What I Have Feared Has Finally Come True

College Life
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<p>racist jokes that refer to negative stereotypes about a group of people are especially wrong. The “positive” ones lead to the targeted person feeling inadequate in their own skin because they are made to feel like they do not fit in or do not belong with their own people.
It is easy to be the person who makes the jokes and it’s easy to not feel bad because the your “friend” doesn’t show offense, but think of how hard it is to not show offense to bottle it up and not say anything fearing that people, people like all of you, will say that “you’re just overreacting”. </p>

<p>Little things like racist or sexist jokes become big things, quickly. From prejudice(which is in your “funny” jokes) comes racism and racism is when characteristics are perceived to be shared of racial group as a whole because of certain prejudiced stereotypes. In most cases racism is hate, and if it is not then it will become hateful pretty quickly. Here’s an example that many people sympathize with because it is an internationally known catastrophe. It was not a coincidence that the German people suddenly agreed to Hitler’s killing of the Jewish people. Hitler was smart and fed off a centuries long European hate towards the Jewish people. These people already had instilled in them that Jewish people had big noses, or brown hair, or they had horns, that they were greedy, etc. It was not Hitler that made these up he just made it more public and official. It was easy then for the German people to start hating their Jewish countrymen.</p>

<p>There is a thin line between jokes and instilled hate. </p>

<p>Also there is no reason that you, as a friend, should be making sexist or racist jokes. Like I said before they may be laughing in your face but inside they probably are wishing you would stop.</p>

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<p>I don’t think you understand TrackBabi, the very people that make most of these racist jokes know that the stereotypes are wrong. This is why they are jokes, not insults. Its like saying Steven Colbert should be taken of Comedy Central for being so sarcastically right wing that he might cause a fascist revolution.</p>

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<p>It’s okay guys… I think we can tell TrackBabi the truth.</p>

<p>We’re all racists and bigots who advocate killing people because of jokes. I’m sorry I denied it earlier.</p>

<p>Membership is $5 if you’d like to join TrackBabi.</p>

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<p>TrackBabi: Who the hell are you? You don’t have any idea about who I’m talking about, you don’t know them, and you don’t know me. You don’t know what the dynamic of the conversation is, you frankly don’t know anything. You just have some pious, absurd idea that anything remotely racist is off limits.</p>

<p>But I’m in a giving mood, so I’ll give you some insight. My Arab friend has lived in Canada since he was about 2 years old. He’s probably more Canadian than I am. He participates actively in our totally non-serious jokes; I call him towelhead, he tells me I’m stupid because I’m white, etc (both of those things are hugely far from the truth). We have another friend who’s Jewish, but probably the least practicing Jew you’ve ever met. We make fun of him for not liking to give out money, etc., when in reality that’s also the furthest thing from the truth. And he ACTIVELY PARTICIPATES IN IT. I guarantee you that if I asked my friends what they thought of the (often hilarious) racist joking, and told them about your absurd assumptions, they’d be on here to stomp your weak arguments into the ground.</p>

<p>On another note, bringing up the example of Nazi Germany loses you the argument, as per Godwin’s Law. It’s not even a good example, because there’s an ENORMOUS gulf between the longstanding hatred of the Jews by people worldwide, and innocent joking which is mainly funny because of how untrue it is.</p>

<p>I’ll make whatever the hell kind of jokes I want, if they’re funny. If it’s offensive to the people I’m joking with, I’ll stop. But I guarantee you, if you are so easily offended as to say that those kind of jokes among friends are offensive, then you’re going to spend most of your life being offensive and complaining about everything. Have a good one.</p>

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<p>i find the VT thing offensive too, whether it was a joke or not. after the shooting a guy in my class started to jokingly say that koreans are killers and some other stuff. it’s not right. if it’s ok to say that about koreans, then people should say things about everyone, because there are murderers of all ethnicities. </p>

<p>Everything else isn’t that serious. just laugh it off; it’s no big deal.</p>

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<p>Word, Godwin’s Law generally overrules most things, I can’t believe you would make such a rook move lol.</p>

<p>But yea I’m black and me and all races off my friends (I live where I’ve got friends from everywhere) always get at each other. Knew an indian kid, many asians, blacks, whites, and spanish and all of them I have said something ridiculously racist and them back to me all in good fun. It’s not something that should be taken in by the content of the message, rather by the context of the situation.</p>

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<p>Well, I agree with you guys and I just laughed off the math jokes.</p>

<p>But the VT joke really gets to me. Just because I’m Korean, that doesn’t give them the right to associate me with that psychopath killer (that’s what he is: a psychopath killer, not a korean) because he was Korean too. </p>

<p>Besides, the other stereotypes are largely positive: being good at math. But I can’t find anything good in the VT joke. </p>

<p>I will not take that ***** in stride. Never.</p>

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<p>Dude, you know how many arabic kids laugh with EACH OTHER calling each other terrorists? Like its funny because its NOT TRUE. You AREN’T any type of killer, and it’s a stereotype. It’s like saying to your friend something stupid like, “hey man if you blow us up just don’t bomb kfc, you know i’ve gotta have chicken” to my arabic friend he’s not gonna go, “HEY MAN I NEVER AGREED WITH WHAT THEY DID”. No sh**, that’s why its a joke.</p>

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<p>You’re missing the point:</p>

<p>If a Korean friend were to crack that VT joke at me, I wouldn’t take it as seriously. After all, he’s offending himself at the same time.</p>

<p>When a white person, or any non-korean cracks that joke, it’s a totally different story.</p>

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<p>your “friends” are idiots man.
“arent you korean too?”
that’s the stupidest thing ive ever heard…you have every right to be disappointed, but hey man…everybody gets stereotyped…20 minutes ago, we had an old guy for a sub, so we were messing around asking him if he fought for the union or for the confederacy…
but there’s a line to draw…</p>

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<p>People who think racist jokes are “just jokes” are naive. </p>

<p>What you have to understand is that there still ARE people out there who DO think the stereotypes underlying these jokes are true. You guys have the benefit of being in an environment where its known how ridiculous and offensive these stereotypes are, so much so you now feel free to say them mockingly. Not everyone is advanced as you culturally. </p>

<p>Remember the movie “Borat” and its horrendous stereotyping of Jews? Obviously Sacha Baron Cohen was saying those things in order to show how stupid and wrong-headed these stereotypes really were. But not everyone “got” that point. So much so that many Jewish community leaders were apprehensive of the movie’s jokes being seen by the “wrong” people, people who actually would buy into them and laugh with the jokes rather than at them.</p>

<p>Another example is Chappelle’s Show. Dave Chappelle created a sketch about “racial pixies”-- little fairy creatures that embodied the very worst racial stereotypes and plauged people that were trying to break from these stereotypes. He was filming a segment in which he played the “black pixie” and was basically acting like a 19th century black minstrel, a painfully racist caricature. And he was extremely disturbed that this white audience member was laughing uproariously the entire time as he played the racial caricature. It got him thinking, “Are these people laughing at the joke like I intended, or laughing with the joke?” That’s why he quit the show.</p>

<p>That’s the fine line. I think people insisting that “they’re just jokes” are terribly naive in believing that everyone else knows that already. Many people just don’t. YOU and your friends have the benefit of knowing better. Other people, and they do exist, just don’t. And as people who know better, gleefully repeating racist jokes just for the fun of it, especially around people who aren’t quite sure what your true intentions are, is stupid. </p>

<p>Oh, and also, the “Well my [insert minority] friend jokes racially all the time and doesn’t complain when I do it!” argument is a bad argument, by the way. I have a female friend who doesn’t get mad when her boyfriend “jokingly” calls her “b<strong>ch” and constantly makes mean-spirited “jokes” about women. I guess that makes it okay for all guys to call their girlfriends “b</strong>ches”, right, because they’re probably just “joking”?</p>

<p>It’s amazing how really pathetic some of you look by trotting out your “My minority buddy thinks its okay, I don’t know why YOU don’t” argument. It shows how naive you actually are about race relations, which is probably why you think these jokes are acceptable.</p>

<p>What happened to the OP was wrong. And TrackBabi is not insane or histrionic. Maybe people who can’t understand them are perhaps just not perceptive or insightful enough. Mind-blowing, isn’t it?</p>

<p>A question I have to ask is why these racial “jokes” are necessary to begin with.</p>

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<p>dum</p>

<p>you said nothing stupid</p>

<p>you get stupid back</p>

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<p>yeah some jokes may be full of invective and hate, but when its just friends messing around, it is a completely different thing. For example, I am of Indian descent and I live in Miami, FL - possibly the most diverse place on Earth. </p>

<p>My friends are from all over south america, cuba/puerto rico, europe, haiti, asia, etc, and we all joke around and self-deprecate our ethnicities. It’s just something to get a laugh from. It’s no big deal - I joke about being indian at airports, quickiemart, and my friends from other countries do the same sort of crap. </p>

<p>Occasionally, if it goes overboard, we say so and our friends will stop. That’s all you have to do, if it really offends you. If they are good friends, then they’ll stop.</p>

<p>But try not to take things too seriously :)</p>

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<p>I’m glad that someone is sane here. Thanks, marge.
Along with that, you can go to your Arab friend and call him a terrorist and you think it’s okay, but what happens when you go to another Arab person and they don’t appreciate your comments? What happens when people overhear your “jokes”, someone who does have some underlying hate against Arabs and your joke opens up to them a forum to express their hate? </p>

<p>To the Black kid, its all fine for you to think it’s ok when your friends joke about how you should play for the NBA, becasue you’re Black. They can joke about how you like fried chicken, but let them come up to me, another Black person, I will be offended by it. There is no reason why they should see just my skin color and tell me that I have a certain characteristic, as if my skin color is all I am. </p>

<p>As for “positive” stereotypes? Stereotypes are not positive. Historically, they never have been. If they want to joke about you only being good at math, and a lot of them do assume this about all Asians, then they probably believe that’s all you’re good at and overlook your other talents. Oh wait, I forgot, no they remembered that you’re a psychotic shooter too. But just those two is what they find you capable of as an Asian.</p>

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<p>marge_sherwood: Absolutely, there are many people who are seriously racist. You should see me when I encounter those people. I challenge them without pause, and I don’t stop until they either admit they’re wrong or leave. As a quick example, there was a poster here who posted some borderline offensive things about Islam (this was a parent). I was one of the few who called him on it, and reported him. As far as I can tell, he is no longer around.</p>

<p>Let me make this very clear: I hate racism. I think there is nothing more terrible than people being judged on their race.</p>

<p>However, I also enjoy humor. And when I’m with people who I know appreciate it, I will trot out humor that could be labeled racist.</p>

<p>If you want to be offended by my jokes, that’s you prerogative. I wouldn’t make them around you. I don’t make them around people who I know will find them offensive. But between friends, they are funny, they are innocent, none of us take them at all seriously, and they do legitimately add levity in many situations.</p>

<p>If you want to think I’m somehow contributing to racism in the world, go ahead. I will continue to not be racist in any way except my jokes, I will continue to have friends from tons of different ethnicities who all get along and are not racist at all, and I will continue to enjoy myself with them. </p>

<p>If you want to spend your time taking offense at any whiff of a racist stereotype, serious or not, then you’re welcome to. You will spend your life being frequently offended, and just generally be not very well liked. But that’s your decision.</p>

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<p>LOL that’s like when i said i wanted to kill myself in front of a school counselor to emphasize how badly (REALLY REALLY BADLY!) i wanted to get out AP calc BC. (I wasn’t really going to kill myself but anyways) LOL BAD DECISION. She was like “Are you having suicidal thoughts?” and I’m like.. no. =_= she kept on convincing me not to kill myself and then said “i’ll call you back in the office in a week.”</p>

<p>Of course she forgot about me. what a bad counselor. :/</p>

<p>But yeah the only reason i couldn’t get out of AP calc was because of the counselor! I sent her a note a week before that so I could choose another Ap class instead but she, of course, forgot about me again. gah i’m glad i don’t have to mess with high school counselors anymore.</p>