Jokes are supposed to be funny. Those who tell jokes are supposed to be wise enough to know that.
Unfortunately, a famous advice columnist called Dame Edna Everage of the magazine Vanity Fair has a bit of trouble distinguishing the thin, but crucial, line between humor and bigotry.
The situation is as follows: A certain "Torn Romantic" seeking advice from Edna in the February issue of Vanity Fair wrote in asking what language he or she should learn.
"I would very much like to learn a foreign language, preferably French or Italian, but every time I mention this, people tell me to learn Spanish instead," wrote "Torn."
"Dear Torn, Forget Spanish," was the reply. "There's nothing in that language worth reading except Don Quixote, and a quick listen to the CD of Man of La Mancha will take care of that."
She goes on to make more ignorantly crafted comments about Garcia Lorca and how she'd rather "leave him on the intellectual back burner." As if this outright slaughter of the dignity of an entire culture were not enough, she ends the response with, "As for everyone speaking it, what twaddle! Who speaks [Spanish] that you are really desperate to talk to? The help? Your leaf blower? Study French or German, where there are at least a few books worth reading."
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Interestingly, this Dame is actually not a woman, but a man named Barry Humphries who has made a career out of embodying this character with bright purple hair.
Dame Edna is more like a caricature of someone dressed in drag than an authentic drag queen. Her face is relatively famous and can probably be seen regularly in an issue of People magazine or even an "Ally McBeal" episode
or two.
Far from drag queenish, Dame Edna is older and spunky and she is known for her insults and mockery, as she freely makes fun of just about anything. She has her very own over- the-top theatrical show in which she apparently offends everyone. Even though this is the case, she has scores of devotees who absolutely adore her. This is probably because she is usually funny despite her offensiveness.
In reality, I seriously doubt that her insults are really meant to scar anyone for life, but unfortunately, she has made an irrevocable mistake by giving faulty advice in her column.
Personally, I have never encountered any comedy show by the Dame herself, but the last few weeks have been pretty confusing and frustrating. Why would someone in her position consciously make bigoted remarks?
Apparently it was because she thought it would be funny and that people would laugh at her wit, not protest it. Quite the opposite occurred.
Since the issue of Vanity Fair hit the newsstands this month, with a steamy picture of Salma Hayek on the cover no less, scores of e-mails have been circulating around in the Chicano communities urging everyone to boycott this magazine until an apology is made and something is done about the Dame.
Vanity Fair Editor in Chief Graydon Carter issued a statement with the intent to express regret for the Edna's remarks.
"In the role of Dame Edna, Humphries practices a long comedic tradition of making statements that are tasteless, wrongheaded or taboo with an eye toward exposing hypocrisies or prejudices," Carter said. "Anyone who has seen Dame Edna's over-the-top performances on TV or in the theater knows that she is an equal-opportunity distributor of insults, and her patently absurd comments about Spanish literature and Spanish-speakers were offered in the spirit of outrageous comedy and were never intended to be taken to heart."
This unfortunate lack of understanding and cultural sensitivity on the parts of both Carter and Dame Edna has fired up many people, namely Chicanos and Chicanas in the community and around the nation.
"Not much has changed," commented Cynthia Gomez, a concerned citizen, "except that racist clowns are also stupid enough to publicly expose themselves in the process."
