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1

Most offensively, it's not even funny.

Posted by Gitai | April 23, 2007 10:31 AM
2

I wondered what those commercials were about but I wouldn't be caught dead going to FOX's website.

Posted by elswinger | April 23, 2007 10:44 AM
3

According to the website, he's of Greek descent. Now there's a race we don't make ENOUGH fun of!

Posted by Ari Spool | April 23, 2007 10:46 AM
4

The site isn't much help in clarifying anything. Just seems to be a dumb attempt at meme production.

Also, apparently the guy's supposed to be Greek, not Middle Eastern, for what it's worth. It doesn't seem offensive to me, so much as incredibly dumb and unfunny, but I'm neither Greek nor a cab driver, so what do I know?

Posted by Levislade | April 23, 2007 10:48 AM
5

The perputrator of these ads is Ted D'Cruz-Young of the ad firm Ideocracy. There is very little on the net about him except a couple articles in Advertising Age, which requires subscription.

His "inspiration" apparently, is Borat.

Posted by elswinger | April 23, 2007 10:49 AM
6

@3

"that sounds Greek to me" is a subtle put down (racist comment) that is worse than overt condescension.

there is is also something to do with gay sex and the Greeks that seems to be derogatory.

Posted by daniel | April 23, 2007 11:03 AM
7

Daniel, I think the phrase you're looking for is "it's all Greek to me," which just means something is incomprehensible. It works because most people in America don't speak Greek. It could just as easily be "it's Japanese to me" or Chinese, or pretty much any language other than English, due to our woeful education system.

Posted by Levislade | April 23, 2007 11:17 AM
8

It really doesn't matter what ethnicity they suggest he is on the website. Only a tiny percentage of those who see these bizarre clips(are they commercials? are they just filler? is there a point) will ever go investigate what the website says about them. I think most will assume that is supposed to portray a middle-eastern cab driver.

@6 "it's all greek to me", isn't so much racist as a commentary on the difficulty of reading the Greek language for the average medieval citizen. This was a particular problem because so much of the bible was written in greek.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-gre1.htm

It's interesting that this is also where the term gringo comes from.

Posted by dirge | April 23, 2007 11:25 AM
9

I think I can see where you're coming from Levislade. But I don't think it "just means something is incomprehensible."
I mean, there are all the overt buzz words like the n-word and f-word and now ho and boy on and on. But equating incomprehensible with Greeks, Japanese or whoever is simply just as degrading as saying the buzz words. Certain people are called WASPs, dumb blondes, frogs (French), hick, nerd, redneck, white trash, polack etc etc. Sure, you might say, where does the humour of life and language go, if everything is such a slur? Personally, I believe there are a lot of things out there that make me laugh and smile without benefiting from another's expense.

Posted by daniel | April 23, 2007 11:45 AM
10

Some folks' panties just never get untwisted.

Posted by mjg | April 23, 2007 11:54 AM
11

we remember it today likely because of it's use by shakespeare, though many other cultures have similar expressions (if not always about greek). it is likely from a medieval latin proverb "graecum est; non potest legi" (it is Greek; it cannot be read).

Posted by infrequent | April 23, 2007 11:57 AM
12

As a Greek person, I can't say the term ever bothered me. Maybe I'm missing out on something. I'm more annoyed that they put Oleg in Staten Island and not Queens.

Posted by Kate | April 23, 2007 11:58 AM
13

If you just ignore people like Naomi they'll go away. Gay and racial jokes are some of the best comedy and no one should apologize them. When you apologize you just put blood in the water for c***s like Naomi. Do you really want to live in a world where humor is filtered and approved by a university womens studies dept?

Posted by helpmerhombus | April 23, 2007 12:36 PM
14

oops, "for them". sorry.

Posted by helpmerhombus | April 23, 2007 12:38 PM
15

helpmyhemorrhoids @13/14:

Racist and homophobic jokes are almost always based from misconceptions, fear and hatred. I don’t want to tell you what to think is funny, but understand where this “humor” is coming from before you knock those that see things like this fox site as a perpetuation of the polarization between races and sexualities in a negative direction.

PS: sorry for the ramblingness of this, its late my time (oh, and thank you for having enough class to at least use stars instead of the whole word, son)

Posted by (c.) | April 23, 2007 1:49 PM
16

(oh, and thank you for having enough class to at least use stars instead of the whole word, son)

But you knew the word was cunt, so what's the point of stars? Is it just so your eyes don't see it?

Posted by PDXRitchie | April 23, 2007 3:00 PM
17

I agree. If you want to swear, swear. If you are such a fucking pussy that you find some words so offensive that you can't use them without cute little stars, don't. Pick another word, there are plenty

Posted by justdoitalready | April 23, 2007 3:11 PM
18

i think naomi is the prejudiced one, for assuming oleg is middle-eastern. to be honest, i thought he was bulgarian.

Posted by sam | April 23, 2007 3:13 PM
19

I never got an answer to my question in another thread/ Are women as offended at being called a "twat" as they are they are the "c-word." I here women call men dicks or dickheads all the time.

Posted by elswinger | April 23, 2007 4:05 PM
20

cunt seems to be one of the last non-racial epithets that maintains significant power. and it isn't at the same level as male-specific expletives as women do not have physical or social domination of men, men can dismiss their comments as they are not backed up by threatening context the reverse is not as likely to be true for women

Posted by Vooodooo84 | April 23, 2007 5:30 PM
21

Number 1: I never assumed Oleg was Middle Eastern; in fact I was well aware that he was listed as "Greek" by FOX. However, this does nothing to undercut the fact that he is a dead ringer for Saddam Hussein, and additionally, what average FOX-frequenting, uneducated American who can't name the Prime Minister of the UK is going to be able to tell his race? It's pretty clear that whether he is "Greek" or not is fairly irrelevant. Furthermore, in one of these shorts when Oleg is learning English, one of the phrases he repeats is "What detention center am I being taken to?", followed by "where is my court appointed attorney?" Coincidence? I think not.

Number 2. As to helpmerhombus' belief that "If you just ignore people like Naomi they'll go away", I'm curious, is this the sort of reaction you would give to institutionalized racism? If we just ignore the abolitionists, we'll still have free labor. Hey, if we just ignore the pro-life zealots, they'll go away and let us control our own bodies. Thanks for your assumption that I am a women's studies major (wrong), and for using one of the most derogatory slurs you could think of to attempt to undercut my complaint. I'm sure that with its whole one syllable it took you a while. This is not about what sort of humor is and is not funny, it's about what sort of racial prejudices are being created and reinforced in our society.

My problem is not with comedy. My problem is that considering the current state of American foreign affairs, and additionally the bigotry and neocon bias of FOX, this is the equivalent of animating Japanese sterotypes during WWII. Propaganda.

Sorry this is rambling, thank you for reading.

Posted by Naomi | April 23, 2007 5:49 PM
22

No, that's the reaction I give to self-important thought police with no sense of humor. If you don't like Fox, don't watch it. There are three other major networks with a liberal slant. I realize that "patriotic" is code for fascist in intellectual circles but have you ever watched one frame of Fox News. Most of it is pointless fluff, but if it so neo-con why do they often feature that sack of shit Sharpton as guest. That Colmes is also such a neo-con.

Posted by help me rhombus | April 23, 2007 6:34 PM
23

so you seem to have addressed almost none of the points I brought up, ok. I have a sense of humor, a good one, but in addition to being blatantly racist and offensive, can you tell me exactly how these shorts are funny? Point out to me one funny punch line.

Further, focusing on the humor is entirely beside the point. If I have to choose between being funny and not marginalizing an entire group of people, I think I'll take the latter.

I never mentioned patriotism; Fox News is also not under my attack (though I don't hold a high opinion of them). This is not biased news, this is propaganda snuck into primetime programming.

thought police? hi pot, why yes, I am looking a little black

Posted by Naomi | April 23, 2007 9:39 PM
24

I never assumed Oleg was Middle Eastern; in fact I was well aware that he was listed as "Greek" by FOX. However, this does nothing to undercut the fact that he is a dead ringer for Saddam Hussein, and additionally, what average FOX-frequenting, uneducated American who can't name the Prime Minister of the UK is going to be able to tell his race?

Don't you just hate stereotypes? Maybe you should stop looking to be outraged and let some pointless shit pass you by.

Posted by PDXRitchie | April 24, 2007 2:56 AM
25

This is old enough that I am most likely one of the only people to still look at this post, and it's my own letter. Regardless, I would first like to say thank you to Amy for posting this; in spite of the backlash I can only hope that at the very least I have called attention to something that, offensive or not, about which there should be a public dialogue.

I am however somewhat surprised and somewhat disturbed at the number of people that found it more important to nitpick my letter and position than to actually address the issue at hand. It is the internet; what can I really expect? These commercials may be minutia, but that doesn't mean they don't have some sort of impact.

@24, point taken, stereotypes, no matter what kind, are just part of the problem, and actually I am usually a very calm person.

Posted by Naomi | April 24, 2007 5:27 PM
26

I love Oleg.
He is really funny
and I miss him
He made my life better

Posted by lyndon B Johnson | April 27, 2007 1:55 PM

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