Grandma: Well, nobody wants to get married anymore, except those gays and lesbians...
Dad: Hmm... Do you have something to substantiate that claim? Some sort of statistic, or report...?
Grandma: Oh, your father saw something. On ESPN. About the lesbians.
Dad: Ahh. Yep. Always them lesbians on ESPN, wanting to get married.
((A deep, fretful silence from Grandma. Dad tries in vain to contain his chortling.))
Grandma: I just miss the good old days, you know? When right was right and wrong was wrong. Everything was either black or white, there wasn't any of this...gray matter in between.
Dad: Well, that's exactly the problem, Mom, there wasn't any gray matter...
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Unintentional Racist Humor?
The following is from an email I sent to my stepmom, a liberal Catholic who teaches at a rather conservative Evangelical university. I knew she'd appreciate it.
***
"So I'm reading The Shack. (I know, I know, but it'll be nice to have people quit telling me how I totally need to read it! And how it will change my life! And anyway, I checked out a couple Christopher Moore books along with, just to balance things out.) To be fair, it's not as bad as I was expecting, but I wouldn't exactly call it a must-read. The unintentional humor, though, is pretty killer. At least, I hope it's unintentional. Here's a gem:
Am I reading too much into this? Or did he really just introduce one of his characters as an Asian who can only be seen in your peripheral vision?"
***
Seriously, how does an editor not catch that?
***
"So I'm reading The Shack. (I know, I know, but it'll be nice to have people quit telling me how I totally need to read it! And how it will change my life! And anyway, I checked out a couple Christopher Moore books along with, just to balance things out.) To be fair, it's not as bad as I was expecting, but I wouldn't exactly call it a must-read. The unintentional humor, though, is pretty killer. At least, I hope it's unintentional. Here's a gem:
Just as [God the Father, apparently played here by Della Reese from Touched By An Angel] turned to enter the cabin, a small, distinctively Asian woman emerged from behind her . . . As she stepped back, Mack found himself involuntarily squinting in her direction, as if doing so would allow his eyes to see her better. But strangely, he still had a difficult time focusing on her . . . It was almost easier to see her out of the corner of his eye than it was to look at her directly. (Emphasis mine.)
Am I reading too much into this? Or did he really just introduce one of his characters as an Asian who can only be seen in your peripheral vision?"
***
Seriously, how does an editor not catch that?
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