[sully777]

Piscopo wants to run for office in NJ (FoxNews interview) and he heads up an anti-mafia stereotype task force. Life's been lonely for Joe since Eddie Murphy moved to CA.

I was under the impression that Italian-American sterotypes have been powerful, positive, and most importantly garnering RESPECT.

[dukeman]

Was Father Guido Sarducci on the panel?

[ScottFromSpokane]

Why don't they just whack 'em out?

[xJones]

Hang the stereotypes, they make great chefs!:)

[Buck W.]

I applaud what he is trying to do. Many Americans of Italian descent are quite dismayed over the Italian=Mafia stereotype. I was in Little Italy in NYC not long ago, and all of the gift shops had some Soprano or other gang related merchandise. Unfortunately, some in the Italian American community don't mind the association.

I also think many in the community feel denied by the lack of celebration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus's voyage in 1992.

[Kurt_D]

fuggedaboutit!

[The KG9 Kid]

"... I was under the impression that Italian-American sterotypes have been powerful, positive, and most importantly garnering RESPECT."

Myself included. I believed that Italian-Americans have been largely portrayed as honest and fearless cops, brave soldiers, crime-fighting mayors, and fiercely-loyal Americans who don't take anyone's crap.

[dfwgator]

You shouldn't make fun of Italians, Johnny, my mother made fun of Italians once....once.

[JoeSixPack1]

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.
The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin,
of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation
at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of
squabbling nationalities." - Pres Theodore Roosevelt



The most discusting thing I've seen yet is the term "Italian-American". I am an American of Italian descent. Never in my family tree has anyone ever played the hyphinated allegiance game. It's just not done.

Hollyweird would love you to think so. The wiseguys in brooklyn play their games and would love you to think so. Rats who like class warfare and division would love you to think so. But I've lived, worked, played and grown up in the italian communities of NYC. Italians don't need labels. Nor do we need a hyphinated approval of who we are. If I need to be a person of Italian heritage, born in the good ol' USA, because some jerk decided it's italian American day today, well, wow.. look, I already am!

But my allegiance is 1000% USA.

Piscopo is a jerk. The hyphin game is his ticket into politics.

Up yours, Piscapo, Bada Bing!!!! Pasta face!

[jocon307]

"Among the other panelists were actor Tony Lo Bianco, playwright LindaAnn Loschiavo and Emanuele Alfano, chairman of UNICO National, an anti-bias group."

UNICO is very active in my town, Bayonne, NJ. They have always been extremely generous to the girl's basketball team at my daughter's Public HS, and are always prominent at other civic events. None of these things has an Italian angle, other than Italian Americans participating. So, they are good, you know. I have to like them.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[SkyPilot]

One of my favorite TV characters is Ray Romano from Everybody Loves Raymond.

Half my family on my aunt's side is Italian, and they love this show. I think the show displays real family friction, along with real family love. If this is what Joe Piscapo is decrying, he is way off base.

Also, Patricia Heaton is a Conservative heroine. She has fought for the Republicans and family values her whole career. She has 4 sons. She is raising them with Christian and conservative values.p> Newsmax has done articles about her battle against Hollywood Liberals. She has risked her career many times taking on these vile people.

She is also very cute, and I admire her.

[sully777]

When I watch DiNero in the Godfather, I admire his character. If you cross out the offing, the guy is a great family guy. He also understands quid pro quo and loyalty.

[HitmanLV]

As an italian-american (a sicilian-american, actually) with a very notorious surname (as well as a pretty ornery look about me), the stereotypes never bothered me much.

Great cooks, wonderful lovers, a bit of a mean side when provoked, values loyalty and is fiercely loyal, vengeful when wronged, and yep, slightly shady gangster.

If that isn't a powerful concoction to attract women and otherwise intimidate people, I don't know what is!!!

Because of my name I am often asked casually by people who even have just met me if I am 'connected' at all to the notorious family. In my earlier years I discouraged it and told the truth, now I firmly but quietly say 'yes, but thats all part of my past now.' The looks of amazement (and even quiet intimidation) I get are priceless and well worth any negative stereotype. Accentuate the positive!

And to be fair, to an extent I live up to the stereotype: I'm a far better cook than most woman I have ever dated (notable exception is a tall, beautiful raven-haired Italian woman who was my master in the kitchen), I am a caring, giving, & attentive lover, I am far more loyal to friends than the average bear, and yes, I am every bit as vengeful and driven as Michael Corleone, when provoked of course. So there is a lot of truth to it all, at least in my case.

There is a lot of upside to it, I wish folks would know it better. I have literally hundreds of examples, but once I was stopped by two beautiful young Mexican women asking for directions/help here in Las Vegas who thought I was Mexican and could speak Spanish (I have a fairly indeterminate look about me, alternately identified as Italian, Greek, Mexican or South American, even Native American, etc). When I replied (in my perfect Midwestern weatherman English) that I was sorry, I am Italian and don't speak Spanish, the taller of the two looked me up and down, slightly bit her lip and purred "Ohhh....Italiano, eh?"

People pay for that kind of treatment!

One of my pet peeves are Italians who whine about the negative stereotype. #1, whining is never a good approach. And the truth is, there is some validity to the stereotype, and historically speaking the Italian organized crime enterprise has been prominent in the USA for a century. The truth is the truth: some of the most notorious gangsters in US history have been Italian. So what? That's not to say that all Italians are gangsters. They should quit being so sensitive.

Italians are loud? I used to say "why would I want to go to the Opera, if I wanted to see a bunch of screaming Italians for 2 hours I would just go to my aunt's house!" And I meant it!

My second peeve is Italians who embrace their Italian culture a bit too much. There is an episode of the Sopranos that illustrated the folly of this mindset. The crew has to go to Italy to broker a deal. Well, these guys who back in NY embrace their Italian legacy and carry themselves off as very Italian men were so hopelessly out of place in Italia. They didn't fit, and with good reason: they are Americans. Recognizing their cultural heritage is fine, but overstating it is silly and immature.

Third peeve is the opposite, Italians with Anglo-envy. I never did figure these out, but my sister is one of those folks. It's a free country, but to me it's wisest to put your cultural background in proper perspective, and neither overstate nor ignore it.

Like I said, as far as stereotypes go, I can live with the Italian or Sicilian image. In fact, I do what I can to encourage it. If anybody here have a problem with that, we can step outside (where my boys will take care of you, I hate soiling my hands in a fight)! :-)

[Cowboy Bob]

I was wondering what happened to Joe Piscopo. I hadn't heard his name in years.

[rcocean]

I'm against ethnic sterotypes, so I applaud Joe.

For example, my mother-in-law is Irish. Is it her fault she likes to eat potato soup and get drunk? I think not.

[Little Bill]

Florence, a good friend of my mother, says there are no Italians south of Rome. My Step Father, Albano, says that everyone South of his family stomping grounds are Greeks and Turks, Brute, and Sicilians are the result of Sodomistic relations between the Turks and the French and everyone North of Pisa are Germans, Italy must be an interesting place.

[cyborg]

He contends that many Italian-American actors are reluctant to turn down gangster roles because there are so few roles available.

*** That's the reality of hollyweird. They are infamous for typecasting. That's why many Italians change their last names.

But Tom DeGenaro of One Voice Coalition said that actors of Italian descent who allow themselves to be cast in those roles are furthering the defamation.

*** That's easy for him to say. Many black people took degrading roles because they saw it as an opportunity to get better roles later and that gamble paid off somewhat.

[B Knotts]

I must admit to my Italian stereotype: Italians are the only people from which you can buy decent produce.

I can remember as a little boy (in Chicago) the Italian man that would drive up in the alley in his step van and sell "fresh fruits and-a veg-e-ta-bles" to all the housewives. I can still remember the smell of that van.