Heart and Mind

Helen gets her Second Blog-mention of the Week

Helen Keller is popping up everywhere lately. First, I mentioned her in a blog post from over the weekend ("Stevie Wonder's Points"). Then tonight, she was being discussed on VH-1's latest (and third) "I Love the 80s" series. So, I must discuss something Helen Keller related in this blog.

Well, the VH-1 show was referencing the then-popular early 80s book series entitled, "Truly Tasteless Jokes." And, yeah, they are. They were talking about how there was a section on Helen Keller jokes.

I remember those well. Tasteless, indeed. "Let's make fun of being deaf and blind!" Anyway, the one that always stuck in my head went like this:

Q: "How did Helen Keller burn her ear?"
A: "Answering the iron."

You get it? She thought it was a phone.

But doesn't this joke have some seriously inherent problems?

For starters, how could she have possibly heard the phone ring to answer it?

Secondly, why would she answer what she thought was the phone and hold it up to her ear? She was deaf.

Thirdly, what did she plan to do on the phone? She can't hear and she can't speak, either.

And, on top of all that, this joke really only plays off of the fact that she was blind. It wasn't really a "Helen Keller" joke at all, was it? It would work for any visually impaired person. I mean, isn't this the same way Ray Charles burned his ear? Doesn't the joke work the same way? If you're going to tell these insensitive, politically incorrect jokes, I think you should make sure the punch lines play off the proper scenarios. In the case of Helen Keller, she could not see, nor could she hear and you've got to have them both of those points referenced to make your joke strong. Otherwise, it's cheap and too easy.

posted by Steve @ 10:11 PM