At the moment there is a discussion going on in Switzerland about a really serious subject: humor. It all started with the mayor of our capital-city, an elderly guy from the left, and his ambitions in stand-up-comedy. His jokes didn’t really work, so no one bothered, except for one about the laziness of italians. Italian workforces have a long history in Switzerland. They basically built most of the roads and tunnels (and many lost their lives doing so) and were paid in meagre francs and mockery. «La dolcefarniente», the mediterranean cliché-lifestyle so many Swiss adore, has always been used as an inverse argument for the ostensibly undisciplined work-ethics of Italians. The stigma is so common, you can find jokes by the dozens everywhere you investigate.
To be honest: In the beginning of the discussion I didn’t even care. I am so used to discriminatory jokes about Italians, I even tend to find them funny. I grew up with several friends with Italian background and we laughed a lot about Italians. The Mamma-Jokes. The Lazy-Football-Jokes. The Mafia-Jokes. They are insolent, naughty, often pretty dark. But we always found them funny. I only recently got to know someone with Italian background who was really insulted by a (mediocre) Italy-joke I told her. «I was always laughed at because of my origin» she said, and I immediately realized just how improper my behavior was. Only because I grew up with those jokes, it doesn’t mean they are still okay today.
Especially when you are a comedian. I fully agree that in comedy and satire, there should be no boundaries. But if you violate these protections only to «trigger the applause of the subliminal xenophobia of the audience», as someone put it, it becomes mere bullshit. Even if people laugh because you said the N-Word out loud, you probably shouldn’t say it. Or, as comedian Louis C.K. put it: «Saying the „N-Word“ is just white people getting away with saying Nigger. If you say the word „N-Word“, you put the word „Nigger“ in peoples head.»
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF1NUposXVQ