A second Compton Cookout is planned

See all posts about UCSD's "Compton Cookout"


Would someone please invite Mike Radazzo to a party? He's never been to one that wasn't about making fun of someone.

What's fun or funny about denigrating a group of people? Of course, it is possible to tell a funny ethnic joke, but that involves some subtlety, some thought. Humor requires the juxtaposition of the unexpected, and it's best when it involves some insight, perhaps poking fun at someone with pretensions. I'm Irish, and I always liked the one about the Irish priest who refused to say a mass for a dead horse until he heard the sum of money that the horse's owner was offering. "Why didn't you tell me your horse was Catholic?" the priest then asks. Good ethnic humor is merely a clever insight about human beings wrapped in the trappings of a given culture.

It doesn't sound like the Compton cookout involved any actual humor, just put downs intended to make the party goers feel superior. Mr. Radazzo doesn't understand that the target of fun has to buy into the idea or it's not fun, it's harmful.

Here Mr. Radazzo justifies his efforts to have another Compton cookout:

"If your intent is to make fun and not to harm anyone, and you really aren't trying to hurt anyone's feelings, then it's different from trying to cut someone down on purpose," Randazzo said.

He claims he has never been to a party that was not a mockery of something.

“On Cinco de Mayo, we have parties making fun of Mexicans; on Veterans Day, we make fun of veterans (yes, the same veterans who uphold our rights to free speech); on St. Patrick's Day we make fun of the Irish. Everyone gets made fun of out of jest now, not hate,” the invitation read.
--from Channel 6 Sam Diego


'Compton Party Part Deux' Organizer Defends His Actions
Racial tensions boil at UCSD
By MICHELLE WAYLAND
Feb 21, 2010

The racial tension at UCSD is boiling over for many and it may get worse.

Another invitation has surfaced on Facebook to an off campus "Compton Party Part Deux" party encouraging partygoers to “come to this party in honor of your favorite cultural stereotype.”

"We pretty much want people to just choose a culture and harmlessly poke fun at it," Mike Randazzo told NBC San Diego...