Allan OB
Tuesday 31st January 2012 4:15pm [Edited]
65 posts
Quote: sootyj @ January 31 2012, 2:23 PM GMT
And there in lies the problem...
Where is the line drawn? To refuse to joke is to create a special status that leads to issolation. And certainly with the paranoia around Islamophobia, that can even still voices of protest within their own community.
But I don't know some groups are more vulnerable than others, more in need of society's help and support.
It's also important to note that whilst Bernard Manning was making racist jokes there were other black comics on the circuit. Whilst Love Thy Neighbour may have had racist jokes, it also had black comedians giving as good as they got.
The same can't be said of people with learning disabilities. Generally the humour traffic about them is strictly one way.
Certainly in the UK anyway.
And a little bit of politeness.
Between 2008 and 2010 there were over 2,000 negative stories about Muslims in the British press. A large chunk of which were clearly untruthful and often malicious. So we can perhaps understand why Muslims sometimes get a wee bit miffed when so-called "comedians" sometimes pander to media anti-islam propaganda rather than the reality of experience.
The line therefore might be drawn at what is intended to be offensive or can be viewed as incitement, and what is just plain stupid.
Frankie Boyle's comments about Down's could fall in the latter category, as his feeble joke was based on stereotypical appearances, as jokes often are, and not particularly malicious towards anyone.
Including those with disabilites in our comic repetoire is nothing to be ashamed of, indeed the irony is it could actualy subtly demonstrate inclusion and tolerance in a modern world. But if any such joke goes arse over tit purely because of a lack of humour a simple; "That was shite Frankie!" might serve as an apropiate rebuttal rather than a full scale witch hunt based purely on the fact that the subject matter was disability. 
