paper.

ah. Finished. The paper for my class tomorrow. and no, my teacher did not specify a format... but she is probably going to be surprised.....

(oh. If you want to see the article that I had to read, you can find it online, half-way down the page.... (click on the word "paper." above.)

English 225
April 20th, 2006
“Mr. Language Person...” Response to #2 on page 331- third #2.
Danette Thompson


(patterned after the article’s style)
Q: Do some people have a right to certain joke topics, while others do not? For example, is it permissible for Jews to make holocaust jokes, but not for people of German descent? Or for African Americans to make lynching jokes, but not for people of other ethnicities?
A: Yes.
Q: Please explain your response further.
A: People who have been hurt/are related to those who have been hurt by something, are sometimes incredibly sensitive to jokes on that topic. For example, if your mother died from cancer recently, you are probably not going to be very amicable towards “your mother” jokes. However, if that person feels like making those jokes, himself, he is demonstrating that he is comfortable with that.
Q: How does that relate to minorities? How does it relate to the question?
A: It doesn’t, directly, but kind of.
Q: Huh?
A: People of a minority group often use jokes to deal with what they are having to go through. If you have a black man making jokes about black people being hanged, (weird grammar for this word,) he’s obviously not being derogatory towards blacks. When a white person does it, (or someone from any other ethnicity, for that matter) it is unknown whether it is friendly or not. As for holocaust jokes, I don’t really think anything in the holocaust needs jokes made about it. Joke about the stupidity of Hitler, maybe... but not the Jews themselves, in relation to the holocaust. However, I suppose that if a Jewish person, (who perhaps has a relative who survived the holocaust, so they are connected to the sentiments from it,) desires to make a joke, he or she should go ahead.
Q: Why do you use the term “Black”? It’s not politically correct!
A: Because you call me “White”. I am as “Scandinavian American” as Black people are “African American”; for that matter, I am probably more so Scandinavian, as that is my entire heritage, and according to my Anthropology professor, Jill Smith, most people who label themselves as African American have as much or more European blood in them, as African blood. So if you’re going to deal with your crayon colors, I’m using red and yellow, black and white; (they are precious in His sight; Jesus loves the little children of the world...rest of the song)
Q: Back to the question: What in your own experience, relates to this?
A: Being homeschooled. I would not have been very pleased, (AM not very pleased..) to hear “public school kids” being derogative towards homeschooling, because we are a minority, and are persecuted for what we do. (until recently, homeschooling wasn’t legal in all states, and we still have times we need to get the HSLDA (HomeSchool Legal Defense Association) involved in things to preserve parents’ rights.) However, we are a successful minority, and we are growing. (If you want to see scientific figures about homeschooling, ask me, and I will provide them; I have quite a reserve...) Anyway. People mocking homeschoolers, or calling us unintelligent, unsocialized, incompetent, uneducated, or other things, is offensive, not just because it’s not true, but also because we work hard NOT to be any of those things. Growing up I was driven by an intense desire to be “better” than my public-school counterpart- because I had a need to prove that I was not inadequate, because of the way I was taught.
On the other hand, jokes in the homeschool circles are very common, in which we laugh at ourselves, (commonly in the “You might be a homeschooler if...” jokes;) and at those who just don’t “get it” about homeschooling. (The Twelve days of Homeschooling)
Q: Ah.. I see. Where can I see some of those jokes?
A: Email me and I will find them for you. I have a massive list of “You Might Be A Homeschooler If..” items; and there are numerous other jokes online that are able to be searched.
Q: What is your email address? What reason do I have to actually do so?
A: Because they’re funny to me, and you just won’t know what they’re talking about unless you’re homeschooled... but they’re culture. And you should be exposed to it. And my email address is thompdan@uwec.edu
Q: Are you finished now, or do you have something else to say?
A: Yes. Finished. Done.