Recently in Humor Category

So I happened to flip on the Colbert Report the other day and I found this entertaining bit about how the Tea Parties are racist.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/281750/april-20-2010/p-k--winsome---tea-party-consulting

For those of you that don't know, the "Tea Party Patriots" is a rallying group of Americans who come together for their 3 core values: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.  But apparently, this movement is almost ENTIRELY white.  Colbert does an entertaining parody with Tim Meadows about how the Tea Party can make themselves seem less racist by hiring his "consulting firm".  As soon as I watched this I knew I needed to post about it, however I wasn't sure what to talk about until I thought more about the topic and got to wondering....

How often do you think racial tensions are eased in real life by staging or hiring out some "multicultural" faces.  For instance, a white presidential candidate might have a very publicized picture with a Middle Eastern person after waging war on a country from that region.  Does such a thing happen?  And how often?  Does it actually have a positive impact on their public image?

http://www.hulu.com/watch/141560/saturday-night-live-ruff-rugger-and-roker


This is a clip from Saturday Night Live this past weekend that I think is a funny example of a stereotype consistent vs inconsistent Al Roker. I realize this clip is meant to be funny, but I think it raises a few interesting questions as well: How would a stereotype consistent African American news reporter (doesn't necessarily have to be Al Roker or a weatherman) be received by viewers? Or even just a news reporter that speaks in a way consistent with their ethnicity? I've always noticed with African American news reporters that they tend to display themselves as stereotype inconsistent, but what if they didn't? How would people react? You could even say the same thing about Barack Obama or other highly regarded social figures. How much of a role do you think stereotype inconsistency plays into the acceptance of some minority figures by the white community?

This is a clip from Saturday Night Live this past weekend that I think is a funny example of a stereotype consistent vs inconsistent Al Roker. I realize this clip is meant to be funny, but I think it raises a few interesting questions as well: How would a stereotype consistent African American news reporter (doesn't necessarily have to be Al Roker or a weatherman) be received by viewers? Or even just a news reporter that speaks in a way consistent with their ethnicity? I've always noticed with African American news reporters that they tend to display themselves as stereotype inconsistent, but what if they didn't? How would people react? You could even say the same thing about Barack Obama or other highly regarded social figures. How much of a role do you think stereotype inconsistency plays into the acceptance of some minority figures by the white community?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MRWqlf_8M8

 

This video comes from a supposed organization/church. Along with this video there are many other videos from the same guy preaching hate against gays. A lot of controversy has risen from the videos, because it is questionable if this is a joke or real. It is hard to say for sure, because the videos contain "humor" like referring to things such as back door or get on your knees, but then there is a full website dedicated to his "organization".

Do you think this is real, or not? I encourage people to look at his website that they show at the beginning of the video. If you think it is real, what are the implications? such as religion and how he is trying to "change" gays to straight. If you think it is fake, how is it that this type of thing is funny? what are the implications of this side?

This is a clip from Family Guy from an episode where Peter's boss is sexually harassing him at work. When he tries to bring it up to his family, they say that a man can't be sexually harassed.

Paul Mooney is one of the Kings of comedy. He has written stand up comedy for Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Saturday night live and many other venues. He is mainly known for his active stance in confronting racism in America through Stand up Comedy and going on different talk shows to address these issues faced by society today. Paul has a strait forward or blunt approach he takes which makes most White people uncomfortable and upset. There are a lot of good youtube videos that go into greater detail with his views. Do you think by him being direct about these issues help or harm the message he is trying to portray?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/09/howard-stern-gabourey-sid_n_492102.html

Howard Stern unleashed a vicious attack on Gabourey Sidibe on his Sirius satellite show on Monday.

"There's the most enormous, fat black chick I've ever seen. She is enormous. Everyone's pretending she's a part of show business and she's never going to be in another movie," he said. "She should have gotten the Best Actress award because she's never going to have another shot. What movie is she gonna be in?"

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.youtube.com/watch?v=HRfjLfyXYlA

 

This clip shows a black man getting into an elevator where a white woman is, describing how she clutches her purse only makes him want to steal it from her.

I chose this video because it reminded me a lot of that clip in Crash where she clutches her purse and then the two black men end up stealing their car. The clip shows a few different things that I find sort of interesting. As a woman I have felt that way before, not necessarily because the person is black, but because I am alone. This black man is describing that she is being racist, but what if it is just because she is alone and nervous? Another interesting thing he brings up is that because she is acting this way and he is seeing it as racist....he says he wants to snatch that purse from her because of her actions. Again.. linking it to Crash.. maybe they would not have targeted them if she had not acted afraid? What do you think? Anything else relevant here?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/15/family-guy-trig-palin-vid_n_462522.html

"Andrea Fay Friedman, the voice actress who played the role of "Ellen" --the character depicted as having Down syndrome on the Valentine's Day episode of Family Guy, has responded to the criticism of sometime-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin."

Actress who voiced DS girl responds:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/18/family-guy-actress-respon_n_468331.html

"Andrea Fay Friedman, the voice actress who played the role of "Ellen" --the character depicted as having Down syndrome on the Valentine's Day episode of Family Guy, has responded to the criticism of sometime-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-g-yerman/why-we-laugh-black-comedi_b_469815.html

"In 1987, Robert Townsend wrote, directed, produced, and starred in Hollywood Shuffle - a comedy that took a look at how African-Americans were stereotyped and marginalized in film and television. In the new documentary, Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy, director Townsend comments on the genesis of Hollywood Shuffle saying, "It was born out of a lot of pain.""

This short clip is from an episode of South Park where the boys are redefining the word 'fag' to refer to Harley riders. Like a lot of stuff on South Park, it can be offensive if you don't see the humor in it, but this clip does bring up a couple good points related to the class. For one, it addresses changes in the meaning of words. For example, bastard used to be really offensive but now that having children before marriage is more common, people use it more in casual conversation and not a lot of people take offense to it. This is just a clip, but if you watch the whole episode, the homosexual members of South Park get behind the definition change to say that it no longer refers to them. So what happens when a group is no longer offended? Does the word lose its power? Can we as a society take the power out of words or should we continue to suppress those that emotionally charged? Does suppression itself increase the word's power?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22EkUGnoJfM&feature=related

 

The link above has a few clips of a character named Uncle Ruckus from the show "The Boondocks". Uncle Ruckus is a black character who offers negative commentary on his own race. Throughout the series he tries to promote the ideas of the 'white man' and devalue the opinions of the 'black man'. What kind of situations foster this type of person that rejects their own in-group to promote the out-group to their category? Is there a benefit for him to back up the white people and devalue his own group? Does this leave him with no group to identify with at all now?

     The other day I ran into Hy Vee for a handful of random items I needed for a recipe.  Nine times out of ten, I check out with an associate, however because I was in a rush and the lines were quite long, I decided to use the "Self Check Out" kiosk.  Since I also speak Spanish (or at least make an effort to), I often choose the "Espanol" option for this kind of interface, likewise with ATM's and such. 
     I completed my transaction with the robotic self checkout system, effectively eliminating any human contact from my shopping experience, however I was able to justify this with a little practicando in Spanish.  The interface provided detailed instructions in Spanish through text on the screen AND a soothing and spicy female voice using perfect Spanish pronunciation.
     So far, so good.  I was disturbed and shocked in disbelief once I received my receipt, for though the entire transaction proceeded in Spanish, my receipt was printed exclusively in ENGLISH!  Now, if you've shopped at HyVee before, you know that you receive a fuel discount of $0.05 or more when you gas up at a Hy Vee gas station. 
     Now tell me this:  What good is a Spanish speaking self checkout system if my receipt is printed in English?  Is HyVee trying to avoid doling out fuel discounts to Spanish speakers?  Some might use the tired "If you want to live in MY country, you need to be able to speak ENGLISH, or else you can go back to YOUR country!  George Washington Abraham Jefferson didn't fight in the Spanish-French Independence Civil War so that my kids have to learn EhspHaneole"

     I encourage you to write to HyVee using the link posted above, and alert them of this oversight as I have.  If that computer is smart enough to tell me how much Apple Cider Vinegar costs in Spanish, and HyVee is wealthy enough to sponsor a flippin marathon in DesMoines, certainly they can print a receipt in Spanish.  If you disagree with me, you're LOCO AMIGO!

Sincerely,

Geraldo 

I randomly found this video from a show in Australia interviewing Americans before the last presidential election. They found a wonderful sample to represent us. There is a lot of anti-Middle East sentiment and general prejudice involved. How do you think other countries perceive us from videos like this and more generally? Are you surprised by any of the comments in the video? How well do you think this sample represented the general American public?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luve-lex9nQ

 

Sparkling Wiggles sounds like a harmless thing for a child to say, but what does it sound like she is saying? The child has no idea what she is saying, but the parents definately do. While it may be cute to listen to the mistakes that children make in their language, how far is too far? The parents know what is being said, and is having her say it in more "humorous" ways.
The parents think they aren't causing much of a problem, but how would the child feel if she knew the extent to what she was saying? When she sees the video when she's older will she be angry that her parents let her say these things? If the chlid was out in public and was saying what she thought was "sparkling wiggles", but an African American heard, do you think something would be said?

http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/804/

This is the link to the episode of South Park that Matt Sienkiewicz referred to multiple times in his talk tonight: "What's Under Kyle's Hat?: South Park, Antisemitism, and the Jew Joke in Multicultural America". See my comment on this under the post for this lecture if you're interested in my take on the subject.

This episode could be very offensive to some people, so just a warning. Are there any aspects of this episode (or South Park in general) that seem to cross the line of what is humor and what is wrong? Or does this type of thing seem to be the norm in popular culture today? Are you for or against some sort of regulation on offensive humor in the media? See my comment post for more discussion questions....

http://www.hulu.com/watch/125747/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-wed-feb-3-2010#s-p1-sr-i0

Feb. 3 Daily Show with John Stewart talked about the proposal from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy in the military. John Oliver came on and gave a little satirical twist to the issue. Is the issue of Don't Ask Don't Tell really the right way to go from a Psychological perspective or would it be better to repeal it? Would revealing sexual preference ruin unit cohesion, or do you think it would create mistrust between soldiers?
      I posted the whole episode, but it is the on the first segment. The second segment of the show actually is good as well. Sam Bee deals with gender equality.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1954643,00.html

 

Camera's are advancing at an alarming rate, adding options like being able to notice if someone had blinked during the photo. Nikon is one of these companies to add this option to their camera. The only problem with this, it cannot detect the Asian eye. Many companies are set around creating products for the caucasian consumer, but being that Nikon is a Japanese company you would think that they may have thought about the shape of an Asian eye? While they may not have set out trying to be racist in this endeavor there still seems to be a problem here. As our technology advances, are our minorities going to be left out of the benefits?

 

This is one of the kings of comedy talking about different racial issues. He is displaying some of the issues going on in the news that have to deal with racism. Do you believe what he is saying is offensive besides all of the cursing? and what is your opinion about how comedians use different racial issues?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtqqMchhUkw&feature=related

This is one of the classic skits from "The Chappelle Show". This skit is pretty funny coming from a comedian like Dave Chappelle, but can you imagine how reactions would change if it were somebody like Jeff Foxworthy or Dane Cook that had written this? Take note of the different stereotypes that pop up in the dialog of this video.

http://comedians.jokes.com/dat-phan/videos/dat-phan---asian-stereotypes

This is a clip of Dat Phan talking about Asian stereotypes.  He only goes over a couple but they are very funny.  One of the stereotypes that is mentioned is that Asians are good at math.  I know that this is the American stereotype, but it isn't true everywhere.  In Canada there is a generally negative stereotype of Asians.  What other positive stereotypes do we have in this country that are different elsewhere?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdbGnJ52fjc

 

The link above is to a clip of Gabriel Iglesias doing a part of his stand-up. In the clip he talks about giving a "racist" gift basket to his black friend anonymously. The racist things in the gift basket are things that would supposedly be items that a black person would enjoy. Gabriel himself is latino and makes a joke at the end about how if his black friend would have given him a pinata stuffed with burritos and tacos he would have thanked him for it.
This situation turned out to be a funny one for both of them, but I wonder if there would have been a different interaction between them if Gabriel had been white. If Gabriel would have been black would this have not been as funny as just been more of an acceptable joke between them? I also want to ask....what type of items would you put in a white person's basket?

http://www.newschief.com/article/20091206/NEWS/912065006?Title=Ethnic-jokes-poke-fun-at-stereotypes

"There are many jokes around dealing with one's ethnicity. Some are unkind and deal with stereotypical attitudes. There are so many around that one can find enough that are not really offensive, and just deal with customs and attitudes or values of the particular group."