Where was that again?

I knew that many Americans had a poor knowledge of geography -- perhaps they don't teach it in school -- but I didn't realise it was this bad.

No wonder they haven't found Osama bin Laden after looking for more than 8 years.



Hat-tip to whoever sent this in an e-mail to my wife at work.

I gather that WGN9 is a broadcast station in Chicago.

Is this a racist joke?

Is this a racist joke?

THE DIRTBAG IS BACK, THE DIRT BAG IS BLACK: I WAS ONCE CALLED A KAFFIR BY A COLOURED

Click on the link above and let me know what you think.

Fifteen years ago racism was the very basis of South African society, a condition that had persisted for decades, if not centuries.

Now much of the institutionalised racism of the past has been removed (though I have my doubts about such issues as BEE (Black Elite Enrichment), and racist attitudes persist in places, we suddenly seem to be far more laid-back about such things than people in other parts of the world.

Being interested in English usage and similar things, I once remarked on a Usenet newsgroup about some things being discussed on a Facebook forum on darkie English, and people in other countries were shocked that we should use words like "darkie", which would be consdered a very bad racist insult in the US and the UK. In the US there was a huge row a few years ago because some public official used the word "niggardly", which has no racial connotations whatsoever, but apparently someone thought it did.

So are you shocked by the joke in the link, and if so, are you a South African? I suspect most South Africans might find it funny, but not malicious. Perhaps foreigners might not even understand it.