When it's so in your face...

I was in the Philippines shortly after the June 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption. Many of the places in Luzon that I visited were covered in thick volcanic ash, or lahar. Although I was not on a vacation trip, I managed to snag some souvenirs including a tee-shirt for a nephew. Emblazoned on the front were the words "Kiss My Ash". I wondered why he never wore that tee-shirt. In hindsight, I must admit that brand of humour was too "in one's face".

These past weeks, there have been a number of "in your face" jokes or incidents, that is, they were all in bad taste. Following the Asiana Airlines plane crash in San Francisco, a local TV station aired a news segment that claimed the pilot and his flight deck crew had these names!...

The airline then threatened to sue the station. Here's Slate.com's report including a video clip of the offending newscast:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/07/15/asiania_ktvu_lawsuit_airline_to_sue_network_for_sum_ting_wong_wi_tu_lo_ho.html

The joke was of course racially offensive  Still, one website, while also excoriating the racist joke, could not itself resist this headline:

Asiana Airlines Crash: There is Sum Ting Wong With These People

http://www.policymic.com/articles/54465/asiana-airlines-crash-there-is-sum-ting-wong-with-these-people

Meanwhile, in Thailand, students from the elite Chulalongkorn University thought nothing of putting Hitler on a par with superheroes:

Top Thai university apologises for Hitler mural

http://news.insing.com/tabloid/top-thai-university-apologises-for-hitler-mural/id-e8773f00

And just this week, we learnt that Rolling Stone magazine had put the surviving Boston Marathon Bomber on its front cover...

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Now I'm beginning to wonder if this joke below is politically correct or not...

A passenger plane has an engine failure and the aircraft's altitude and speed are decreasing rapidly.

The pilot speaks over the intercom ... " I'm sorry things have come to this stage, ladies and gentlemen, But unfortunately we are going to have to jettison the luggage in order for the aircraft to remain airborne ".

Baggage is thrown out but still the plane's altitude continues to decrease.

Once again the pilot gets on the intercom, "I hate to do this folks, but in order to save the majority we are going to have to start off-loading (read: jettison) some passengers. The only fair way is to do this Alphabetically, so we'll start with the Letter 'A'".

"Africans? Are there any Africans on board?"

There was no answer so the pilot calls, "Black people, are there any black people on board?"

Again silence.." Then on to alphabet C -- coloured people.........?

Are there any coloured people on board?" Still there is silence.

A little black boy sitting near the rear of the plane turned to his mother and said, "Mum, ain't we African? ..... Ain't we black? .........Ain't we coloured?"

She replied, "Yes, son but for the moment we is Niggers. Let them do the Americans....and the Australians first, ..........then the Bhutanese,............the British, the Burmese ..the Canadians , the Chinese......in that order.....,till they reach the Muslims, ...and so on and on all countries and people starting with M are done."

But the little boy persisted: "After that, wouldn't it be us?"

"After that...if the plane still needs more jettisoning...we is Zulus".