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Should Judge Richard Cebull step down?

TimCallahan

Philosopher
T
Joined
Mar 11, 2009
Messages
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Judge Richard Cebull of Montana forwarded the following joke on his official e-mail:

“A little boy said to his mother, ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white? His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!”

He has since apologized profusely to President Obama. However, even leaving aside the racism and sexism implicit in the joke, should someone who behaves in such a rash manner be a federal judge? In my opinion he should resign.
 
I'm not sure if he should resign, but I thought his apology was sincere, in contrast to Rush Limbaugh's non-apology to Sandra Fluke.

-Bri
 
theprestige said:
Where's the racism and sexism implied?
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Because the joke included the word "black" and Obama self-identifies as black, making it racist. And it's sexist because it implies that a woman may get drunk, engage in sexual activity, and not recall the events clearly, which is obviously sexist, because, um, well... hmmm....
 
Really? You really don't see how a joke whose punchline boils down to "a white woman who has an interracial child only had that child because she got so intoxicated she not only couldn't fully recall the race of her sexual partners, she couldn't fully recall their species" could be racist and sexist?
 
It's anti-Obama, therefore by definition is perfectly acceptable.

Or it was a joke.

Or somewhere a liberal said something similar.
 
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DavidJames said:
It's anti-Obama, therefore by definition is perfectly acceptable.

Or it was a joke.

Or somewhere a liberal said something similar far worse (because anything a liberal says is worse than anything a conservative says).
Click to expand...

Fixed that for you.
 
Like many political jokes, this is just a joke in which the names were added to make it "topical". I heard this joke many years ago, but with just unidentified people in it.
 
ANTPogo said:
Really? You really don't see how a joke whose punchline boils down to "a white woman who has an interracial child only had that child because she got so intoxicated she not only couldn't fully recall the race of her sexual partners, she couldn't fully recall their species" could be racist and sexist?
Click to expand...

The joke ending in the punchline, "... Chunks is my dog!" is premised on a man in the same absurd state of drunkenness, but it's not sexist. Just tasteless. And funny. Similarly with this joke. Your insistence on a racialist/sexualist interpretation doesn't justify that interpretation. The humor in the joke doesn't depend on that interpretation.

And I submit that it is possible to make jokes about interracial couples, and their offspring, that depend for their humor on the bald facts of interracial couples, without implying racism.

Just like it's possible to make jokes about chickens crossing roads without implying speciesism.

For calibration of your instruments, I offer the following joke, which actually depends on implied sexism for its humor:

Q. How do we know that God isn't a woman?

A. Because we're not all sandwiches.
 
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theprestige said:
The joke ending in the punchline, "... Chunks is my dog!" is premised on a man in the same absurd state of drunkenness, but it's not sexist. Just tasteless. And funny. Similarly with this joke. Your insistence on a racialist/sexualist interpretation doesn't justify that interpretation. The humor in the joke doesn't depend on that interpretation.

And I submit that it is possible to make jokes about interracial couples, and their offspring, that depend for their humor on the bald facts of interracial couples, without implying racism.

Just like it's possible to make jokes about chickens crossing roads without implying speciesism.

For calibration of your instruments, I offer the following joke, which actually depends on implied sexism for its humor:

Q. How do we know that God isn't a woman?

A. Because we're not all sandwiches.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it's not possible for a right wing white person, who's a self-described hater of the President, to make this joke and not have it come off as racist. Context matters, and calling the President's mother a slut who couldn't recall whether she conceived Barack with a black man or a dog is a prime example.

It feels like I keep having this conversation. Someone says something racist and people proclaim that the racism isn't obvious to them at all and we're left with the only racist act being the overt use of the word "******", and even that gets disputed.

http://washingtonindependent.com/73036/n-word-sign-dogs-would-be-tea-party-leader
 
He has lousy taste and no sense of humor - let a mastiff go at him for a long while as payback.

He should resign for being stupid enough to send it on official e-mail.
 
theprestige said:
The joke ending in the punchline, "... Chunks is my dog!" is premised on a man in the same absurd state of drunkenness, but it's not sexist. Just tasteless. And funny.
Click to expand...

The difference is that the punchline to the above "joke" has nothing to do with any real-life situation or person, while a white woman having a child by a black man has been subject to a lot of vile racist words, deeds, and laws...right down to the very same comparisons with bestiality that feature in the "joke" told about the President, and during the very period that the President's parents got married and had a child, no less!

Similarly with this joke. Your insistence on a racialist/sexualist interpretation doesn't justify that interpretation. The humor in the joke doesn't depend on that interpretation.
Click to expand...

Even if you could make a valid argument that the "joke" in its generic "this is about some nameless person" form is not sexist or racist (which I don't believe you can...there's a reason why this joke is always told with a half-black child asking the question of his white mother), the fact that it was being told about a specific biracial person absolutely means that it depends on the interpretation you're trying to deny.

And I submit that it is possible to make jokes about interracial couples, and their offspring, that depend for their humor on the bald facts of interracial couples, without implying racism.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. This "joke", however, is not among their number.

Just like it's possible to make jokes about chickens crossing roads without implying speciesism.
Click to expand...

If you don't understand the difference between a joke about chickens crossing roads and a joke about President Barack Obama's white mother having to explain that she got drunk enough to have sex with dogs to explain why President Barack Obama's father is black, then this is going to be a really short conversation.

For calibration of your instruments, I offer the following joke, which actually depends on implied sexism for its humor:

Q. How do we know that God isn't a woman?

A. Because we're not all sandwiches.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:
 
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Right, equating interracial sex as no different than having sex with a dog is not in any way racist. :rolleyes:
 
Back in the 50s there was a commie under every rock.

Times changed and so did the boogeyman. Eventually there was a racist under every rock.

Now the rock is racist as well.
 
Yes, he should resign. One of the job requirements for a judge is to have good judgment. Clearly he lacks that trait.
 
YoPopa said:
Back in the 50s there was a commie under every rock.

Times changed and so did the boogeyman. Eventually there was a racist under every rock.

Now the rock is racist as well.
Click to expand...

Either you think very highly of dogs or see the joke as a simple statement of incontrovertible fact.

"I don't see what the problem is. Of course a woman that has sex with black men also has sex with dogs."
 
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