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Snowboarder jokes---moderators, is this OK?

dloveski

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
DISCLAIMER: I have boarders in my life (my dear children, their friends, etc.) so I recognize that boarders are people too (some anyway) but I also am weary of the boarder culture, so I can't resist a few zingers (all in loving fun, of course):

--What's the difference between a first-day boarder and a snowboard instructor? (4 days)
--What do you all a boarder in a suit and tie? (defendent)
--Four boarders are in a car--who's the driver? (the cop)
--What's the difference between a snowboard and a vacuum cleaner? (how the dirtbag is attached)

That said, the boarder culture is maturing and I actually am fond of many of these mostly young people--including my sons and their friends. There are some bad apples out there, but it's not what's on their feet that makes them bad.
 

mustski

Angel Diva
I'll play ...
This guy walks into a bar and says “Hey, you guys wanna hear a snowboarder joke?” The bartender says, “I’m a snowboarder. The guy on your right is a snowboarder. Same with the guy on your left, and the guy behind you.” So the guy says, “OK. I’ll tell it a little more slowly then…
 

2ski2moro

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
How does a snowboarder turn on the light after sex?
He opens the car door.

What's the difference between a snowboard instructor and a large pizza?
A large pizza can feed a family of 4.

What were the snowboarder's last words?
Hey dude, watch this.
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
This has struck a nerve with me. Thus the story below:
This happened quite a few years ago.

I was with my son and 2 of his friends at Sunday River. We were in the terrain park, where I was acting as jump spotter for the 3 of them. They were practicing/training for a competition a few days later.

When we returned to Barker base, one of Jeff’s friends picked me up on the Barker deck (yes, Barker had a deck, before the flood of 7/08) and twirled me around. He was ecstatic, having just landed his first backside 720.

A gentleman (not so much) about my age came racing over, fists ready to strike, screaming, “What the hell are you doing?” Apparently, he thought he was going to “save” me from “those rowdy snowboarders.”

My son, who at 5'8/200#/zero fat, intervened angrily. (Not a welcome sight.)
“She’s with us.”

Man: “Right.”
My son: “She’s my MOTHER.”
Man: “Right.”
My son: “Mom?”
Me: “Yes, dear?”
My son: “Thanks for jump spotting for us this afternoon - and sharing in the excitement of Justin landing his first 720.”
Me: “You’re welcome, all of you. Much luck on Saturday!”

Man, unclenching fists, walked away, still angry.

Motto: Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t make judgments.

enhance

This pin is my son’s 20 year gold pin with AASI. He did not become an instructor in 4 days. It took dedication and hard work to earn that gold pin in the first place. Many of the AASI examiners are in their 40's+. (Shout out to Tom Vickery, who passed my son twice!)

Okay, so the thread was “meant” to be funny.
Haha.
It’s not so funny to me. I hope it ends here.

You all should be way above this!
 

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Motto: Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t make judgments.

Not finding the jokes funny is absolutely fine of course, but I think that assuming the jokes indicate malice toward a particular group (boarders) is a little unfair.

These are all generic jokes that people tell about raft guides, ski instructors, mountain bikers, etc. It's just good-natured joking about what we all know are broad stereotypes. In fact, that the stereotypes are inaccurate and silly is exactly what makes the jokes funny.

Also "snowboarder" is not a protected class or identity or disability. Telling the "large pizza" joke is not the same thing as mocking someone's gender identity or race. The latter sort of "humor" would have me manning the barricades with you, and is rightly shunned in most corners of our culture.

Plus, the story about the man getting angry sounds like he was reacting to a group of young guys that he perceived as getting rowdy/inappropriate with a stranger. It doesn't sound like a fight broke out, just that a man misread a situation and tried to intervene, then backed off when he realized he was mistaken. It sounds like he could have been way more gracious upon realizing his mistake, but his intention seems to have been to help someone who he thought was in trouble. There are worse mistakes to make than that.
 

Tvan

Angel Diva
I’ve heard most of these... in the music world these are viola jokes!
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
I've heard most of these jokes with snowboarder, transposed to "instructor". But I do get MSL's drift. Let's keep it fun.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Substitute any group of people who might be subject to hate crimes for "snowboarder" in those jokes and see whether it's still ok.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Of course nobody did that.

But when you do, you realize the jokes are no longer funny. Such jokes do harm when the victims of the jokes are already looked down upon by other groups. They strengthen and affirm the "looking down" that's already in place.

Are there people who look down on snowboarders? If there are, I propose that snowboarder jokes do harm. They strengthen the looking-down thing that already goes on.

Not sure about viola players. Somebody mentioned them.

Substituting who the butt of the joke is helps you test whether what you just said is something potentially harmful or not, when you thought it was OK and just funny.
 

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
No, no, no, that logic doesn't hold.

Snowboarder, raft guide, banjo player, etc. are not inextricable parts of a person's identity, and people who board, raft-guide, or play the banjo are not oppressed or marginalized because of their board/raft/banjo hobby.

The subject of the joke is EXACTLY what makes it funny. We are poking fun at people who enjoy a hobby that comes with some broad steroetypes that we all know to be silly. That's what makes the jokes funny: that we all agree that the stereotypes are overdrawn.

You can't "test" the propriety of a joke by changing the subject to an oppressed or marginalized group and then say "aha! that joke about snowboarders isn't funny because when I tell it about a disabled person it's really awful." It's not the same joke. Of course it's not funny.

You're conflating apples and oranges here and worse, attributing malicious intent where I think you know it doesn't exist.
 

ilovepugs

Angel Diva
Which comedian said this? Wish I remembered. Jokes should punch up, not punch down.

I think in this case the skiers here are punching across. ;)
 

Obrules15

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
No, no, no, that logic doesn't hold.

Snowboarder, raft guide, banjo player, etc. are not inextricable parts of a person's identity, and people who board, raft-guide, or play the banjo are not oppressed or marginalized because of their board/raft/banjo hobby.

The subject of the joke is EXACTLY what makes it funny. We are poking fun at people who enjoy a hobby that comes with some broad steroetypes that we all know to be silly. That's what makes the jokes funny: that we all agree that the stereotypes are overdrawn.

You can't "test" the propriety of a joke by changing the subject to an oppressed or marginalized group and then say "aha! that joke about snowboarders isn't funny because when I tell it about a disabled person it's really awful." It's not the same joke. Of course it's not funny.

You're conflating apples and oranges here and worse, attributing malicious intent where I think you know it doesn't exist.
Well, this was a surprising thread drift. As I am a Violist (and a black woman) I can maybe shed a little light. Traditionally the Viola part in any musical composition is a supporting part which requires less talent, and physical dexterity to play. There are no viola solos because the range is not completely unique. The most talented musicians will not play Viola as their lone instrument.

What I find is that people who want to tell retard jokes or black people jokes or whatever, feel safe in telling Viola jokes. So ultimately it becomes about the mindset of the joke tellers. There is still an ugliness to it that feels like people feeding off denigrating others to make themselves feel better.

Regardless, I don't let anyone else's foolishness bother me. I have more important things to do with my life than to care about whether you make jokes about something I am. (And some of them are really funny.)
 

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