Interesting point from comedian Elliot Chang about race in jokes

As a white person, I don't get offended at jokes directed towards white people at all really, you can say whatever you want about white people, it's not going to offend me. That got me wondering why? Why is it that there are other races that are less politically correct to joke about? (like black people and latinos as Chang points out) Is he correct in his assertion that since white people are the dominant race in the western world, we're less likely to take things personally because it's essentially inconsequential in the big picture to our lives?

Your thoughts on this?

I think it's because, outside of white supremacy and separatist groups, most white people don't have a particularly strong connection to a "white identity". Most white people don't really care about the fact that they are white, so it doesn't bother them when you attack whiteness, as they don't consider it an essential part of their identity. I mean, there ARE white people who consider their whiteness to be their defining trait (like the two previously stated groups), and who jump at the chance to be offended ("Hey, you can say cracker, why can't I say nigger?" type shit), but I think that most white people don't feel that way. Not that they don't think of themselves as white, I'm sure they do, but they probably don't think about it as the defining attribute of their identity, so they don't think that a joke about "White people" is directed at them personally, or feel a need to defend "Whiteness" in general.

Padawanbater2 said:

As a white person, I don't get offended at jokes directed towards white people at all really, you can say whatever you want about white people, it's not going to offend me. That got me wondering why? Why is it that there are other races that are less politically correct to joke about? (like black people and latinos as Chang points out) Is he correct in his assertion that since white people are the dominant race in the western world, we're less likely to take things personally because it's essentially inconsequential in the big picture to our lives?

Your thoughts on this?

Click to expand...

I like this clip on Rich coming back from his trip through Africa. He talks about how those slurs are/should be dead (but we perpetuate them) And, how, racist comedy will always be around. He talked about it again some years later after his stand up.“I don’t think the racial landscape has changed much. It changed for a while, but I think it’s starting to recess. So those jokes that you told that were so biting become relevant again,” he said. “I regret no jokes. You did it and it was perfect for the time. And believe me, the racial stuff — it’s cyclical. It’ll happen again.”


I've also always liked George Carlin's view on it. It's all about language that is perpetuated.