Civis Americanus "Comedian Dave Chappelle recently received a lot of heat for an act in which he said, among other things, "If they're black, it's a gang. If they're Italian, it's a mob. But if they're Jewish, it's a coincidence, and you should never speak about it." I don't regard this as anti-Semitic, or for that matter racist or anti-Italian, because he is clearly mocking all racial stereotypes as opposed to promoting them. To this he added, "I've been to Hollywood ... it's a lot of Jews. Like, a lot. But that doesn't mean anything. There's a lot of black people in Ferguson, Missouri. Doesn't mean they run the place." This again comes across to me as ridiculing the stereotypes in question, and I am by the way of Jewish identity.
"Comedians, like court jesters who often had license to criticize their monarchs in public because everything they said could be taken as a joke, have some leeway with regard to ethnic and racial humor because none of it is meant to be taken seriously. Monty Python makes fun of almost everybody, and Mel Brooks's comedies are full of humor about Jews, Catholics, and others. Archie Bunker, meanwhile, discovered that his longtime friend Stretch Cunningham was a Jew when he attended the latter's funeral. Chappelle also made a short video about Clayton Bigsby, the black white supremacist who was born blind and never realized that he was black. When he discovered his identity, he divorced his Caucasian wife of nineteen years for being a Negro-lover ("Negro" was not exactly the word he used).
"Our society needs to understand the difference between humor that is clearly not meant to be taken seriously and racist or anti-Semitic commentary from white supremacists, Al Sharpton and his National Action Network, and Black Lives Matter spokespeople, who mean every word they say. ". . .
Civis Americanus is the pen name of a contributor who remembers the lessons of history and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way. The author is remaining anonymous due to the likely prospect of being subjected to "cancel culture" for exposing the Big Lie behind Black Lives Matter.
