Bluenose1995:
Decent post there mate and I see where you're coming from but my position is this: It might seem like the PC brigade are looking for stuff to be offended by (and, I dunno, maybe some of them are) but my own view is that I'm not offended by it (i.e. I'm not willfully finding offence in things) but I will react accordingly to the butt of the joke being offended by it and/or the butt of the joke being oppressed in some way by the joke being made. Sh*t, that sounds really clunky and pious and self-important but really what it means is this:
It's not enough to not mean any harm. You have to acknowledge that sometimes, even though you meant no harm at all, harm was done anyway by legitimising prejudicial views with your merry quips, as inconvenient as that may seem to you.
I used to be in a dominoes team (I was in my 20s at the time, though you may never believe that) in Southport and some of the lads would tell [Poor language removed] and coon jokes, even though Harvey, one of our team, was from Barbados. They didn't mean any harm at all, of course. But they were causing it because they were complicit in an act that perpetuated prejudicial attitudes against racial minorities. Harvey, of course, would laugh it off because he had no other choice. After all, they didn't mean any harm and if he did kick up a fuss he'd be some sort of uppity n*gger (after all, it's our country, not his), even though he was more of a gentleman than any of us. And anyway, it was all just a laugh, wasn't it? No harm meant.
It's not enough to say "Only joking, mate."
And if you need to be make racist or gay jokes to be funny you're probably not as funny as you think you are.
