I love jokes. I love to laugh; therefore laughing at jokes is like a healing tonic for me. I have several joke sources; some are the cutesy ones, with butterflies and puppies. Then there are the ones with a spiritual message from the angels or often God himself. These come with a warning that God may smite you if you don’t forward it to 25 of your closest love ones in the next 3.5 seconds. Then there are those that are for adults only. There are times when these seen to be the most outrages, and wrong on so many levels, but still funny as hell. If you have jokes I’d say, send them to me, via text message or email, just keep them coming, until this week.
The first “joke” was an email which directed me to YouTube. There I found a little African American boy, probably around the age of five, talking to a young Asian woman in a store, or more like a bodega. The tirade that came out of this little boy’s mouth would astound, even for those of us who have perfected the art of swearing. “You Chinese bitch this” and ‘you motherfucka” that. What was so amazing to me was his command of the words, the ease in which these words flowed out of his mouth, and it seemed he was so accustomed to speaking in this manner. Yes, I must confess I did laugh, mainly out of surprise. Wow, I know a lot of adults that would be at a loss for words if they found themselves in a predicament where loud profanity was necessary. Well actually the language was really uncalled for regardless of age or circumstance. I imagine some of you have seen or heard about this little boy. I was told by someone that this scene was staged, even so…
The second “joke” I received was sent via text message. I have to open the messages from this particular sender with care, and be mindful of where I’m at because I never know what sights or sounds may come out of the messages upon opening them. The subject of this message was listed as “Baby Girl, Talkin’ Shit”; I know this because I haven’t deleted it yet, but you better believe I will not be forwarding these to others. When I opened the text here sat a cute little African American baby girl, still mostly baby but able to talk, putting words together to form small sentences, or so I thought. Well after you received this adorable baby girl’s picture you’re assaulted with this child’s rant; yes rant is the only way I can describe it. “Matha fucka, I’ll fuck you up matha fucka, you ain’t gonna hang up on me you bitch, I hate you fucka. You hear me bitch? Fuck you bitch I’ll fuck your ass up…”It goes on for a few too many motha fucka’s from there.
I know that was foul, but I just had to give you an idea of what I’m talking about. This is mind blowing, and this comes from me, someone who had perfected cussin’. My parents never said “hell” or “damn” until I was 13, and I could hold my own with any sailor at the age of 13. Over the last few years I have curtailed my profanity usage in favor of a more respectful tone. So for those of you who may have known me in my younger years, I’m not being a hypocrite, just more enlightened.
So, what are we teaching our children? Is this what we have to look forward to? How can we turn our world over to the next generation when we think it’s funny to see children degrading themselves and others? When Barack Obama was elected president I cried because I realized my grandson could realistically aspire to the presidency of our country; we have a role model in the White House who looks like me, like us. He gave school age children a pep talk about finding your gifts and working hard for your dreams. It seems we are moving further away from these dreams instead of toward them and I’m not laughing.
I believe “political correctness” can go too far. We just all need to take a chill pill, relax and handle our business. Can’t we all laugh at ourselves and move forward. We are more alike than different, and some stereotypes are true, I’m just sayin’. We all walk different paths, but are headed to the same destination. To call a young Asian woman a Chinese bitch, and tell her she needs to go back where she came from isn’t cute. Women are degraded when we’re called bitches and ho’s, too often from men as well as other women. Where is our integrity, our grace, our divinity? What can we do to change this trend? I have many more questions and very few answers, but there is urgency for us to find solutions to build us up instead of tearing us down. I belief Bill Cosby said it best, “Come on People”. We are the ones to set the examples in our families, our schools, and our communities, because if not us, who? There is one thing I know for sure and that’s I’m not laughing anymore!
Namaste’
