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Racial Comedy, Ethnic Stereotypes, And Hope For The Blogosphere

July 9th, 2008

This is a hard post to write, but I’ll just push these thoughts out there so I can get back to lusting over the 3G iPhone.

Basic back story: Loren Feldman, he of the mocking puppets signed a deal with Verizon. Corvida of SheGeeks revived the issue of past racist videos, and Feldman was dropped.

It’s no surprise many find Feldman’s humor crass and in poor taste. I laughed really hard at the Scoble video, but the video in question crossed a line. As far as I’m concerned, the receiver of the message gets to decide what’s racist. That’s not unfair. If a comedian tells a joke and nobody laughs, it’s not funny. The comedian can believe whatever they like about their material, but the reaction gets to be the “decider.”

Racial humor is extremely difficult. I grew up in Hawaii where there are many Pacific rim ethnicities, all more or less represented. But it was no touchy-feely PC paradise of everyone holding hands; there were racial tensions. Ethnic humor was used as a tool to diffuse them. One popular comedian, Frank Delima, tells a lot of racial jokes, and it’s standard practice for “local” comedians to poke fun at other ethnicities. Delima has the advantage of being of mixed heritage. It was only after I moved to the “mainland” and realized this wasn’t considered good form. What’s funny depends a lot on the culture that surrounds it – again, the comedian doesn’t get to decide.

My explanation for what goes on in Hawaii is that all minorities are more or less equally represented – there is no clear majority – so everyone is discriminated against equally by these jokes. On the mainland, there is no question those of the Caucasian persuasion are in the majority. Therefore, any ethnic jokes told by a white comedian mocking a minority has an unfortunate twinge of superiority. The jokes toward African-Americans are particularly volatile because of this country’s unfortunate history. It may sound unfair that “whites” don’t get to tell ethnic jokes – well, if that’s your brand of humor, I suggest relocating somewhere where you’re a minority like Hawaii and then you can tell all the ethnic jokes you want.

Anyhow, to get back on subject, I still believe our society can get somewhere where race is essentially a “non-issue” – or at least where other issues take precedence. California is a nice place. I’ve been living here for nearly a decade and have rarely felt racially discriminated against. This is important, as I can walk down any street with my wife (who is of Finnish-German ethnicity) and not be gazed at like we’re breaking the law. I don’t want my kids (who will be hapa) to grow up somewhere where they have to deal with racial crap. They will be eating donuts with ume inside and should not be mocked for this culinary obscenity.

I do not deny that racism exists, even in California. It’s not that people are necessarily more enlightened here, it’s just harder to be a bigot when the target of your insensitivity is probably your co-worker. California is very ethnically diverse (the majority of San Francisco proper is Chinese) and there are tons of freaks of all persuasions. The diverse population forces people to at least be sensitive and keep discriminatory thoughts to themselves.

Getting beyond race is one reason why I enjoy blogging. A random websurfer who lands on a blog page via Google isn’t likely to know the blogger’s ethnic background. The blogger is hopefully judged on the basis of their writing and thoughts. And my experience with this blog over the past two years has been hugely positive. I’ve been insulted on this blog (mainly for my taste in music or movies) but never because of my ethnicity.

In case you didn’t know, I’m Asian American. There are other tech bloggers in this camp – Tony Hung (well, asian-Torontonian), and Jeremiah Owyang come to mind. I’m sure you know the content of our work above and beyond the cultural heritage. And that’s where I want to be. My ethnic background is irrelevant to my love of Apple, Battlestar Galactica, Elvis Costello, and Google. Judge me for whom I believe is the Last Cylon (although I’ll admit to having an understandable sympathy for Grace Park).

The mainland isn’t at a place where the ethnic humor that works in Hawaii is okay. That will only happen as racial demographics change over time. But until then, I feel we can get beyond the racial crap if we offer ourselves to be judged on other criteria, and ignore the ignorant trolls. I believe most people give up their stereotypes when they realize they don’t apply. We can to get to a place where jokes – even ethnic ones – become funny because the audience knows they weren’t created with ill intent. We’re not there yet, but we can get there.

Lastly, on the web, anybody is free to create any idea they like. But consider the effect of your content. Will you use technology to level the playing field and let everyone be judged on the quality of their thoughts, or to spread ignorance, confirm ridiculous stereotypes, and foster increasingly outdated ways of thinking? It’s your choice.

Okay, where the heck is iTunes 7.7?

Additional Reading: Louis Gray, NPR

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  • jcieplinski
    Nice post, J. I agree, California is pretty far ahead of the curve, especially compared to my native Philadelphia, where the different WHITE populations just started marrying each other a generation ago. There are still Italian, Irish, and German neighborhoods, and not so long ago you could get your butt kicked for walking into the wrong one after dark. But you're right; even in CA we still have a way to go before we kick this whole racism thing once and for all.

    When I was teaching high school students ten years ago, I was often inspired by how oblivious to race my students seemed to be, especially compared to my classmates when I was in high school. I think, as you suggested, that merely exposing people to different kinds of people, caucasian, African-American, Asian, gay, straight, etc. helps a great deal. It's hard to be opposed to gay marriage when more than a quarter of the coworkers you set next to every day are gay. Sooner or later, you come around to the conclusion that people are just people.

    Your kids, being born yet another generation later, will see even less reason to scapegoat other races. Until one day, children will read history books about race relations in the early twenty-first century and wonder how people could have possibly been so hung up on something so stupid. Just as when I was a boy I was confused as to how here in America, people could have once thought that owning other people was okay.

    I do hope that in the midst of all this, we don't lose our sense of humor about race. Being overly sensitive when the intention of the comedian is clearly not malicious doesn't help. And sometimes racial humor, if done correctly, can open our eyes to our own prejudices.
  • Yeah it's amusing to see that a century ago, people ragged on the
    Italians, Germans, or Irish. Looking at history, it seems the most
    recent immigrant group gets all the flack until they are replaced by
    some other group. Right now the group to bitch about are Hispanics.
    That was the case in Hawaii as well. While that situation sounds lame,
    it actually gives me some hope, as it implies people aren't
    discriminating because of skin color but because of that "new" status
    and over time integration can happen.
  • Jason, thanks for writing about this. Your insights into Hawaiian culture are an eye opener and I like your perspective about considering the repercussions of our writing and actions.
  • Yep, although we see disturbing stuff regularly, I have hope for the
    future.
  • ConchyJoe
    As I grew up in a place where I was in the white minority I have experienced racism or what is referred to as reverse racism and it makes it no different whether or not you are a minority or not the issue with racial humor is the audience. In an audience of people who have been exposed to other people usually can understand the jokes and take them for what they are. A FUCKING JOKE! I'm sorry but I have many friends of different ethnicity's and backgrounds and when it is understood that stereotypes are founded in some truth and alot of racial jokes are actually funny (aside from those that are created out of some ignorant hatred)
  • I believe that the whole concept of ‘racist comments’ only came into existence because of two facts Firstly, people were (and are) willing to ridicule others publicly and without any concern as to the effects of their mockery and derision. Secondly, human beings are by their very nature xenophobic so it is an easy step to deride anyone that simply looks and seems different.

    The point I am trying to make is that if everyone was absolutely certain that when a comedian makes a ‘racist’ comment that the only motivation for the comment was humour and laughter and that the comedian would have been prepared to say exactly the same thing about themselves even if the same funniness applied, I think no one would be upset.
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