Friday, November 8, 2013

How DARE this comedian make a joke about FARMERS!

Unless you live under a rock, you have seen the latest video the farming community is upset about. A comedian does a bit about Daylight Savings time and makes some jabs at farmers. If you haven't seen it, watch it here and then try to keep up with all of us a little better next time, OK?


So, are you offended? Most people (from what I have seen) in the farming community sure are! How DARE he make jokes about the people who put food on his table every day!

Personally, I disagree with most of my peers on this one. He is a comedian, people. He literally makes a living out of writing jokes. How many comedians have you heard make fun of different races, religions, stereotypes, old people, young people, men, women... the list goes on. But when one of them makes a joke about farming??? Oh, no you didn't.

Seriously, farm kids aren't raised to be so darned sensitive, lets all just "cowboy up" a little bit here, shall we? Let's take a real good look at what this guy is saying:

Joke #1: "300 million of us set our clocks back 1 hour for, what 6? Is it 6, I'll give ya 7 farmers tops?"
  • How many of you have read, or even used, the statistic that 1% of us are in charge of feeding the entire population? We know less than 2% of the population are farmers. In fact, we use this fact to explain to people why we need to use the best technology available to increase our yields! Let's not get offended when someone else points it out. We pride ourselves on being able to accomplish such a feat.
Joke #2: It's too long to quote, but lets address the bit where a farmer calls the government to request the time change.
  • This is a joke. A reason for the comedian to use a funny voice to make people laugh and at a silly scenario. We all know that everyone used to be a farmer so the time change was a benefit for everyone at the time. And you know what? No one likes getting up for work at 6:30am when it's still dark outside, even if you just have an office job. Lets just take this bit for what it was, a joke.
Joke #3: "Did you know that the idea of the 8 hour work day is also based on farmers? Because it takes them 8 hours of day light to pick cabbages... You don't need 8 hours to do office work, you need 20 minutes. So now we're all in offices for 7 hours and 40 minutes pretending to be busy."
  • See what he did there? He is also picking on non-farmers. People who only really work for 20 minutes a day. Everyone knows farmers work from sun up to sun down. Actually, he is pointing out that farmers work harder than a lot of other professions here, so we can all be friends now, right?
Joke #4: "I want to know why we're accommodating farmers anyway. I  mean, they already have perfect lives if I'm picturing it correctly."
  • Here, he says we are lucky because we get to enjoy the outdoors, he points out the overall good character of people from rural towns, paints the picture of a beautiful sunset glowing on our crops... we all love these things about our farm life, don't we? I don't understand why we are so mad about this.
At the end of the day, can't we all appreciate that he is a comedian and he is just doing his job here? Essentially, he is mad because our lives are so great. And, heck, I think they are! Don't you? I don't think there are many people that would truly question the kind of hard work and dedication it takes to be a farmer. We all take pride in what we do, and that is probably the reason everyone got so worked up about this video. But at the end of the day, we love what we do and there aren't many people who are as lucky as we are to have a job like this. Go ahead, let them be jealous!

3 comments:

  1. We have farmed all our life and still do and it is so breathtaking to see someone of your age so right on. We feel your anger. You go sweetheart.

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  2. I agree with the fact that this guy is a comedian and just trying to do his job. However, this is what got me,
    "Published on Nov 5, 2013
    Pete takes farmers down a peg in this mono. Someone had to do it."
    I don't see the need for this to be the You-Tube description for the video. Also, you ended joke #3 a little prematurely. His next words are, "Because they couldn't pick up the pace with the cabbages. How bout just pick those cabbages faster." Maybe i'm wrong but it sounds to me as if he is taking a shot at the work ethic of farmers. You write above, "Everyone knows farmers work from sun up to sun down." I disagree in two aspects. I have met people that don't even know that farmers live in the United States anymore, they don't know how hard people like you and I work. And, sun up to sun down? I wish the sun was up at 3:30 every morning, we might be able to cut down on electricity costs associated with our lights.
    I think you are missing the reason for any educated farmers anger with this video. The overall disconnect between producers and consumers of agricultural products is frighting. The general audience watching this video is going to laugh, but do they really know this isn't the truth? At a time when agriculture needs as much help and positive publicity as possible, this is not a step in the right direction. In short, I can take a joke. However, this video goes beyond the limits of a joke in my opinion. Pete ends by saying, "Someone finally gave it to the farmers." Do all of the jokes about "different races, religions, stereotypes, old people, young people, men, women..." that you speak of end like this?

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  3. Industrial farmers are ruining this country and the human race as a whole

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