…they were bigots?

It appears that one of the New Yorker’s cartoonists, Robert Weber, thinks that Polish parents drink a bit too much, thereby resulting in their children having ‘funny’ names like Zbigniew.

You can see the offensive cartoon at Cartoonbank.

I don’t tend to make a big deal out of ethnic humor. To me it says more about the person telling the joke than about the people of the ethnic group being targeted.

Television networks and the media have made lots of money on anti-Polish humor:

• ABC – Barney Miller, Drew Carey
• CBS – All in the Family
• NBC – most recently Office, but add Conan O’Brien and a whole host of NBC shows to that list.

Those are the ones that come most directly to mind. Do they care – no. Are they moved by protest – no. Will it continue – sure.

For my part I will pray for Mr. Weber, and maybe that’s what we should all do. Direct our indignation to prayer. Forgive Mr. Weber for his ignorance and bigotry and pray for a change of heart.

…and for Mr. Weber, here’s a few of those children born to drunken parents:

Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Preisner
Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Religa
Zbigniew Boniek
Zbigniew Oleśnicki
Zbigniew Nienacki
Zbigniew of Poland

PS.: ZBIGNIEW, Gender: Masculine, Usage: Polish, Pronounced: ZBEEG-nyef, Means “to dispel anger” from the Slavic elements zbit “to dispel” and gniew “anger”.

PPS.: David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker responding to criticism leveled at the cartoon.