Racial And Ethnic Humour Essay

An Analytical Review of the Positive and Negative Effects of Racial and Ethnic Humor
Humour has been a subject of intellectual discussion for thousands of years dating back to the days of Aristotle in ancient Greece. It has been used to tell stories, entertain, express one's perspective and in some cases humour is used in an offensive or insulting way. With the increasing amount of globalization the debate of whether racial and ethnic humour is harmful or beneficial to modern day society has become very prominent. Racial and Ethnic humour has the possibility to have an overall positive effect on society if there is an increase in studying and researching the influence that humour has on individuals, certain groups and society as a whole. The Oxford Dictionary defines humour as “the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech.” In regards to racial and ethnic humour, what one person finds amusing another person could find
He does not argue the benefits or harm that racist humour may cause he merely “examines the ways in which racist humour acts as a racist rhetoric, has a communicative impact, is persuasive, and can affect impressions of truth and ambivalence.” By trying to enlighten his readers on the influence of racist humour, Weaver along with Green’s and Linders’ study clearly indicates that there is an increasing need to study humor more deeply. With globalization on the rise due to modern day technology, racial and ethnic humor is affecting more people than ever before. The negative impacts of humour will never be completely abolished because any single person could find any joke offensive. I believe that the benefits from racial and ethnic humour could outweigh the harm it causes if both comedians and audiences studied and understood the subject of humour at a higher level than they do right