...

This human race adapts and is divided by genetics.

We now have white,black,Hispanic and so on....

Religion is not a genetic trait.

Bruce

Your perception is your reality and I will not even try to change your mind. The only point I would like to suggest is - this way of thinking was popular during the 19th century and came to a head during WW2.

Regards,

Marc

I guess we will have to disagree on this Bruce. 

It appears to me that the water is somewhat muddied & I am tempted to say the ethnic part is very dubious.  I have always assumed ethnicity (race) is biological & to me the diversity of the Jewish people throughout the world are clearly not related. 

Marc

I'm not advocating a particular position. I'm pointing out the way the Jews perceive themselves.

Judaism and Jewishness are not the same.

I'm not suggesting that religion is a genetic trait!

Bruce

It's all very simple. You're a Jew only if both of your parents were. If only one parent was, then you're partially Jew, which makes you Jew-ish.

In Hebrew families, it's the men who make the tea.

Lastly, when you parade your 25 year old Israeli beauty queen on your arm, it's known as Jewelry.

Since the diaspora, it is rather murky to delineate an "ethnic" Jew...unless you have a DNA sample from Abraham.

Jan-Erik, 

I thought one is Jewish if one's mother is Jewish? Maybe I am wrong. 

Back OT...

I honestly find the Irish "jokes" offensive. They are a form of racism and IMO really shouldn't be polluting a public forum. 

Beats me why they're allowed here.

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...e-irish-jokes-racist