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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Calling for Jesus at the Pearly Gates
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Simon
Editor
# 1
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Posted
Joke submittted by Toby:
An Indian man dies and arrives at the Pearly Gates.
"Yes, how can I help?" asks St Peter.
"I'm here to meet Jesus," says the Indian man.
St Peter looks over his shoulder and shouts, "Jesus, your cab is here!"
[ 10. August 2005, 15:04: Message edited by: Simon ]
Poll information
This poll contains 2 question(s). 81 user(s) have voted.
You can't view the results of this poll without voting.
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Eternal memory
Posts: 3787 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2001
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Hazey*Jane
Ship's Biscuit Crumbs
# 8754
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Posted
Offensive for racial, not religious reasons.
Posts: 4266 | From: UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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KenWritez
Shipmate
# 3238
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Posted
This joke only makes sense if you live in London or the UK, I think. As I'm not English, I had to stop and figure it out.
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"The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd." --Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction
My blog: http://oxygenofgrace.blogspot.com
Posts: 11102 | From: Left coast of Wonderland, by the rabbit hole | Registered: Aug 2002
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Corpus cani
Ship's Anachronism
# 1663
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Posted
Definitely racist, but in some strange way, not offensively so. Made me titter.
Cc
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Bishop Lord Corpus Cani the Tremulous of Buzzing St Helens.
Posts: 4435 | From: Trumpton | Registered: Nov 2001
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
Somewhat funny, just slightly offensive to me. Whoever's seen the BBC comedy programme 'Goodness Gracious Me' will smile. I did.
It could well be told by an Indian person poking fun at Indians, I feel. Though not scoring top marks: a nice little joke. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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Not
Ship's Quack
# 2166
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Posted
I think it's more a joke about racism, than a racist joke - but that may be too fine a distinction...
It made me smile - but I'd be uncomfortable telling it
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Was CJ; now Not
Posts: 600 | From: the far, far West | Registered: Jan 2002
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Linguo
Ship's grammar robot
# 7220
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by CJ:
I think it's more a joke about racism, than a racist joke - but that may be too fine a distinction...
It made me smile - but I'd be uncomfortable telling it
My thoughts precisely - my brain is stuffed full of jokes-about-racism which I can't tell.
Posts: 997 | From: around and about the place | Registered: May 2004
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Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
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Posted
I did not find it to be racist. Obviously, a large percentage of taxi drivers are Indian, but there is nothing remotely shameful about that profession - indeed, I would imagine some of them have a very tidy income. Somehow, it more gave me the impression that Peter was preocuppied than that, for example, Indians would not be going to heaven (or whatever implications it might have for others).
The joke is not offensive, though I found it only mildly funny. I'd be unlikely to repeat only because it could be taken as racist, though I did not see it as so.
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Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
Posts: 6740 | From: Library or pub | Registered: Jun 2001
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Marquis
Apprentice
# 9750
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Posted
Pretty funny, and contrary to what everyone else is saying I feel it is a race joke about white folks, not Indians. The point (IMHO) is that St. Peter (in his guise as an elderly white dude) can only assume that an Indian would be there for a menial task instead of eternal salvation.
Very Eurocentric! ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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"I believe that the words Favour", "Owe", and "Big" were used....."
Posts: 28 | From: NYC | Registered: Jul 2005
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Fiddleback
Shipmate
# 2809
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Posted
Brilliant! Almost as funny as the priest and pimple one.
Posts: 2034 | Registered: May 2002
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rewboss
Shipmate
# 566
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Posted
I found it offensive because of the implication that Indians have no hope of getting into heaven. I also didn't find it funny because I first read "cab" as "crab", so for several seconds I was just mystified.
I don't know, it just falls flat for me. All it does is suggests that St Peter is a racist, which he might well have been in real life (God had to give him a little vision to make sure he would actually go and convert a Gentile), but other than that...
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The latest from the world of rewboss
Posts: 1334 | From: Lower Franconia, Germany | Registered: Jun 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Not very funny and definitely racist. Why did I laugh? I don't think the nice family from India in my Catholic parish needs to drive a cab to get into heaven.
On the other hand: It has a good beat and I can dance to it, I give it a 59.
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Duo Seraphim*
Sea lawyer
# 3251
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Posted
The disturbing aspect of this joke is not only the Indian not saved, but that racism goes right to the top even to Heaven.
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2^8, eight bits to a byte
Posts: 3967 | From: Sydney Australia | Registered: Aug 2002
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Lyda*Rose
Ship's broken porthole
# 4544
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Posted
I have more problems with jokes on race than jokes on religion because you choose your religion and whatever comes with the territory. You don't choose your race.
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"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano
Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003
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John Donne
Renaissance Man
# 220
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Posted
The cab/Indian thing only makes sense if you know that that cabs in the UK are predominantly driven by Indians (which I didn't, but guess it is the case).
There might be a harmless racial element, say, where you can laugh about the ubiquity of Indian cab drivers without ill-feeling for their race (But why would you bother when there are better things to laugh about? ![[Confused]](confused.gif) ), but I think there is a less savoury implication that the only business an Indian would have arriving in Heaven was because he was driving a taxi for Jesus.
The unexpected part of Jesus needing a taxi and the reader finding that a new arrival in Heaven is there are a taxi driver I find a funny combination. But not in this racial context.
Posts: 13667 | From: Perth, W.A. | Registered: May 2001
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Soror Magna
Shipmate
# 9881
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Posted
(Sadly, depending on your point of view) It works in Canada too. There is a bank downtown with a large sign that says "Taxi Loans" but all the information on the sign is in Hindi. Cheers, OliviaG
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"You come with me to room 1013 over at the hospital, I'll show you America. Terminal, crazy and mean." -- Tony Kushner, "Angels in America"
Posts: 5430 | From: Caprica City | Registered: Jul 2005
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Zeke
Ship's Inquirer
# 3271
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Posted
I'vw often heard jokes here in the USA about how seldom you get an English-speaking cabbie. It must be an easy first job for refugees and recent arrivals to get. It can be difficult, though, to make them understand where you want to go if it isn't a major destination.
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No longer the Bishop of Durham
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If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be without it? --Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 5259 | From: Deep in the American desert | Registered: Sep 2002
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The Bede's American Successor
Curmudgeon-in-Training
# 5042
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by KenWritez:
This joke only makes sense if you live in London or the UK, I think. As I'm not English, I had to stop and figure it out.
This joke would be very clearly understood in Seattle. Haven't you ever seen a cabby or a bus driver with a turban?
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This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride of wealth and food in plenty, comfort and ease, and yet she never helped the poor and the wretched.
—Ezekiel 16.49
Posts: 6079 | From: The banks of Possession Sound | Registered: Oct 2003
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Rat
Ship's Rat
# 3373
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Posted
I'm surprised anyone reads this as racist - it's satirising the narrow stereotypes of (broadly) white society, not attacking the Asian character. And yes, as somebody mentioned, it would have fitted very well into Goodness Gracious Me.
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Posts: 5285 | From: A dour region for dour folk | Registered: Oct 2002
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churchgeek
Have candles, will pray
# 5557
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marquis:
Pretty funny, and contrary to what everyone else is saying I feel it is a race joke about white folks, not Indians. The point (IMHO) is that St. Peter (in his guise as an elderly white dude) can only assume that an Indian would be there for a menial task instead of eternal salvation.
Very Eurocentric!
That's exactly how I read it. You can even imagine a context where the Indian gent has an appointment with Jesus to hold a discussion, have lunch, or just hang out and chat - tell jokes even. Peter apparently doesn't get it - just like through most of the Gospels, where we can see ourselves in the disciples' place, misunderstanding our Lord's intentions at every possible chance.
OK, I've over-analyzed the humor right out of that one! Is that what these threads are for? ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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I reserve the right to change my mind.
My article on the Virgin of Vladimir
Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004
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Kwesi
Shipmate
# 10274
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Posted
Let me state at the outset that I'm broadly against censorship and oppose the proposals regarding 'incitement to religious hatred'.
Having attended the Greenbelt 'Laugh Judgement' session I felt it unfortunate there was no time to discuss the issues raised.
In my opinion 'Calling for Jesus at the Pearly Gates' struggles to be more than a racist anecdote that could only be regarded as a 'joke' when told by Bernard Manning to a convention of the National Front. (I find churgeek's argument unconvincing sophistry). The only context it might be otherwise would be for a Pakistani to tell it to an audience of Pakistanis, a la Lennie Bruce. Context is all.
For me the 'joke' is unacceptably offensive because apart from diminishing the author, the teller, and their assumptions about the audience's sense of humour, it lampoons a section of society that ill-deserves to be satirised and cannot fight-back. (My Pakistani Newsagent has recently had his shop windows attacked and the law has failed to punish the known miscreants).
The contrast is with the offensive jokes about the Trinity, which is well capable of extracting any punishment it feels fit, the reluctance of Rome to deal with paedophile priests etc. deserves savage satirical comment, as does narrow-minded sectarianism. Offending powers greater than oneself is bravery, making the weak an object of ribaldry is fascism.
Posts: 1641 | From: South Ofankor | Registered: Sep 2005
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Spong
Ship's coffee grinder
# 1518
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Posted
I agree with Kwesi (excellent first post). Of course it's racist. It came eighth on the funniest list, and didn't score on the offensive one - I found the latter surprising, although admittedly the offence is not religious.
I don't think those who refer to 'Goodness Gracious Me' can have understood the programme. The only way this would have worked in GGM would have been in the sketch where they reversed stereotypes and had the group of drunk Asian lads making fun of the white waiter, in which case the cab driver would have had to be white and St Peter Asian.
GGM could have done sketches about a particular Asian cab-driver as a character, one of the rude boyz for example, but it would never have done one where the punchline was a stereoptype of an Asian in European eyes.
And my experience is that most non-white cab drivers are not Indian, they are (as Kwesi says) Pakistani.
Spong
{Note to US Americans - Asian as per British usage]
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Spong
The needs of our neighbours are the needs of the whole human family. Let's respond just as we do when our immediate family is in need or trouble. Rowan Williams
Posts: 2173 | From: South-East UK | Registered: Oct 2001
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SteveTom
Contributing Editor
# 23
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Spong:
I agree with Kwesi (excellent first post). Of course it's racist. It came eighth on the funniest list, and didn't score on the offensive one - I found the latter surprising, although admittedly the offence is not religious.
Actually, I'm glad to say, it came in the offensive top ten, not the funnies. It was number 10.
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I saw a naked picture of me on the internet
Wearing Jesus's new snowshoes.
Well, golly gee.
- Eels
Posts: 1363 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
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Spong
Ship's coffee grinder
# 1518
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Posted
Ah, sorry. It was the 'Pearly Gates' bit that confused me.
Spong
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Spong
The needs of our neighbours are the needs of the whole human family. Let's respond just as we do when our immediate family is in need or trouble. Rowan Williams
Posts: 2173 | From: South-East UK | Registered: Oct 2001
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Marquis
Apprentice
# 9750
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Posted
I'm sorry guys, but I think you are seeing rascism just because you want to.
I stand by my original opinion, that this joke takes the piss out of doddery old white dudes, not south aisian cab drivers. I feel that way because it is the doddery old white dude who does not understand what is going on. The asian cab driver actually has almost no role in this joke, except to get the ball rolling. All the humor (such as it is) rests with the ill concieved misconception of St. Pete. HE is the focus of the joke, not the cabbie.
But perhaps I just don't feel the same need to equate any and all race related commentry to a negative white supremicist agenda, as some of the more impassioned bretheren.
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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"I believe that the words Favour", "Owe", and "Big" were used....."
Posts: 28 | From: NYC | Registered: Jul 2005
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Kwesi
Shipmate
# 10274
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Posted
There are clearly two diametrically opposed views regarding this 'offensive religious joke.'
1. There are those, like myself, who regard is as racially offensive, so that while it remains offensive its status as a 'joke' is doubtful in most circumstances- especially amongst Christians and the liberally-minded.
2. Those who hold that it is an anti-racist joke because the joke is on Peter as spokesman for white racist assumptions. In which case, of course, it cannot be regarded as 'offensive' from the perspective of those who hold this view and others, like myself.
There is a third view that doubts whether the joke is religious at all.
We now have a classificatory problem, don't we, as to why 'Calling For Jesus at the Pearly Gates' can be regarded as an 'offensive religious joke', because it fails to fulfill the necessary criteria to make it so from any one of the perspectives so far enunciated. It would, perhaps, be useful to know why it was included in the competition!!
Posts: 1641 | From: South Ofankor | Registered: Sep 2005
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Kenny C
Apprentice
# 10488
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by KenWritez:
This joke only makes sense if you live in London or the UK, I think. As I'm not English, I had to stop and figure it out.
Where do you live? Have you taken a cab lately? There are plenty of Indian cab drivers in the US.
Posts: 1 | Registered: Oct 2005
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