The 70's; totally tasteless in more ways than one, Or, An evening with Blanche Knott.
I'm against preachy Political Correctness assholes as much as the next guy, but one thing I have to admit that I find endearing and lovable about them is how surprisingly easy they're willing to admit when they think no one's looking about how ambivalent they really are about so-called racial equality. Back during the early post-civil rights era after the whole country had supposedly made so much progress in every walk of life, there was a whole cottage industry devoted to bringing back the feelings of the olden times. It was disguised, subtly, but it was there and a vital part of the 70's culture. A more innocent example would be Happy Days where we could relive the days of greasers, socs and rebels without a cause who didn't seem to be rebelling against anything in particular, but all in an idealized squeaky clean manner of course. Another example of this desire to return to less-sophisticated times was the sudden explosion in books about pop culture history. You could argue this was an outgrowth of the 60's camp craze, but if it was it didn't really get rolling until the 70's. This was when Everson first churned out his "Classics Of The" series of books on film, Don Glut wrote books on the history of once-despised art forms like the serials and comic books, many classic and not so classic comics were reprinted for the first time, old time radio recordings of stuff like The Shadow became extremely popular, and period pieces, once confined to B-movies and all over the place, became the stuff of once a year blockbusters and obscure art-house films.
Srs bznss.
For most people this was a just a chance to relive the innocence they(thought) they once had in what (they thought) were simpler times. It was also when the first serious essays on the depictions of Race on Film began. Suddenly, it was no longer so safe to screen Birth of A Nation as an unambiguous work of art for general audiences, it was no longer safe to show those WWII era Bugs Bunny cartoons, and every tv series had damn well better have a mixed race cast. Now, open racial insensitivity in the media had become just like serials, B-movies, comic books, and radio shows; a longed for, nostalgic thing looked at in rose-colored glasses and only available with extreme apologies.
The good 'ol days...
So it became fashionable for the PC crowd, needing to get their racist fix but not look like the racists they had once been(and probably still were, probably not even more than a few years ago) to seek out racist humor in works that were intended as satire, or that were intended for minorities to read amongst themselves, all so that they could laugh at racist humor and not have to apologize for it. All in the Family didn't become such a hit in the southern states because ex-KKK members thought that that Archie Bunker fellow was such a delightful parody of what they had once been. For a time, being racist(but not too racist) in the 70s was seen as high brow and retrochic. Did I say it was a cottage industry? *HEH* It was a gold mine.
Clearly, a moment that endeared itself to former Klan members...
How do I know this when I was just a teen in the 70s? Simple; I hold in my hands a reprint of a book full of racist jokes that I originally accquired as a graduation gift from the ''coolest'' teacher at my high school. Holding this book, was like holding a gold pass for life amongst everybody back then. Bullies? I'm cool with them if I flip this out. Girls? Oh, pollack jokes just make you the sexiest man in the world. Nerds? You kidding? They love that shit consideirng it's usually minority athletes that pick on them 93% of the time. Adult clubs and movie theatres? HehHeh, tell me more kid, tell me more and I''ll let you in. Racial cliques? HAHA Tell a few of the N-word jokes from this thing to some black kids and you were man of the hour, privy to comments like; "My grandma's got lips just like that, I'mma tell that joke at my family reunion when she won't shut her mouth".
Even then, I was horriffied at the fact that this kind of thing was so popular, not only among people I usually considered sensbile, but among minorities as well.
How do I know this was a national thing and not just confined to where I lived? Simple; the front of the book, which is a reprint of the book I had, proclaims it to be ''FINALLY IN HARDCOVER!''(showing it was demanded) and that it was a New York Times Best Seller, and not only that, it's a compilation. Unsucessful books don't get repackaged like this. Clearly, this reprint I found at a garage sale was well-read and well loved by it's previous owner(who, hilariously, was apparently a doctor).
Told'ja so.
The book in question is Blanche Knott's Totally Tasteless from 1983, based off her work from the 70s. And, while some of the jokes have dated so poorly they fail completely at comedy anyway from anyone's perspective(some were clearly normal ''idiot'' jokes that Knott simply substituted a minority for); the book is still jam-packed with material that would make even the even the most classless shock comedian's jaw hit the floor at it's brazenness. Is it a cover-up for PC people to indulge in their secret racist tendencies? Is it just plain no frills racism? Is it not racist because it targets all people? Or is it too stupid to be taken seriously even as comedy? I know the answer after seeing first hand what this kind of stuff does to people, but I leave you to be the judge after providing some samples from the book:
- What do you get when you cross a Pole and a Chicano?
--A kid who spray-paints his name on chain-link fences.
- Why do Puerto Ricans throw away their garbage in clear plastic bags?
--So Italians can go window shopping.
- A Jew and an Irishman are having a lofty discussion about sex, the Irishman maintaining that it's work and the Jew that it's pleasure. Unable to come to an agreement, they agree to discuss it further at a later date. At their next meeting, the Irishman announces triumphantly that he had checked with his priest. "He says it's work solely for the purpose of procreation, you see?". The Jew is far from satisfied, and goes to talk the matter over with his rabbi. Reporting on his findings to the Irishman, the Jew says, "My rabbi says it must be pleasure, because if it was work we'd have the blacks do it."
-Why did God invent golf?
--So that white people could dress up like black people.
-What's black and white and red all over?
--An interracial couple in an automobile accident.
-What do you get when you cross a chinaman and a hooker?
--Someone who'll suck your laundry.
-What's brown and has holes in it?
--Swiss shit.
-How many mexicans does it take to grease a car?
--One if you hit 'em right.
-Why didn't the black man want to marry a mexican?
--He didn't want the kids to be too lazy to steal.
-Do you know about the worlds shortest books?
--Polish Wit & Wisdom.
--Jewish Business Ethics.
--Italian War Heroes.
--Negroes I have met while yachting.
I think you get the picture by now. Crazy shit man, crazy shit.
So that's why the doctor refuses to see patients at midnight...