What’s the difference between poking fun at one race’s ethnic background and being racist?
The recent outburst in the media on the Bejing-Olympics slit-eye photograph pose by the national basketball team really got the world stirring up, accusing the team of being racist and all of that.
But that it got me thinking about my favourite standup comedians, Rusell Peters and Sugar Sammy. And I’m sure that there are a lot more comedians out there who do poke fun at people’s background and stuff. Heck even I myself was once mocked by a local stand up comedian at the local comedy clubs when I was in Canada some years back. My middle-eastern uni friends were also teased by these local stand up comedians as being terrorists and bomb-squads.
What about the US making fun of Canada in this beer commercial ad? One can just view this video and call the Americans as being ignorant towards Canadian culture!
But the thing is we all take it in good fun, we know it’s just satirical humour. I know for a fact when Russell mocks and teases the Indians, or Chinese he’s doing it in just for kicks, and we all have a good laugh at it. Racism is never brought up and it’s not even thought of in the first place.
Now I’m not saying what the spannish team did was in the name of good fun. In fact if you were to ask me, it was a tactless move, you DON’T go into a foreign country and do such things, nevermind if YOU find it harmless or funny. It doesn’t help that all of nations, it was Spain that did these senseless antics! 4 years ago, a coach called Theiry Henry something in appropriate. Then Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright Philips were racially taunted by the Spannish fans in an international friendly. Then came the Eto-controversy. Oh and lets not forget poor Lewis Hamilton too! It’s already starting to be a defacto fact that Spain is getting more and more racist with the way they treat colour people. True, not every Spaniard is racits, but it doesn’t do much justice and explaination to anyone. The more they keep at this, the more they’re going to find themselves being hated by the international community.
Returning back to my point, but at the end of the day, if you were asked me; teasing and mocking another person’s ethnic background IS indeed RACISM, but perhaps it’s just in it’s subtlest & mildest form, mild enough to not cause an uproar from the particular group.
But here’s the ignorant and scary point from where I think the Spannish team were coming from :
what is mild to me may not be mild to you…what is funny to me may not be funny to you
Additional reading : I’m Sorry I Was Offended, Gasol
