Saturday night, mostly because it was cold there were no options of parties of people we knew, we went to a party locally of someone we didn't know. (We being myself, Erica, Rob and our two friends visiting from Boston.) I thought they had kind of an odd aesthetic sense-- the living room ceiling was covered with those nets of christmas lights (excuse, holiday lights. Um, I don't think they were kwanzaa lights, though) and those little styrofoam model airplanes that you might get as a prize in a cereal box or buy as some kind of souvenir from a flight-related tourist destination-- kitty hawk and cape canaveral come to mind. After being there for awhile, someone mentioned that this was a "Pearl Harbor" party.
Excuse me...? All of the sudden the Kamikaze shots made sense.
Granted I think I have a pretty liberal interpretation of whats funny. And I generally appreciate inappropriate humor. And I didn't think it was "offensive." Just really weird. I mean, I guess I understand we're all supposed to be over Pearl Harbor. Not even very many people alive today were alive or concious of what was going on at the time- but where is the line? At what point is it ok for an attack that claimed 2,390 lives to become the theme for a party for a bunch of twenty-somethings in Brooklyn. So if September 11th was the Pearl Harbor of our generation, will there be September 11th parties in 60 years? Should we start having them now so even when we're old and senile, our grandkids will think we were really cool and cutting edge? Is anything sacred or does enough time pass and allow anything and everything into the public domain, allowing us to do with the symbols what we want? I don't think anyone would suggest a Holocaust party. Or a Tsunami party. Hurricane Katrina? How about a party themed "massacre" and everyone could come dressed in the theme of their favorite massive loss of life. These ideas seems totally abhorrant, but why is one ok and the other isn't? Are we being ironic when we drink wine and eat chips with a tragic theme? Is it ok because no one who was impacted by the event was going to show up to the party (I assume the organizers didn't invite any grandparents...)?
The thing about liking inappropriate humor is that I understand that it's hypocritical for me to draw this line. I hosted a "cowboys and indians" party sophomore year, Freshman year we played a drinking game called "Beer Hunter" (a russian roulette of drinking based on the film about Vietnam) I think jokes about stereotypes are funny and while it's "ironic" because it's not what I believe and I don't condone people who believe those things... they are reflective of real problems and issues real people face.
But something about this rubbed me in a weird way.
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I had to wonder, has shock become the new chic?
In other news, I split up with Aidan and I also think it's lame that Big's name was John.
Tee hee.
It's East.
Sarah, I was about to invite you to my Guantanomo Bay Party where we would drink cuba libres and then beat and sodomize each other while accusing our fellow party-goers as being un-patriotic for not wanting to participate. However, my girlfriend has informed me that this is in poor taste, so we will be hosting dual themed Grenada/Panama Party. Feel free to bring your own medical students or coked up dictators!
how about a new take on Thanksgiving? As some of you know, I'm not really "into" the holiday. What if we made some new ironic/funny traditions? Serving the turkey on a small pox infected blanket rather than a silver platter? Going around the table and everyone says who their favorite noble savage is? Now THAT'S a party.
By the way, I won't tell my grandfather that there was a Pearl Harbour party. His heart is weak as it is. If it should come up, I'll tell him it was a V-J day party.
I saw Sarah Silverman's movie "Jesus is Magic" today. It was mostly funny for those of us that like irreverant humor and being ironic about racism and homophobia. "I love you more than bears love honey, I love you more than Jews love money, more than Asians are good at math."
She did make jokes about 9/11. I guess it's not off limits anymore. One thing I found peculiar: while she "got" every group from midgets to lesbians to old people, she didn't make any jokes about Muslims or Arabs. Food for thought.
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