The silence of the film allows for a sort of tension in the room because if one were to laugh at a joke then everyone in the silent room would easily detect it. One of the jokes that I believe was finally laughed at in class-- after several jokes that passed by in silence-- include one that goes "how do you know your house was robbed by a [racial slur for an Asian (chink, gook, Jap, etc.)]? If your dog is gone and your homework is complete." One of the jokes I can remember was insulting physical characteristics of Asians by saying that you could blindfold a [another racial slur for an Asian] by using a piece of dental floss. I unfortunately can't remember most of the jokes, but they ranged from very hateful jokes about killing Asians to jokes about Asians being smart.
Some of the jokes had our class laughing (or at least smiling) at some of the ridiculous jokes on the screen. We explained in class discussion how at first we were trying not to laugh because of what those around us might think, but eventually once one person laughed it became sort of okay to laugh at the less offensive jokes. Our instructor concluded by stating that if you do laugh at these jokes, you are saying that "racism is okay." This conclusion astounded me because I often find myself laughing at ridiculously racist jokes. Although I'm against racism I'm also in love with comedy (including stand-up, sitcoms, cartoons, sketch comedy, improv, movies etc.) which is often fueled by blatantly racist jokes.
Maybe this is because of a bias towards supporting comedy, but I feel like when I laugh at these kinds of jokes I know that these are outrageous statements and the ridiculousness of them becomes what is humorous-- not the acceptance of the joke as the truth.
What do you think? Is racist humor absolutely wrong and should it be avoided because it perpetuates racism? Or is it possible to laugh at racist jokes without being racist?
I agree with you that racial humor can be pretty funny. As the comedian George Carlin said long ago, that racial words cannot really do any harm by themselves, because they are just words. It depends on the context in which they are said. Here is a link of what he said, let me know what you think
ReplyDeletehttp://grooveshark.com/#/s/Racial+Slurs/5KWob?src=5
people who dislike racial humor probably shouldn't listen to it.
Haha yes I didn't even need to listen to it because I know it well. I however don't always agree with all of what the late great Carlin had to say. I agree that Words are indeed just words by themselves, but if used in the right way, words can be very powerful as is evidenced by great speakers such as Martin Luther King Jr. or even Adolf Hitler. Not just simply "context."
ReplyDeleteI think words can most definitely have power when the speaker or writer uses them in the right way.
also some racial humor can indeed be funny, but those jokes that I saw about killing Asians or some jokes I found in my next post about "niggers" are in my opinion not okay at all. I think a line should be drawn somewhere with these jokes. I attempt to draw that line in my next post: http://timultuous.blogspot.com/2011/10/racism-and-humor-pt-2.html