From: META@UNB.CA (META000)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Jewish STEREOTYPES - the last time
Date: 20 Dec 92 19:58:46 GMT
Organization: The University of New Brunswick

With regard to jokes that depend on stereotypes of Jews....

As I see it, there are two kinds of "group-based" humour, that which
divides and that which unites.  It IS possible to tell a joke which
relies on a stereotype in such a way that the audience acknowledges
the stereotype as one which is a universal trait, and so, brings
people of different groupscloser together.  Indeed, many of us
express our deepestlove through sarcastic comments to people we are
close to.

Having said that, I have to emphasize, however, that in humour,
context is EVERYTHING.  The same joke told by a rabbi, during a
sermon, is funny and socially connecting, and when told by a gentile
person at a Knights of Columbus meeting, can be divisive and
hurtful.

One which readily comes to mind is the old joke about the jew who
ends up being shipwrecked on an island.  When he is finally rescued,
his rescuers find that he has built two synagogues from branches and
leaves. Why two synagogues they ask him?  "That one", he says, "is
the one I daven in & belong to. The other one", he says, spitting on
the ground, "I wouldn't go into if you paid me."

Here we have a joke which relieson stereotypes of within-Judaism
emnity, and elitism.  Not too pleasant.  On the other hand, it is
funny, and socially-connecting BECAUSE it is true of all branches of
Judaism.  Told in the right context, and in the right way, it is the
kind of joke which can bring Jews together precisely because it is a
stereotype.

Now, if you ask me if I find much of the jewish-stereotype jokes
that someone like Joan Rivers tells, I will reply that I don't like
them mucheven though she can be an excruciatingly funny person from
time to time.The reason why I don't like them is not that she is a
Jew telling jewish jokes to gentiles.  Rather, I don't like them
because they generally tend to identify traits as exclusive to jews,
and not simply occurring in jews but typical of everyone.  Even
someone as grating as Don Rickles can be funnier, and less
offensive, largely because he grapples with so many stereotypes one
after the other, that the stereotypes become ridiculous, and what we
laugh at is the idea of the stereotype itself, not the object of the
stereotype.

As a new conversant on this listserve, I have enjoyed the various
jokes I found immensely.  My guffaws have been hear down the hall.
Most I would not tell for gentile friends, not because of
stereotypes, but because they require more of a "setup" than I can
provide without ruining the timing of the joke (try telling the
"shabbos go this way, shabbos go that way" joke to your Catholic friends
in under 20 minutes!).

I don't think we should avoid giving grist for the stereotype mill
on this list-serve, for fear that a non-jew would readit and be
persuaded by it.  I assume that, first, any bigotted person would
see the very EXISTENCE of SCJ as congruent with their stereotype of
jews as self-absorbed, and that any person open enough to use SCJ
for informational purposes is painfully aware of the diversity of
views and orientations expressed.  I know I am.  So, to some extent,
I think the "setup" is implicit, and we have little to fear about
providing fodder for bigotry.(all concerns about who is and isn't a
"twat" aside).

On the other hand, whenever you are a "guest" in someone else's
reputation, you should act politely with it, and treat it carefully.

Finally, as a psychologist with a penchant for understanding
peoples' "schemas" about others, I have to say that virtually ALL
stereotypes are based on fact.  There really ARE cheap jews with big
noses, Chinese who do laundry, arrogant French people, pushy New
Yorkers, women who can't read maps, and on and on and on.
Stereotypes are pernicious when the believer excludes all other
facts BUT the stereotypic ones.  In other words, if I don't
recognize the stereotype AS a stereotype, then I fall prey to it,
and maybe make others do so as well.

Just a thought, Mark Hammer (not affiliated with the Maccabees, but I
could think of worse fates)

Chag samayach!