My Heritage Part III: Not Funny
Why is it that everyone laughs when I say I'm 1/4 Polish? What is so darn funny about being Polish-American?
Oh, let me guess...
Polish jokes.
Polish jokes run on one basic theme -- that Poles are stupid. We are somehow incapable of displaying even the slightest intelligence.
I've been trying to figure out where this notion has come from. I have two ideas, really. The first is that when the first Polish immigrants came to the United States they did not understand English and, like the other immigrants, became victims of taunting. Americans back then ignorantly believed that immigrants weren't as intelligent as they were because they couldn't understand English. For some reason, however, the Polish-stupid connection stuck.
Another thought I had about the subject concerned Wold War II. Poland was the last country to fall to Germany before the Allies declared war. As they were being threatened by the Nazis, the Poles decided to make a stand. It was 1939. Poland was not a wealthy nation. The best they had were war materials from the previous war. Needless to say, the German war machine overran them (as did the Soviets from behind). Maybe their gallantry and courage has been misconstrued as idiocy (why fight a tank with a horse?).
Nonetheless, we have been stuck with this stigma.
Here is a note to those of you who think Polish jokes are funny:
You are the stupid one.
See, it's widely known that racism is a form of ignorance. Racism can be extreme: like enslavement of Africans or the Holocaust. It can be national law: like Jim Crow America or Apartheid South Africa. Or it can be subtle: like thinking all Muslims are like Al Quaida or telling racist jokes. The results can be vastly different, but the root cause is always the same. It's racism.
I do not know a great deal about Polish culture. As stated in Part I of this commentary, I really only knew what being Italian-American was like. But I did have to deal with all those idiots who thought Polish jokes were funny.
I guess that is perhaps easier to swallow than the alternative -- that a people as courageous enough as they were in defending their homeland are far superior than racist fools.
Next time someone tells you a Polish joke, or a black joke, or French joke or any other racist joke, your reaction will guage your character. You do not necessarily have to confront the person. But don't laugh.
It really isn't funny.
Oh, let me guess...
Polish jokes.
Polish jokes run on one basic theme -- that Poles are stupid. We are somehow incapable of displaying even the slightest intelligence.
I've been trying to figure out where this notion has come from. I have two ideas, really. The first is that when the first Polish immigrants came to the United States they did not understand English and, like the other immigrants, became victims of taunting. Americans back then ignorantly believed that immigrants weren't as intelligent as they were because they couldn't understand English. For some reason, however, the Polish-stupid connection stuck.
Another thought I had about the subject concerned Wold War II. Poland was the last country to fall to Germany before the Allies declared war. As they were being threatened by the Nazis, the Poles decided to make a stand. It was 1939. Poland was not a wealthy nation. The best they had were war materials from the previous war. Needless to say, the German war machine overran them (as did the Soviets from behind). Maybe their gallantry and courage has been misconstrued as idiocy (why fight a tank with a horse?).
Nonetheless, we have been stuck with this stigma.
Here is a note to those of you who think Polish jokes are funny:
You are the stupid one.
See, it's widely known that racism is a form of ignorance. Racism can be extreme: like enslavement of Africans or the Holocaust. It can be national law: like Jim Crow America or Apartheid South Africa. Or it can be subtle: like thinking all Muslims are like Al Quaida or telling racist jokes. The results can be vastly different, but the root cause is always the same. It's racism.
I do not know a great deal about Polish culture. As stated in Part I of this commentary, I really only knew what being Italian-American was like. But I did have to deal with all those idiots who thought Polish jokes were funny.
I guess that is perhaps easier to swallow than the alternative -- that a people as courageous enough as they were in defending their homeland are far superior than racist fools.
Next time someone tells you a Polish joke, or a black joke, or French joke or any other racist joke, your reaction will guage your character. You do not necessarily have to confront the person. But don't laugh.
It really isn't funny.
posted by E-Luv at 8:29 AM
2 Comments:
Interestingly, Polish jokes are unique to America.
and in different contries the nationality is different but the jokes are the same. For instance, in Canada, they make fun of Newfies, those from New Foundland, a part of the very same country.
Either way, for Polish history you should look at Europe of the 1800's post Napolean and pre-WW1. That seems to be the time when they were most independent and a national identity was formed. Unless you want to go back to the 1500's, when the last Polish king fell
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