Canadian Political Musings

In my opinion, far too much press ink was wasted on the recent media coverage about Colin Mayes and the alleged racist joke about Indians. Unlike Colin Mayes, I didn't think it was a good joke. I thought it was a great joke.

It did not denigrate our First Nation peoples. If politically motivated individuals read the joke in context the joke clearly denigrates government bureaucracy and by extension our politicians, not our Native Indians.

Here's the alleged joke, courtesy of CTV.ca:

"An 'Indian' walks into a Tim Hortons with a shotgun in one hand and a buffalo in the other. The server refers to the native man alternately as 'Tonto' and 'chief.'

The native man drinks his coffee, then 'blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, causing parts of the animal to splatter everywhere, then just walks out.' The next day, the native man returns. 'Whoa, Tonto!' says the server. We're still cleaning up your mess from yesterday. What was all that about, anyway?

The Indian smiles and proudly says, 'Training for an upper management position in Canadian Government: Come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, leave mess for others to clean up, and disappear for rest of day.' ''

In my view the Indian couldn't have said it better.

Labels: Colin Mayes