Kern wrote:
Dear old Chinny, late of this parish, has been saying that he has a regular thing about chimps in human dress and the media circus, which is all well and good if you are aware of the running joke but not so much if, like me, you're not in on it and only see a deeply racist slur.
I can kinda see where that argument might come from, but it's like any running joke in a smaller group, you know if it has offensive connotations and you might use it anyway in your close group of friends, but know not to use it outside of that group.
e.g a group of white guys calling each other "my nigger" or some such. They might do it in their group and not think too much of it, but they damn well know they can't do it in public.