Sauce for the goosestep

Posted by Guessedworker on Monday, 20 March 2006 19:31.

Have you heard the one about the blonde girl who gave birth to twins? She searched the whole town looking for the other Dad.

OK, it’s not the best joke in the world. It’s not even the best blond girl joke in the world (in English: Essex girl). But is it the most offensive? Or even just a teeny bit offensive? Sufficient, say, for the purposes of a press complaint under the race hate code?

Well, Vigrid, a bunch of Norwegian guys with a certain political affiliation - Godwin’s Law notwithstanding - may be about to find out.

The Nazis’ ire was raised when the aforementioned example of racially offensive humour was aired in a Norwegian newspaper, Telemarks. Only as a bit of fun, you understand. But, well, sauce for the offended goose and all that.

So yesterday our proud heroes made it into the pages of the leading Norwegian daily, Aftenposten:-

Demands fine for blond joke

The Nazi organization Vigrid has charged Telemarksavisa with racism against Nordic blondes, because the paper printed a blonde joke.

“A representative for the Nazi organization Vigrid has ‘reported’ TA [Telemarksavisa] to the Professional Press Association [PFU] for a blond joke, and demands that the paper is fined six million kroner, writes TA.

In the letter to the PFU Vigrid also demands that TA is forced to print a public apology to Nordic women and to promise that such race hate will not be repeated. The fine should be distributed among Nordic rape victims in Grenland [Editor: Grenland is a neighborhood in Oslo with the highest concentration of immigrants].

“In effect, we are extending the definition of racial hatred and the devaluing of the individual to the most wounded part of our people. Namely our young, Nordic appearing teenage girls,” writes Vigrid in the letter to the PFU.

Vigrid’s representative points out that since TA does not consider it acceptable to joke about Muslims, Jews or blacks, they should not be allowed to joke about girls with light hair or other colour characteristics of the “white race”.

Quite so. Me, I’m with the Schneefuhrer.

Though there was that time in Athens a few years back when I was told this one: Why do blonde girls always make love with the light on? Because the car door is open.

Would all letigious goose-steppers please contact my lawyer.

Thanks to Jungirl not only for the story but the translation, too.

Tags: Free Speech

Comments:

Posted by calyen on Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:28 | #

My kid’s school hired a troupe of actors to perform a play which was full of jokes against blonds. Sensing at the end they had upset some of the kids, the actors apologised for any offence caused. Doubt that stopped them performing the same drivel across the country though. At some point, this kind of thing becomes a campaign.

Posted by Bo Sears on Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:55 | #

It’s Not About Offense, It’s About Racial Hatred…

We have to respectfully disagree with Guessedworker on his following remarks:

“OK, it’s not the best joke in the world. It’s not even the best blond girl joke in the world (in English: Essex girl). But is it the most offensive? Or even just a teeny bit offensive? Sufficient, say, for the purposes of a press complaint under the race hate code?”

But the complainants did not remark that the description of blondes was “offensive” and it is unfair to characterize their complaint as based on “offense.”

Their argument was based on “extending the [legal] definition of racial hatred and the devaluing of the individual to the most wounded part of our people” which is vastly different from a petty whine based on a petty “tit-for-tat” schema.

Let us not demean the complaint by substituting a strawman argument and by ignoring the true gravamen of the complaint. There can be plenty of argument about the complainants’ point of view and overall political orientation, but it is hardly appropriate to convert their serious and legal complaint into a whine about “offense.”

The reason the complaintants are correct is because they have the law and reason on their side. There is nothing cute or funny about the sexism and racism undergirding blonde-bashing.