Rousseau_CHN

Shaq's defense: it's a joke not racist.

Fool, of course it's a joke--it's a racist joke.

And it's not funny. Racist jokes are never funny; they are insulting and demeaning. When I watch Jay Leno or that guy from Comedy Central, I thought that America has gone a long way toward race sensibility. Then I hear this from an NBA star and a Leadership Awardee, and I say, that's more than two-steps backward; that took Shaquille and his coach back to the 60s.

kwigibo

that is really schoolyard standard ignorance, and how an adult can honestly say and be amused by such tripe escapes me.

as an aside, i find jay leno to be subtly but disturbingly, quite often racist.

Robert G. Ingersoll

So you're saying that Jay's band leader, unlike you, is too dumb to pick up on this? Hmmmmmmmm.

Acinom

That's probably the right assessment. Something was always "off" about his monologues, but I never picked up on what exactly. Do you have an specific instances in mind?

Acinom

Argh. I'll never know why people think saying stuff like that is funny. Same goes for Rush Hour movies. Do people NOT pick up on the fact that Chris Tucker thoroughly plays the role of a racist in the movie?

clark

In my never humble opinion, the word "racism" is misused more often than it is used correctly. These boards (especially Political Discussions ) are no exception. From m-w.com, the definition of racism is, "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race". "Racism" thus requires a belief that one group of people is inherently better or worse than another. Ethnic humor, by itself, does not fit the definition of racism.

While Shaq's comments may be "politically incorrect" or not the most sensitive, they are anything but racist. Shaq is often a big clown, and shows it here. He may be using ethnic humor (not very good ethnic humor IMO), but I don't see how his comments can be construed as racist by any honest learned individual.

THOUGHTfully Yours,
Clark

mecca777

I disagree. From m-w.com, secondary definition of "racism":

2 : racial prejudice or discrimination

Shaq's "joke" relies on the audience understanding that Chinese people sound like they're speaking gibberish when they talk; consequently, it relies on a prejudiced stereotype of Chinese people. Hence, it is racist.

I'm not saying that Shaq judges the character of people by their skin colour; I'm not saying that he has any particular problem with Chinese people. But his words were as much a racist cultural stereotype as, say, Stepin Fetchit.

clark

Shaq's comments don't fit the second definition of "racism" either. To an Chinese speaker, English sounds a bit like gibberish, and vice versa. Linguistically, the two languages are very different. Shaq was not being prejudiced, but simply making a pretty unfunny joke. More importantly, there was no malice in his comments, at least not according to the reports I have read.

THOUGHTfully Yours,
Clark

kwigibo

No, i said nothing of the sort, i think Eubanks knows better than anyone. Leno makes jokes at his expense every night, and they're more often than not based around childish stereotypes. Leno has never been that witty, and neither are his writers, they resort to cheap jokes that are at times very dated in their connotations. I'm not saying Leno is Trent Lott, he shows no racial hatred that i know of, he just perpetuates stereotypes.

August Spies

what a sad attempt at an ethnic joke too...