my dad always said he'd drown himself if there was real democracy: which of your father's crazy ideas that appaled yuo as a 14 year old sound rather sensible these days?.

my dad always said "everybody's racist". I said, 'no, we're just people!' Now I'm miserable 'cause he was right, sheesh

I hate it when that happens.

I think both Matthew and Donna's Dads were wrong. And I could argue why, but perhaps their comments weren't meant as defensible statements.

well on the one hand there is basic inequality in the world which makes jokes that rely on some sort of pun (that one about the morecambe bay workers and sharks going for a chinese) but don't contain anything iherently derisory become kind of sticky and evocative of something unpleasant going on in other parts of the society.
but on the other hand you've got my dad's pleasantly idealistic view of the world. male centric at the worst because it relys on that old thing of lads expression affection by taking the piss out of one another, but it is and remains affection.

nah, my dad never said anything defensible in those days (he's since mellowed out, as dads do after the damage has been done). The thing about what he said is that so many people still think like that he sort of was right in his psycho way