Ethnic Humor
Around mid-March of 2016, New York’s most popular Spanish-language radio show, El Vacilón de la Mañana, aired a series of jokes ranging from mocking Mexicans who illegally crossed the United States-Mexico border to calling them robbers and prostitutes. These jokes unleashed the outrage of the Mexican community, which staged protests, condemning the jokes as offensive and xenophobic. In an online petition with over 2,200 supporters, Mexicanos Unidos of Nueva York argued that “there is no place for racist speech” targeting Mexicans; the organization believes that Mexicans deserve respect because they are “intellectuals, writers, journalists, homemakers, and educators” who work hard to improve their lives and provide a better future for their
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children. Additionally, the Consulate General of Mexico in New York, which defends Mexican’s rights as foreigners in the United States, publicly denounced the jokes, attributing the audience’s discontent to the humor’s perpetuation of the anti-Mexican sentiment sparked by Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. The Dominican host of El Vacilón de la Mañana, Ramón Kanibal, excused himself by saying that the radio show mocks all other ethnic communities in New York, too, so there is no reason for Mexicans to feel offended (Calderon).
This is not an isolated occurrence and certainly not a problem unique to the United States or any specific ethnic group. In early April of 2016, the German comedian, Jan Böhmermann, recited a poem mocking the Turkish dictatorship and used the Muslim racist slur “goatfucker” in his weekly satirical news show, Neo Magazin Royal. Böhmermann is now facing the possibility of going to jail and the German Chancellor has to decide between a friendly diplomatic relationship with Turkey and defending the right of freedom of speech of German citizens (Wolff). That same month, Jimmy Collings, a white American and owner of the Shimmy Shack restaurant in Harahan, Louisiana, placed a sign advertising the joke: “What time does a Chinaman go to the dentist? Tooth a hurty!” outside of his establishment. People, such as Sascha Bollag who criticized the racist joke in an interview with The New Orleans Advocate, were outraged at Collings’s use of the derogatory term “chinaman,” but he claimed that he does not “consider the term or stereotype to be malicious or racist” (Calder). Based on these occurrences, there is no doubt that the use of ethnic humor in comedy radio shows and other media outlets consistently receive audience disapproval, especially from audience members whom the jokes target.
But the question of how to maneuver the audience disapproval remains a mystery to comedians who believe that their jokes are harmless and should not be taken personally. Furthermore, some comedians and critiquers believe that ethnic humor can lead to catharsis and can be a way to initiate conversations about traditionally taboo topics. However, the increasing political and social tensions interfere with the idealism of jokes being seen as simple jokes. In this essay, I argue that the use of ethnic humor should be restricted to in-group membership because the sociopolitical tensions frame every joke in political terms and lead to a heightened audience sensitivity, forcing us to analyze all jokes in terms of the current political events and their potential political implications. Thus, the need for partial censorship in which radio hosts are only allowed to make ethnic jokes about their particular ethnic group is a direct result of our tendency to use politics to frame every discussion and shape our
perceptions.
children. Additionally, the Consulate General of Mexico in New York, which defends Mexican’s rights as foreigners in the United States, publicly denounced the jokes, attributing the audience’s discontent to the humor’s perpetuation of the anti-Mexican sentiment sparked by Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. The Dominican host of El Vacilón de la Mañana, Ramón Kanibal, excused himself by saying that the radio show mocks all other ethnic communities in New York, too, so there is no reason for Mexicans to feel offended (Calderon).
This is not an isolated occurrence and certainly not a problem unique to the United States or any specific ethnic group. In early April of 2016, the German comedian, Jan Böhmermann, recited a poem mocking the Turkish dictatorship and used the Muslim racist slur “goatfucker” in his weekly satirical news show, Neo Magazin Royal. Böhmermann is now facing the possibility of going to jail and the German Chancellor has to decide between a friendly diplomatic relationship with Turkey and defending the right of freedom of speech of German citizens (Wolff). That same month, Jimmy Collings, a white American and owner of the Shimmy Shack restaurant in Harahan, Louisiana, placed a sign advertising the joke: “What time does a Chinaman go to the dentist? Tooth a hurty!” outside of his establishment. People, such as Sascha Bollag who criticized the racist joke in an interview with The New Orleans Advocate, were outraged at Collings’s use of the derogatory term “chinaman,” but he claimed that he does not “consider the term or stereotype to be malicious or racist” (Calder). Based on these occurrences, there is no doubt that the use of ethnic humor in comedy radio shows and other media outlets consistently receive audience disapproval, especially from audience members whom the jokes target.
But the question of how to maneuver the audience disapproval remains a mystery to comedians who believe that their jokes are harmless and should not be taken personally. Furthermore, some comedians and critiquers believe that ethnic humor can lead to catharsis and can be a way to initiate conversations about traditionally taboo topics. However, the increasing political and social tensions interfere with the idealism of jokes being seen as simple jokes. In this essay, I argue that the use of ethnic humor should be restricted to in-group membership because the sociopolitical tensions frame every joke in political terms and lead to a heightened audience sensitivity, forcing us to analyze all jokes in terms of the current political events and their potential political implications. Thus, the need for partial censorship in which radio hosts are only allowed to make ethnic jokes about their particular ethnic group is a direct result of our tendency to use politics to frame every discussion and shape our
perceptions.