From: chucksi@hotmail.com   
      
   In article    
   Mort Middleman  wrote:   
   > >   
   > OK, I will try to present my argument, Charles.  Bear in mind that   
   > Woody Allen is first and foremost a comedian, despite the fact that   
   > some of his films are serious.  Poking fun at a particular faith is   
   > not an indication of prejudice against that faith or its   
   > practitioners.  He makes fun of Jewish culture and religion much more   
   > often than he does of Christian culture and religion.   
      
   I know, and I enjoy most of the quips and jokes he makes about   
   any religion or culture, including my own.   
      
   > Mel Brooks is   
   > another example of a Jewish comedian who ridicules Jews.   
   > Italian-American comics often joke about their schoolday experiences   
   > with nuns and to a lesser extent priests.  The bottom line is that   
   > this type of humor does not indicate prejudice.  Real bigots are dead   
   > serious most of the time.   
      
   But have you actually scene the bit I've been talking about?   
   Somebody said it was from the Purple Rose of Cairo, not the one   
   I thought.   
      
   Believe me, Allen was dead serious. And he wasn't even openly   
   aiming his barb at the Christian religion; it was done as a   
   between-the-lines sort of thing, as I've already described.   
      
   >From the few responses here, people seem to think there is   
   nothing of an insult to it. But I suspect that if the scene had   
   been set in a synagogue or mosque, it would have been noticed   
   very quickly and prominently.   
      
      
   Have you ever heard a Klansman or a Nazi   
   > tell a joke?  Lighten up, Charles.  Life's too short to get worked up   
   > about perceived bigotry which does not exist.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)