Thread: 'Being Latino' This Week On Facebook

'Being Latino' This Week On Facebook
By Libby Juliá Vázquez
Published February 04, 2011

When is funny not funny? When does a joke go too far?

Those questions were asked this week as the Mexican Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Eduardo Medina-Mora Icaza, demanded an apology from the hosts of the show, Top Gear, after they called Mexicans “lazy, feckless, flatulent [and] overweight." The ambassador said, "These offensive, xenophobic and humiliating remarks serve only to reinforce negative stereotypes and perpetuate prejudice against Mexico and its people."

Opinions on Facebook regarding the topic varied from the 'don’t be so sensitive':

“That’s what they do on that show. They constantly make fun of people from different countries and they get plenty of hate mail. I am a avid viewer of TOP GEAR and I always laugh at all the people they make fun of; it’s just part of the showâ€

"Another slap across our face and it's not even our face!"

The TV show and the murder of the little girl are not related. A joke, whether politically correct or not, does not lead to hate that leads to murder.

A couple of weeks ago we went to a local comedy club that had a bunch of new comics who had a short time on stage. They were hysterical. Comedy is apparently the last place to leave political correctness at the door. I don't watch that TV show, but the comics attacked many, many different races, cultures, religions, genders and political and social beliefs.

At first we were surprised with what they were able to "get away with saying", because we have been so indoctrinated by the thought and speech police.