From: alireza@eng.umd.edu (Alireza Karimzadeh-Rad)
Subject: Re: Jokes, Ramin S.
Date: Sat, 05 Sep 92 17:38:38 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park

In article <67576@hydra.gatech.EDU> me12@prism.gatech.EDU (Reza Ebrahimpour 32199) writes:
>This is the revised version of a letter that I recently sent to Ramin S.
>I don't wish to start flames, nor I have anything against Ramin.
>I usually enjoy reading his articles. The letter only represents my 
>feelings about the jokes we make about OTHER cultures and people.
>The opinions represented here are only mine, and since I have no
>skills in convincing people, they may remain only mine.

	<Lines deleted>

>
>WE ARE NOT A GROUP OF MEN WITH BEARD, USING SWORD WHEN WE CANNOT WIN
>AN ARGUMENT NOR  A GROUP OF SILENT OBEDIENT WOMEN. 
>There is much more in our culture. 
>WE DO NOT LIVE IN TENTS. WE DO NOT RIDE CAMELS.
>WE DO NOT KILL EACH OTHER IN STREETS.
>....
>....
	<More lines deleted>

>
>Isn't it the time to stop strerotyping people?
>
>I am sure your jokes will be as funny, if you change all your references
>from "An Arab" and " A Rashti" to just "A Guy".
>
>I promise that I will laugh as much, without any second thought
>about insulting a fellow human being.
>

No I don't believe that you would. Let me tell you why. What makes a
joke a joke? Why are some jokes funnier than others? Well, I'll tell
you every joke has an exaggeration; in every joke something has to be
blown way out of proportion, otherwise it will not be funny. Think
about any joke that you want, and inevitably you'll find something that
has been exaggerated. The greater the exaggeration the funnier the
joke. Of course there is more to it than that, but the above statement
is a good rule of thumb. 

Now, I don't know how all the myths about
different ethnic groups started in our country, but I do know that
they are common knowledge, thus laying the grounds for these jokes. My
grandfather was from Azarbaijan, but I don't take jokes about Turks
personally, I accept them for what they are, namely jokes. You may
not enjoy these jokes, and I know there many more like you. That is
fine. You had the choice of not reading Ramin's jokes, but you did.
Why? Ever ask yourself that. You even admitted that you found them
amusing yet sad. You also admitted that when you were in Iran you used
to laugh at these jokes, but now your views have changed. Again why? 

Now, I may be full of it, as many people out there will think so after
reading this article, but who cares (another good rule of thumb),
I believe that many Iranians that have moved to the States have become so
influenced by the race conscious culture of this country, that they
now believe that by default tension exists among all ethnic groups
around the world. In this country if you tell a joke, hell if you say
anything about the blacks, it is racism. The reason is that the whites
have treated the blacks so badly all through the history of this
country. In our country we have not had the same problems. If your are
a smart ass you'll probably say well we didn't have that many blacks
in Iran :). 

Hell, who knows, maybe the fact that most of the ethnic
groups in Iran kind of look alike has had something to do with
comparative racial harmony that exists there, but what is really
important is that it does, and in my opinion it's going to take more
than a few dumb jokes to create racial problems in our country. On the
other hand if we keep picking at it, if we keep arguing about it,
these arguements will definitely lead to an ugly situation. Think
about it, you accepted these jokes as jokes before, but now you find
them offensive, why? 

>Thanks.

You're welcome :)
>
>Reza Ebrahimpour.
>
>P.S. I have to admit that your jokes are much more moderate than what 
>you might hear in a party or in a friendly conversation. The only reason I am
>writing to you is that I trust your understanding and am sure you will not 
>start a flame.
>
>-- 
>EBRAHIMPOUR,MOHAMMAD REZA
>Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
>uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt2199a
>Internet: gt2199a@prism.gatech.edu


Payandeh Baad Iran
Alireza

ps. The latest casualties in Yugoslavia are as follows:

Serbs: 532 Croatian jokes
       432 Bosnian jokes

Croatians: 345 Serbian jokes
            12 Bosnian jokes (after all they kind of on the same side)

Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian