You are a girl and 1,64 m and you think you are short? Maybe the standards are different where you live (i've heard that in western Europe people are generally taller... you are kida western *g*) - but I don't think that's short - just not tall. Perfect average height :) (short only for a model.)
I'm 1,55 :P The "then stand up" joke makes me smile. My friends make jokes about me too, and often I laugh with them too, I sometimes make them myself. (and sometimes I make them and get a little hurt when they get them and laugh, LOL ;))
I guess I can't justify why I felt Jerry's remark to be a little offensive - maybe because it's on TV and on TV people should be more careful of what they say, but mainly it's just the whole notion that if you are short then it is surprising that you can sing. I guess voice doesn't depend that much on height. And when people say such things they remind you once again how much they notice all the time that you are short. And that's exactly what bugs you after all - that you have a label that you can't get rid of no matter what you do. And you know, they really notice it and have it in mind, even if not intentionally - the first thing one sees about a guy like Sammy is that he's tiny. (apart from being black of course) Mean people would mock him, nice people would find it cute. But neither pathetic, nor cute easily associates with great, admirable or respectable. And just after he did something great, people still remember that first of all, he is short. It's like saying for a fat guy/rough ex-prisoner "wow, he drew such a tiny tender flower with his big hands!". OK, maybe not exactly :) And yeah, that's life I guess, you have to accept that you'll always go with some labels :P
However I'm just trying to rationalize what I felt, but I know that humour is humour and on the whole I think you are right. Probably that really wasn't his biggest problem. And also they are guys, I guess Jerry wouldn't say that to a female, but between guys is kinda cool. I guess that's the way for some guys to make a compliment and is possible that Sammy had found it sweet :P
heh, well I've always compared my height to other girls around me. I usually ended up on the short end of the line.;)
I understand what you're saying about labels but as you said, that's pretty much a way of life (it's what both of us do unconsciously despite not wanting to put labels on anyone) and comedy in the past was based a lot on this kind of prejudice (if you've seen the video I posted with Don Rickles,you know what I mean). Now, people are far more sensitive so comics can't go around making the same jokes if they don't want media accusing them of hate-speech or intolerance(as Jerry found out in the 90s and later:P). Nowadays media sees sexism, homophobia, racism even there where it wasn't intended and since they love scandals, they are happily taking things out of context just to have a story. But I'm getting sidetracked.:P
I know what you mean about the past humour and the overreacted political correctness these days. Well, I know American/British TV from the past only from you, lol. But what you say about media seeing "sexism, homophobia, racism even there where it wasn't intended" I see it in the internet, here in LJ especially. I'm not active in comms ettc, but even as an occasional lurker, I see so often people who defend some extreme variant of political correctness to the smallest details until I'm totally confused who's mean and who's innocent and if there's anything OK to say at all. (Say, I thought "gay" was an ok word, but seems like "queer" is the only one acceptable these days?) Or, when someone drew in a comic Foreman as a black dot (kinda) and tens of people called her drawing racist even after she was apologizing and saying she didn't realize it was offensive... and so on, you know what I mean, I guess.
I can't say what's better though - medias with jokes based on prejudices or medias being extra-petty and sensitive about those issues. I guess that after all the second is better. And I know that very often those righteous defenders in LJ are actual representatives of a minority group and after all they are the ones who have the right to speak on these matters the most.
And btw, this made me realize that Bulgarian TV is very conservative/outdated, because the humour here is very much based on prejudices. The same Foreman was called "kyumyur" (funny word for coal) in a sketch here once :P (well, he was called so by the character who played "House" so it made sense a bit :))
Well,I'm going with what one of our teachers said when he was talking about racism...when you refer to a certain group, use the term that's acceptable to that group. I usually see "gay" or "homosexual" being used in the news so I use that. Honestly, I find the word "queer" less appropriate than "gay", mainly because queer used to mean strange or weird while gay at least meant happy, jolly...:P but that's just my opinion of course.:P While we're on the subject, it's also interesting how the word "negro" (since the word came from latin word for black colour - niger) adopted such a stigma that no one but black people themselves can use it without being attacked from all sides. It's understandable of course, given the history, I'm just mentioning how meaning can transforms a word completely. And that's another reason why I love V for Vendetta movie. V pointed it out very nicely.:P
Click to view
I'm 1,55 :P
The "then stand up" joke makes me smile. My friends make jokes about me too, and often I laugh with them too, I sometimes make them myself. (and sometimes I make them and get a little hurt when they get them and laugh, LOL ;))
I guess I can't justify why I felt Jerry's remark to be a little offensive - maybe because it's on TV and on TV people should be more careful of what they say, but mainly it's just the whole notion that if you are short then it is surprising that you can sing. I guess voice doesn't depend that much on height. And when people say such things they remind you once again how much they notice all the time that you are short. And that's exactly what bugs you after all - that you have a label that you can't get rid of no matter what you do. And you know, they really notice it and have it in mind, even if not intentionally - the first thing one sees about a guy like Sammy is that he's tiny. (apart from being black of course) Mean people would mock him, nice people would find it cute. But neither pathetic, nor cute easily associates with great, admirable or respectable. And just after he did something great, people still remember that first of all, he is short. It's like saying for a fat guy/rough ex-prisoner "wow, he drew such a tiny tender flower with his big hands!". OK, maybe not exactly :) And yeah, that's life I guess, you have to accept that you'll always go with some labels :P
However I'm just trying to rationalize what I felt, but I know that humour is humour and on the whole I think you are right. Probably that really wasn't his biggest problem. And also they are guys, I guess Jerry wouldn't say that to a female, but between guys is kinda cool. I guess that's the way for some guys to make a compliment and is possible that Sammy had found it sweet :P
Reply
I understand what you're saying about labels but as you said, that's pretty much a way of life (it's what both of us do unconsciously despite not wanting to put labels on anyone) and comedy in the past was based a lot on this kind of prejudice (if you've seen the video I posted with Don Rickles,you know what I mean). Now, people are far more sensitive so comics can't go around making the same jokes if they don't want media accusing them of hate-speech or intolerance(as Jerry found out in the 90s and later:P). Nowadays media sees sexism, homophobia, racism even there where it wasn't intended and since they love scandals, they are happily taking things out of context just to have a story. But I'm getting sidetracked.:P
Reply
I can't say what's better though - medias with jokes based on prejudices or medias being extra-petty and sensitive about those issues. I guess that after all the second is better. And I know that very often those righteous defenders in LJ are actual representatives of a minority group and after all they are the ones who have the right to speak on these matters the most.
And btw, this made me realize that Bulgarian TV is very conservative/outdated, because the humour here is very much based on prejudices. The same Foreman was called "kyumyur" (funny word for coal) in a sketch here once :P (well, he was called so by the character who played "House" so it made sense a bit :))
Reply
Honestly, I find the word "queer" less appropriate than "gay", mainly because queer used to mean strange or weird while gay at least meant happy, jolly...:P but that's just my opinion of course.:P
While we're on the subject, it's also interesting how the word "negro" (since the word came from latin word for black colour - niger) adopted such a stigma that no one but black people themselves can use it without being attacked from all sides. It's understandable of course, given the history, I'm just mentioning how meaning can transforms a word completely. And that's another reason why I love V for Vendetta movie. V pointed it out very nicely.:P
Reply
Leave a comment