Hello again UI. I am an avid television watcher, that loves all kinds of programming. I have seen good shows and bad. I am getting into the gritter shows that are on channels like HBO, FX, AMC, (the list goes on). Also I have interest in many comedies that are on the air such as Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother, The New Girl, Rescue Me (again the list goes on). One thing that I have noticed lately is that racially motivated jokes have become not just taboo, but the norm. In the 90’s television dared not to even remotely do anything to upset blacks, hispanics, or asians. It was a time of cultural healing and understanding, at least on the surface. However now it seems as if all that has gone out of the window.
Constantly I see “black” jokes and other minority disses on these broadcast network programs. It seems as if we have forgotten the days of Sambo, Tom and Jerry, The Jack Benny Show, and other programming with horrible racist images. I never have seen blacks so humiliated and made fun on television. My parents, and my parents parents, fought for civil rights and common decency to not be called Nigger as freely as we have been before. They made sure that this racial discord would not be tolerated by anyone, and yet… Here we are. The word Nigger has been replaced with more words to describe racial stereotypes. The other day I was watching an episode of something on FOX and a person was late to a meeting. The line went… “Dammit, he’s late… I thought you said he wasn’t black?” Then the laugh track rolled and everyone had a good time… Everyone except me. I was truly offended. I looked around the room which was half black and partially white and hispanic and no one had a problem. Have we been trained in such a way by today’s media that we have become dead to these kinds of barbs and have accepted them with open arms? It truly seems that way.
Just recently “How I met Your Mother” took it back to the days of “Charlie Chan” and the squinty eyed buck toothed asians and were not even challenged by it. So here’s the real question in all of this. Why aren’t people mad? Where is the outrage? It is in a small fact that has been seemingly overlooked over the years. “White Acceptance.” Asians have been engaged in this practice since their arrival as to assimilate into America’s society. Even though they were in concentration camps in san francisco not all that long ago. You still see young asian girls dying to be with white men, and asians who accept the jokes and ridicule of their own people all in the name of white acceptance. Many mexicans in the state of Texas have turned to voting republican, and joining anti immigration organizations, when the republican party has fought tooth and nail to keep mexicans from joining American society and becoming citizens. This is all done in the name of white acceptance.
Black are not immune to this shameful practice. For years blacks have been seen as overly aggressive, and scary by many whites. Now in the media we are now portrayed as more docile and accepting of the jokes that whites make against blacks. It seems as if now the younger ones, sit on their couches and laugh right long with everyone else as to fit in with their white friends. I remember when many white people were afraid of making black centered remarks or even being taken out of context. However in today’s climate they are more bold than ever. Most would say that it is because the racial climate has changed and now we an sit back and laugh at our differences. I for one call BS. This need to fit in and not simply be ourselves has gone to a whole new level. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not that person who sits there and judges black people because they listen to rock music or like to wear Toms and skinny jeans. I just feel that this assimilation that we have undergone has gone way too far and to the point that instead of fixing the very real problem, we are simply joining the joke.
Those of us who have white friends should not make them feel more comfortable making black jokes. There will always be that one joke that you will not think is cool and will want to react. Or sadly will just simply take it and have an uneasy feeling in your stomach like you should have said something, but didn’t. All I am saying in short is that we should not allow our people to be made fun of or allow others to create stereotypes for us all in the name of comedy.
If a black joke on TV concerns you, then let it be known. Do not not sit idle and allow your white friends to laugh at the expense of all that your people have gone through in the name of acceptance. I feel that the resurgence of this culture came about when Family Guy began to push all the limits. The network began to love the rating and pushed for ore. The other networks caught wind of this and said “Hey guys… It’s cool to make fun of black people now! Nah they won’t even be mad. We will just cover it up as a changing world blah blah blah.” Of course I am making fun of the swing on acceptance for making fun our culture, but you get the point.
We must not allow this to continue to happen. If we do racist tweets from Gwynneth Paltrow (When she tweeted “Niggers in Paris forreal” while at a Kayne West and Jay-Z concert in Paris France) and black face gags will be back in style, and we will have to overcome a whole new animal of racism that we allowed to become acceptable. What do you think UI? Tired of the subtle “black” jokes? I am… What about you?
Honestly the TV itself is the problem, everyone is being subtly socially programmed by it everyday. Hyper violent images desensitize is to real violence; 30 second commercials gives everyone A.D.D. for pharmaceutical profit, Stylized Hollywood marketing of “pretty people” gives everyone a self image and inferiority complex. The frequency of racism decreases it’s shock value into numbness. I’ve worked in the houses of the super wealthy and the major difference I found was no television at all. Instead there was classical music without words playing and extensive libraries full of poetry, law volumes and international politics. If you research you’ll find that reading stimulates parts of the brain that the television doesn’t whereas on television you are provided with the sound and image, when reading your mind must create it. It’s like working out a muscle versus not working it out. It’s not that people have become malicious, it is that they have become mentally lazy due to not having to use their brain. They don’t realize they’re doing what they’re being told to do because the illusion of freedom has been so cleverly designed they have almost no hope at all of seeing it unless they turn the television off.
Which they won’t do.