An Offensive Ringtone, A Social Tension

On Tuesday, 5/09/06, Cingular Wireless pulled a ringtone from its Web site after learning that it carried a "blatantly offensive" message. Using a male voice in a Southern drawl, the ringtone says:

"This is la Migra (a slang term for the Border Patrol). Por favor, put the oranges down and step away from the cell phone. I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o.”

I know it’s wrong. I know it’s offensive. But maybe that is why it’s so funny!! With all the talk of cultural sensitivity (not to mention the immigration debate), it makes sense that there is a backlash against political correctness. More accurately, there is a reveling in appropriate comments. The Onion has been doing it for years. Comedy Central's programming is all over it.

Look at 2 of NBC's most popular new TV shows, The Office and My Name is Earl. Michael, the main character in The Office, is blatantly offensive and thinks of everything through stereotypes. He doesn't mean to be mean, it's just that he's not sensitive enough to notice when he is. My Name is Earl uses stereotypes of poor white-trash rednecks to communicate an everyman theme of trying to better oneself.

These shows are popular because they address the social tensions that occur when cultures collide and stereotypes are faced head-on. We can laugh at someone who says something rude because we either know how they feel, or because we might be thinking it in the back of our minds. They not only speak to an under lying theme of in our culture and, like all good art, allow us to view ourselves through their stories.

(Surprisingly to me, the ringtone has only been downloaded eight times since it first became available in late February. It was developed by Barrio Mobile, who is owned by Lagardere Active North American, the U.S. division of a French media company.)