Re: You (all) lie!
 

Two women are sitting next to each other at a bar. They both order another round at the same time.
After a while, one looks at the other and says, 'I can't help but think, from listening to you, that you're from Ireland.'
The other woman responds proudly, 'Yes, I sure am!'
The first one says, 'So am I! And whereabout in Ireland are ya from?'
The other woman answers proudly, 'I'm from County Waterford, I am.'
The first one says, 'So am I! Where in County Waterford?'
The other woman answers, 'Ballycarnane, near Tramore.'
The first one responds, 'So am I! And what street did you live on?'
The other woman says, 'I lived on Roselawn Street, above the old central part of town.'
The first one says, 'Faith and it's a small world. So did I! So did I! And what school did ya go to?'
The other woman answers, 'Well, now, I went to Holy Cross, of course.'
The first one gets really excited and says, 'And so did I. Tell me, what year did you graduate?'
The other woman answers, 'Well, now, let's see. I graduated in 1964.'
The first woman exclaims, 'The Good Lord must be smiling down upon us! I can hardly believe our good luck at winding up in the same pub tonight. Can you believe it, I graduated from Holy Cross in 1964 meself.'
About this time a man walks into the bar, sits down and orders a beer. The bartender shakes his head and mutters to him, 'We're in for a long night tonight.' The man asks, 'Why do you say that, now?' The bartender answers, 'The Connolly twins are drunk again.'

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

I've never thought the Israelis were shrinking violets unable to deal with a joke or two.

That having been said, I do think it's hard to characterize this joke as "diplomatic".

Now that Ty has gone and brought it up, someone's going to go figure out what other off color things he may have said, and then the jig is up. I'm going to bet he made a "your mama" joke once on the internet.

Re: You (all) lie!
 

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

No, I don't think so. I don't think the Jew needs to be a Jew for the joke to work. And if that was what you were trying to get at in telling the joke, you would tell it differently.

If you read the joke like I do, celebrating a Jew who bests the Taliban, then it doesn't really matter what you think about our current relationship with Israel, or the about the people who confuse our relations with the current Israeli government with feelings about Jews and the state of Israel.

Word for word, no. That is why I used the word "basically." I was trying to indicate general agreement without categorically agreeing with everything Kleiman says. And, no, I don't surf around in the way you describe. I learned about the whole episode from Kleiman's blog, and used his link to the WaPo so that others would have the backstory.

Re: You (all) lie!
 

What's Irish and stays outdoors all winter?

















Patio furniture.

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

I must have read a different joke. I didn't think the Jew was cheating the Taliban guy. He was offering to sell the Taliban guy exactly the thing the guy needed. It's only because the Taliban guy was so unable to set aside his own biases that he got screwed.

As a general rule I think people who are under public scrutiny should avoid telling jokes like this -- especially if their public responsibilities include diplomacy in any form. But that's more because I know that such jokes can be misinterpreted or twisted (often intentionally by people who are seeking bias-confirmation), not because I think the jokes are inherently offensive.


eta: The first part of my response is basically what Ty's blogger said, but I'm sure that Hank would find it more convincing (if he weren't ignoring me) that I said it myself instead of linking to a blog. We know how linking to blogs pisses Hank off.

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

It does need to be a Jew for the joke to work. But not for the reason Hank suggests -- the joke isn't that "doing business with a Jew tends to go badly." The Taliban guy essentially refused to do business with a Jew, and the reason the joke works is because the Taliban guy's own prejudices work against him.


Otherwise, I agree with you.

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

I think we agree that the joke could use someone else the Taliban guy wouldn't do business with -- i.e., the point is about the Taliban guy's prejudices, not characteristics of Jews.

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

So two lifelong Irish friends, Seamus and Sean, make a pact one night: When one of them dies, the other will honor the decedent every year, on his birthday, by pouring a pint of whiskey on his grave. Since they make this pact at a bar, the bartender is there to witness.

A few weeks later, Seamus dies, and just before his birthday. On Seamus' birthday, Sean comes into the bar where the pact was made, and asks the bartender if he can buy a pint bottle of Paddy's. The bartender says yes, hands him the bottle, and says "Oh, Sean, am I right in believin' that you're going to keep your pact to honor Seamus?"

And Sean responds: "Yes, of course."

And the bartender asks: "So yer goin' to sprinkle this bottle of fine whiskey on his grave?"

And Sean responds: "Oh, yes. And to show how important he was to me, I'm going to filter it through me own kidneys first!"

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

there is no point talking to you at all.

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

If you can't articulate any bases for your opinion, e.g., some kind of relationship between your reaction to a text and the text itself, then I would agree that your talking is pretty pointless.

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

I have articulated a few points wrt how the comment appears to the israelis, you ignore them, because there is nothing else you can do given your prime directive- NEVER SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT ANYONE ASSOCIATED IN ANY WAY WITH ANY PART OF THE DEM PARTY.

give your typical stance, we really can't tell if you carry particular baggage about the Jewish people, or whether you had to swallow deep to post that there is nothing wrong with the "joke."

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

Sort of, yes. It wouldn't be the same because I wouldn't expect the same "you're cheating me!" reaction if it weren't a Jew. The Taliban certainly have prejudices against lots of people but not that particular one. But you could write a joke that pokes fun at a similar bias.

Note, though -- the fact that I understand the joke, and that I understand the difference between making fun of someone else's prejudice and adopting that prejudice as your own (meaning, I don't see the joke as anti-Semitic), doesn't mean that I think it was a good idea for the NSA (is that who it was? I've missed some of this discussion) to tell this joke. Basically, if you are in a field like international diplomacy or public affairs, you should recognize that many of the people you need to deal with are going to be stupid, or clueless, or stubborn. Especially about anything that touches racial or religious biases.

Re: You (all) lie!
 

How do you make an Italian squash?


Throw one up in the air, and he comes down squash.





Why do Italians use cocks on their weathervanes?


They used to use cunts but the wind blew right through.





Why don't Italian ballerinas do splits?


They stick to the floor.

Re: Funny? I think so.
 

why would he mix the Taliban and Jews? I suspect the average Taliban's Jewish biases are more in the baby killer realm than "unsavory businessmen" stereotype.

The joke is so off the rails that the guy should be in for observation. We trust him to shape foreign policy? Do you? Really?