SOAPBOXReal change requires far more than being able to push buttons. And it requires a different response than simply letting our own buttons be pushed.
The original was a slam at Dr. Laura through the easy shot of mocking literal interpretation of the Old Testament, and thus a slam also at Judaism. The rerun of it with Ashcroft is a slam at Ashcroft through people's willingness to find Dr. Laura worthy of mockery, as well as a slam against fundamantalist Christianity with which he is identified. These slams are marketed as humor because many are only too willing to take one or more stereotypes as a basis for a laugh.
We need to laugh, so badly, that we go along with these.
I need to laugh today too. Shall I get at the laugh I need with a joke about blacks? Or blondes? Or men? Or Martha Stewart? Sure, some days I do. But on my better days I am sorry I have. I have a "great" Jewish joke that was told to me years and years ago, that the person telling told me without asking first if I appreciated such things. It's a short, punchy, well-written item. The punch line comes before you even realize what you're hearing. There was a moment of shocked laughter when I heard it that felt really funny for about a nanosecond before the horror behind it kicked in along with my horror for having heard it at all, much less laughed.
In fact my encounter with that one joke has reminded me time after time, year after year, that if I have not spoken clearly enough about what I value, before anyone even considers telling me a joke like that, people are going to think it is OK with me to tell this kind of joke. Because they have no way of knowing what I stand for, and in our society the assumption has become that this kind of humor is acceptable. But it's not OK with me, and it's also not OK with a lot of people who don't have the courage to say so unless someone does take a stand.
It's not OK with me when people who have acted like friends that believe in the highest ideals send me e-mail jokes that mock the target group of their choice. I might not like the actions or members of that group myself. I may engage in dedicateed action against them. But I don't find mockery to be an effective tool for positive change. Ever.
Even when it makes me laugh... it diminishes me far more than it diminishes the target, and it diminishes even more my respect for the one telling the joke. It does not make my action against that group's wrongs any more creative, flexible, or effective. It does not enliven my friendship with the person telling the joke. It diminishes the effectivess we can have working together to address the wrong things.
These things... they reduce us to acting like button-pushers.
~Susan