So, here’s a joke I’ve enjoyed for a number of years. If you’re easily offended, please don’t be. We’re opening up an intellectual dialog here.

A guy is driving through the United States towards the Canadian border, and as he’s getting closer, he sees two black guys hitchhiking. “You guys don’t have passports, do you?” he asks as he pulls over. They shrug and shake their heads. “Alright, get in the trunk,” he says. “Just shove those bowling balls and my bike aside and get in.” So, they do, and he continues on to the border. The border guard asks him the typical battery of questions, and the guy is answering, but all of a sudden, he gets nervous. Spotting the bead of sweat on his forehead, the border guard asks him to open up the trunk. “Sure thing officer,” he says, and he hits the button, thinking to himself about how screwed he is.

The guard checks out the trunk for a minute and then comes back around to the drivers side window. He clears his throat.

“Sir, I’m not going to bust you for smuggling nigger eggs, but I will tell you that two of them hatched and they’ve already stolen a bike.”

Now, I’m sure for a portion of you reading (if there is anyone other than me, Iride and Weasel reading this) will think me a terrible person for enjoying such a joke, much less posting it here. I expect there’ll be some comments by people who just read the joke and then comment without reading any of the exposition, and that’s fine. And ignorant (and ironic!).

The central issue, for me, is if a joke is clever and if it provides an interesting view of something. And, through the sheer absurdity of the notion that a border guard would think that black people laid eggs, this joke does certainly  fit that bill. To me, it’s funny because it’s so ridiculous. It’s totally irrelevant that it’s about black people. The joke is entertaining because of how preposterous its premise is.

It’s also interesting that the voice of this joke is more specific than a lot of jokes with racist overtones. Most racist jokes deal with their punchlines in a much more concrete way; the punch-lines carry a sort of invisible authority that puts them across almost as a moral lesson. “Why are Scottish men lonely? Because the sheep have learned to run away at the sound of a zipper going down.” Most racist jokes follow that sort of pattern: a quick back and forth, attributed to no one in particular. The punch line is given as an absolute, like it’s a lesson or a proverb.

In the border joke, the racist attitude is clearly attributed to the border guard himself. As such, more than other “racist” jokes, the focus is much more specific. The joke isn’t about a race. It’s about a racist. In that way, the joke shares more similarities with a dumb blond joke than a racist joke.

Even past that, however, I think there’s another benefit to a down and dirty offensive or tasteless joke. It’s like a settling of accounts, so to speak. A chance for everyone to make sure our moral compasses are pointed the same way, and if not, to engage in a debate on it. If a group of us are all out drinking, and I tell a horrifying joke about sexual assault, or something, the reactions will vary. Some people will laugh their ass off, others won’t find it funny at all on general principal because of the subject matter.

But there’s a moment where we can all come into agreement. Sure, I love the joke about the NAMBLA member and the little boy in the deep, dark woods, and you thought it was just awful. But there’s an understanding between us that the subject matter of the joke isn’t funny at all. There’s nothing funny about sexual assault, or the violence that’s been enacted in the name of racial or religious persecution. Whether or not the joke is funny to us, we can agree on that. And that’s the important thing. It’s a reaffirming moment.

The power of an offensive joke is that it can make the horrible simply absurd, but then can make you think about the issues. And that’s important. One of the biggest problems in the world today, I think, is that people don’t think about the problems that exist past their own door. If nothing else, an offensive joke forces you to think about an issue.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are predisposed to have a very negative reaction to a joke the moment they find it has anything to do with a particular issue they feel strongly about. I think that’s a pretty knee-jerk, anti-intellectual reaction.

For me, I remember practically being in shock when the news first started trickling in that Chris Benoit had murdered his family. Not knowing what else to do, I spent my time on the lethalwrestling.com message board, a small community of fans with similar senses of humor helping each other out in a shitty situation. Then someone joked that Benoit had finally managed to become a convincing bad guy, in spite of his lack of charisma. That was the one time I remember laughing that day. In the long run, I felt a lot better having had that laugh at that moment. It really me deal with the whole situation.

But, it’s late and I’m rambling. Just remember folks, an offensive joke isn’t something to get upset about. It’s just words. If you don’t like them, don’t listen to them….homo.