Larry Wilmore is a comic who does a lot of race humor. He has a bit on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" as the "Senior Black Correspondent", he's written for The Office, and done stand up. In this clip, he is on The Daily Show talking about how white people should "play the race card" now that roles have reversed and we have a black president. It's a funny clip and I really appreciate Wilmore's humor. However, that's not the only reason why I wanted to show it to you all. It's particularly humorous because there is such a drastic role reversal.
http://www.thedailytube.com/video/20841/larry-wilmore-plays-the-race-card
Why do we see things like this has funny? Why such a touchy subject so easy to laugh at?
http://www.thedailytube.com/video/20841/larry-wilmore-plays-the-race-card
Why do we see things like this has funny? Why such a touchy subject so easy to laugh at?
I love the daily show. I think the reason why Rush Limbaugh and Glen beck say such things can be explained by research findings about conservatives. Extant research shows that conservatives tend to be more solidified in their worldviews and are more likely to endorse stereotypes and prejudice when those views are threatened. TMT would explain this retaliation as a justification of their beliefs as a result of existential angst arising from their views being threatened. The justification-suppression model of prejudice also provides an explanation: people suppress prejudice beliefs and they come out when they are given an opportunity that can be seen as justifying their prejudice. This could be what's happening here--the presence of a Black man in power threatens their SDO and they display a reaction formation (as Freud would say) blaming the person they hate for hating them. It was funny when Glen Beck completely contradicted himself and Willmore said "you can't take the race card back." This can also be explained by the justification-suppression model because he had an opportunity to justify prejudice and it slipped out. He then had to backtrack in an attempt to appear more socially desirable. I think that the majority group that was once in power is realizing that they may not be the dominant group in the future and it is starting to scare conservative Whites.
As far as why it's funny, I think we laugh at stuff that is taboo because we know we're not supposed to. It's like what could be funny is suppressed and when someone makes a joke about it it releases the tension making it all the funnier. If you look at stand-up in general, they tend to focus on touchy topics because it relieves the tension by laughing things that wouldn't be appropriate to make fun of in other mediums.