jasoninoakland
2 Dec 2007
Life / JOKES ABOUT POLISH. Have we deserve it? [68]
I'm sure most of you know this, esp the Americans (polskiego pochodzenia or not), but it's important to remember that Poles, Italians and Irish have jokes about them precisely because they are loved ethnic groups. There isn't a single American who would forbid his daughter to marry a Pole, Italian or Irishman, and no one thinks of these ethnicities as being any different in any important way from any other European ethnicity. Irish, Italian, and to a somewhat lesser extent Polish Americans are all proud to be of that extraction and don't suffer any genuine shame about it.
This is in sharp contrast with ethnic groups like blacks, Jews, Asians, hispanics, etc that do face genuine racism/prejudice. Mr Average American might have a serious problem with his daughter marrying a Jew, Chinese, black, etc. Jokes about blacks, Jews, Asians and Hispanics are NOT repeated casually, and you will not see them freely shared on the Internet.
I thought I'd point this out because in my time in Poland a lot of Polish people were hurt that jokes were made about them. I told them they were really misunderstanding some fundamental American dynamics if they were offended by them...
I'm sure most of you know this, esp the Americans (polskiego pochodzenia or not), but it's important to remember that Poles, Italians and Irish have jokes about them precisely because they are loved ethnic groups. There isn't a single American who would forbid his daughter to marry a Pole, Italian or Irishman, and no one thinks of these ethnicities as being any different in any important way from any other European ethnicity. Irish, Italian, and to a somewhat lesser extent Polish Americans are all proud to be of that extraction and don't suffer any genuine shame about it.
This is in sharp contrast with ethnic groups like blacks, Jews, Asians, hispanics, etc that do face genuine racism/prejudice. Mr Average American might have a serious problem with his daughter marrying a Jew, Chinese, black, etc. Jokes about blacks, Jews, Asians and Hispanics are NOT repeated casually, and you will not see them freely shared on the Internet.
I thought I'd point this out because in my time in Poland a lot of Polish people were hurt that jokes were made about them. I told them they were really misunderstanding some fundamental American dynamics if they were offended by them...