Hyphen Lynks: The Jes' Lynks Edition

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

same subject, different blog

my comment - in response to Indian American columnist who questions Time's judgement but doesn't particularly fault Joel Stein - original column also available through link

as someone who occasionally reads the print version of Time (...that sounds antiquated to me, and yet I figure all of us read at least one print magazine...Subscribe), I wonder how many of those offended by Joel Stein's writing have read his prior columns?

As touched on in this earlier Hyphen blog post (not funny), I figure all can agree that laughter is good, and bigotry is bad. Maybe Joel Stein just isn't funny, but I can't imagine that people think he's truly intolerant - as if Jewish American kids who like Dungeons & Dragons are the type to gang up and beat up Indian American kids like Kal Penn.

Is it ever acceptable for humor to be shaped by generalizations? How about thought in general - is it ok for thought to be shaped by generalizations?

I don't think it's the generalization so much as the attitude and whether there's mean spirits and bad intentions behind a "joke". Take Mother Teresa, Indians, and Ash Wednesday for example - with love toward Catholics and Hindus, there's still bound to be a joke in there somewhere. Like the young Hindu woman, who converted to Catholicism on Ash Wednesday, got a zit, and ended up with an ellipsis...(?)

Or the son of an imam who experimented with opium and got stoned to death?

Maybe those jokes aren't funny, but isn't that the greatest sin of a humorist - to be unfunny? If you can't make jokes about age, gender, sex, marital status, disability, race, color, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, height, weight, health, wealth, income, hair, boobs, butts, clothes, shoes, politics, intelligence, hobbies, interests or other similar factors, what's left?

A person walked into a bar and said "ouch".

I say let's live at least a little dangerously, see if the laughs outweigh the hurt, and see if we can distinguish friends from enemies.

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Current Issue: 26

The South Issue

Mosey with us through the South, a region rich with history and culture -- and one that is vital to, but often overlooked in, Asian American history.

Hyphen Email Updates

The previous issue of Hyphen is available in its entirety for your perusing pleasure. Almost as good as having it right in your hands!

Since we are run entirely by volunteers, all donations go toward the production and marketing of the magazine. Donate today and become a member of our Overachievers Club. For a $50 donation you'll get a free subscription (and virtual hugs).

Donate Now

Did you know that Hyphen is produced by an all-volunteer staff? This makes us -- that's right -- overachievers. We know you want to be one too.

Volunteer today!

Founded in 2002, Hyphen is a nonprofit news and culture magazine that tells the stories of Asian America with substance, style and sass.

More about Hyphen

Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics