This is racism, right?

[C~G]

There have been a large number of comics who have made a very good living off of being racist

So, if the racist entertainment is popular then it's funny and also should be allowed?
Doesn't popularity make it regular occurence and not an isolated incident which should make people in question be offended or at least you just claimed that ?
Sounds to me like you are trying to pull both legs at the same time.

 

[7ronin]

Bozo, at worst the situation is racism. At the least it's workplace harassment. Whoever runs you company needs to set the tone and the rules and not stand for any of this stuff. Otherwise, the gentleman in question or someday someone just like him will end up owning the company.

I have to agree with your view that the North may be more racist in some ways than the South. My mother, born in the North, was very racist. My father, from the South, was much less so, perhaps because he had grown up among Black people and was much more comfortable with them.

Southern California seems to be the new "melting pot." We have interracial couples of every imaginable combination and no one seems to pay much attention to it.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

I have to agree with your view that the North may be more racist in some ways than the South. My mother, born in the North, was very racist. My father, from the South, was much less so, perhaps because he had grown up among Black people and was much more comfortable with them.

I recall reading how former slaves in the South felt that that they often recieved harsher treatment from their Northern 'liberators', than they had from Southerners before the war.

As to whether or not racism can be funny, I agree with Mob that yes, it can be hilarious, precisely because its wrong. We laugh when a man walks up to a rake, steps on it, and it flies up and breaks his nose. We dont laugh when he walks by it safely and isnt harmed.

 

[MobBoss]

So, if the racist entertainment is popular then it's funny and also should be allowed?

Well, that is precisely the case today.

Doesn't popularity make it regular occurence and not an isolated incident which should make people in question be offended or at least you just claimed that ?

Racist humor is a regular occurance in our modern society.

Sounds to me like you are trying to pull both legs at the same time.

Or could it be I am trying to make you see the obvious?

 

[warpus]

Racial humour can be funny if it's done right.

Dave Chapelle knows how to do it right.

If we can't laugh at our differences then we might as well just give up and crawl back up the trees.

 

[IglooDame]

Racial humour can be funny if it's done right.

Dave Chapelle knows how to do it right.

If we can't laugh at our differences then we might as well just give up and crawl back up the trees.

Add Carlos Mencia to that list, too.

 

[MobBoss]

Add Carlos Mencia to that list, too.

Ah, but why is it ok, if Mencia et al get to do it and its ok, as opposed to you or I?

Just because they are way more effective at making it funny, does it really make it any more right?

And if not, then how can you get mad at some guy putting a lawn jockey one time in front of a black guys parking space? That just sounds to me like the guy was making a bad joke as opposed to making some kind of racial statement.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

And if not, then how can you get mad at some guy putting a lawn jockey one time in front of a black guys parking space? That just sounds to me like the guy was making a bad joke as opposed to making some kind of racial statement.

Speaking of racism being funny... You realise how funny what you just said is?

 

[IglooDame]

Ah, but why is it ok, if Mencia et al get to do it and its ok, as opposed to you or I?

Just because they are way more effective at making it funny, does it really make it any more right?

And if not, then how can you get mad at some guy putting a lawn jockey one time in front of a black guys parking space? That just sounds to me like the guy was making a bad joke as opposed to making some kind of racial statement.

They get to do it for a few different reasons: #1, they are making fun of everyone up to and including themselves, #2 they're doing it for pay in settings that allow it, (just like you or I would get arrested walking around naked in the street, while some people are paid to take their clothes off in certain establishments), and #3 they are presumably not making fellow employees uncomfortable, or at least not in a way that wouldn't be expected going in to the job in the first place.

 

[warpus]

Ah, but why is it ok, if Mencia et al get to do it and its ok, as opposed to you or I?

Just because they are way more effective at making it funny, does it really make it any more right?

And if not, then how can you get mad at some guy putting a lawn jockey one time in front of a black guys parking space? That just sounds to me like the guy was making a bad joke as opposed to making some kind of racial statement.

It's not about who's right or wrong.

A standup comedian tells a racial joke in the context of it being a stand-up act or a skit. It's far easier to make a play on our differences in such a setting, especially if you're a professional stand-up comedian.. People (usually) realize that he's just kidding and that he doesn't actually want to "kill all Norwegians".

Now, if you tell the same sort of joke in an office setting, that's most likely going to be viewed as inappropriate. It's all about context.

 

[MobBoss]

They get to do it for a few different reasons: #1, they are making fun of everyone up to and including themselves,

So, if I make fun of myself as a white guy, its ok to make racial jokes?

#2 they're doing it for pay in settings that allow it, (just like you or I would get arrested walking around naked in the street, while some people are paid to take their clothes off in certain establishments),

Sorry, igloo, but everyone gets arrested if they walk naked in the street irregardless of whether they work at a strip club. But once more, if I got paid to do it, then its ok? So if my boss paid me to play racial jokes on the minority employees that makes it ok since I am getting paid for it?

and #3 they are presumably not making fellow employees uncomfortable, or at least not in a way that wouldn't be expected going in to the job in the first place.

So, if the job is inheretly racist to begin with its ok, or if the minority employees are ok with it then its ok.

Sorry, but so far all you have done is illuminated the huge double standard of racism. If you are talented and can make it funny its ok, but not ok if you cant. And that is the large problem with racism in our society today.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Racism is comedy in a comedy club. A black person who goes to a comedy show and is offended by racist comments made by the comedian, has the right to leave the comedy club, complain to management, and if necessary take legal action. Until very recently, minorities didnt have those options in the workplace to protect them from racism. Is racial sensitivity and PCness getting way out of hand? Absolutely. Does that mean that it should be ok to humilate people in the workplace, because of their race or ethnicity, and say its ok because 'its just a joke'? Absolutely not.

 

[warpus]

Sorry, but so far all you have done is illuminated the huge double standard of racism. If you are talented and can make it funny its ok, but not ok if you cant. And that is the large problem with racism in our society today.

You have totally missed the mark.

A couple comedians realize that racism is indeed a problem in our society, but that if we can't laugh at our differences, then we're a lost cause.

You can make all the racist jokes you want - but since you're not a professional comedian, they probably wouldn't be all too funny.

If you go out on stage and start targeting a certain ethnic group over and over and over - yes, that'd be a problem. But that's not what's happening.

 

[IglooDame]

So, if I make fun of myself as a white guy, its ok to make racial jokes?

That would tend to leaven it a bit, yeah.

Sorry, igloo, but everyone gets arrested if they walk naked in the street irregardless of whether they work at a strip club. But once more, if I got paid to do it, then its ok? So if my boss paid me to play racial jokes on the minority employees that makes it ok since I am getting paid for it?

Yeah, I didn't explain that one well. If Dave Chappelle or Carlos Mencia were hired by your company to do accounting or whatever, they wouldn't get away with making racial jokes any more than you do.

They get paid to do it because they're good at it, but the fact that you can't do it isn't because you're not getting paid to do it or because you're not good at it, it is because your workplace environment doesn't allow it.

 

[MobBoss]

You can make all the racist jokes you want - but since you're not a professional comedian, they probably wouldn't be all too funny.

Well, I am not a professional comedian, but I do know some pretty funny racial jokes. I am Irish after all.

Yeah, I didn't explain that one well. If Dave Chappelle or Carlos Mencia were hired by your company to do accounting or whatever, they wouldn't get away with making racial jokes any more than you do.

They get paid to do it because they're good at it, but the fact that you can't do it isn't because you're not getting paid to do it or because you're not good at it, it is because your workplace environment doesn't allow it.

I agree. The problem comes when someone sees what Mencia and those guys do, and somehow thinks its ok for them to do it at work. Now, personally, I think people need to be aware of their audience when they do such things. One of my best friends in the miltiary was a black guy that I worked with for over 17 years. We traded racially motivated jabs all the time, however, we remained aware of who we were with at the moment also. We never kidded around the stuffed shirts if you know what I mean. The problem comes when you have people who do this but have no tact what-so-ever. Thats where you run into problems.

 

[De Lorimier]

Basically, morons ruin it for people around them. We have them in OT too...

 

[MobBoss]

Basically, morons ruin it for people around them. We have them in OT too...

Well, OT would be a pretty boring place if we all thought alike, wouldnt you say?

 

[Mr Moron]

It's racism and very much illegal. I really don't know how anyone could maintain their sanity being around that kind of scum so much of the time.

 

[MobBoss]

It's racism and very much illegal. I really don't know how anyone could maintain their sanity being around that kind of scum so much of the time.

Sorry, but its not illegal to put a black lawn jocky in someones parking place as a joke. It might be against company policy, but its not illegal.

 

[JerichoHill]

About comics...Most of what I've seen of stand-up specials with Mencia/Chappelle and others seems to be that they'll do racist-esque humor, but always generalized or at specific public figures, and they'll always have a message about tolerance and laughing at ourselves in the end.

About Bozo's situation... I think we'd classify that as a racist act. If a situation like occured in an election setting, we'd be suing people. Actually, that happened I think just last month, maybe...