On 8-7-2011 8:04, Charles C wrote:
> andrel<byt### [at] gmailcom>  wrote:
>> Why is it offensive?
>> I don't know the guy and I have only watched this part of the show, but
>> to me it sounds like a sarcastic joke. What he implied is that TV and
>> society used to be much more racist and that he is glad that has changed.
>> Sure, if you take the exact same words and put it in a speach with a
>> racist context it would be offensive. In this context, in the way he
>> says it and with the reaction of the other guy, it clearly isn't. So
>> again: why do you think it is offensive?
>
>
> I took it as a cynical joke on the current (not past) state of race in the US.

No that can't be, because evidently there is a black man hosting that show.

> I think it shows he has a low view of the general public and/or the studio or
> television network.   I'm not sure that having a low view of the public is even
> what bothers me.  Basically it sounded accusational to me.   To me, being
> accused out-of-hand actually would offend me.

to me it is the sort of things people say who know one another well. I 
do that sort of things all the time. Particularly with women, (not many 
people of african origins around, I have trouble recognizing Jews, but 
luckily we have some muslims in the lab). At least a couple of times per 
week I say something that out of context would be sexist or racist. 
Often it has the same undertone as your example: 'I am glad things 
changed and you can be here doing what you do, and you do it well'. So 
don't ask for a written transcript of all my conversations, you might 
feel offended.
In the same vain, I have said things in the past to our mascot that were 
totally misunderstood by people listening in. I checked later with him 
and he seemed just as surprised as I was.
As a rule, I would say that if a person A says something to a person B 
about a group that B is evidenly a member of 
(african/woman/ginger/dwarf) in a light-hearted way and B smiles, it was 
meant ironic and both understood that. Taking it seriously as an 
outsider will meet with surprise and incomprehension by both A and B.

-- 
Apparently you can afford your own dictator for less than 10 cents per 
citizen per day.

Post a reply to this message