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Originally Posted by honestiago
Don't know who you're referring to about not watching stand up comedy. However:
You want me to watch BET...uh-huh...I don't think I'm exactly a part of their demographic (which might explain why I haven't seen what you're talking about). That said, I stand by my statement. Non-white comedians can say more, sterotype more, more often, and get away with more than whites can. Further, I would offer a vast majority of white comics avoid race, while black comics play to it. I would assume this has to happen more on BET, at least, since there are more black comics.
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Why won't you watch BET? I watch it sometimes and I'm not even fully black. Just because it is called "Black Entertainment Television" does not mean that whites are prohibited from watching it. If you did you would see some of the white comedians on there who say plenty about the stereotypical black people without being lynched on stage or being called a racist.
Expand your horizons. Black people watch syndicated television all of the time even though the vast majority of people on the television stations are white. Nothing wrong with watching BET even if you're not black.
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It's touchy if you're a white person talking about a black person. This includes just about anything--comedy, criticism-- you have to have your guard up, b/c if you're white, you can get painted as a racist for pointing out anything.
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You... didn't bold the other part of my statement. It's touchy because race relations are still a big issue. Because white people exercised control and discrimination against black people through laws as recently as 40 years ago. People act as if slavery ended 100 years ago and that was that so black people should get over it. No. The problem is still here because a LOT of black people who are still alive today can remember when they would be arrested for having relationships with white people (see Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court Decision from the late 1960s). My parents got married in 1975 or so. Ten years earlier they would have been ARRESTED. It's not ancient history. It's still fresh in peoples' minds.
However, you again made a generalized statement. I have seen plenty of white comedians who have made jokes about black people.
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There are more instances of black comedians being sterotypical than whites, if only because of what you mentioned before about "touchiness." As long as whites can be made to feel guilty about past iniquities, and present injustice (both real and imagined), you won't find whites saying much of anything about blacks (well, other than racists posting trash, I guess).
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Well, unfortunately, it's going to take a bit of time before white people are not made to feel guilty anymore. As I previously mentioned... this would be because the generation who dealt with discrimination is still alive and well. My parents are only in their 50s. There are still people in their 40s who dealt with it (meaning people who are alive today who had to fight the LAW in relation to race discrimination). It's fresh in peoples' minds.
As time goes on and the generations age and the previous generations disappear then things will change. It's totally natural for there to still be guilt when the history of hatred is so recent.
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Didn't say it was. I was glad Imus was fired. Wish he wouldn't got rehired. At the same time, would a black person who said "Nappy-headed ho's" get fired for the same statement? Or would THAT be considered "comedy?" I would hope he'd get fired. I can't be sure he'd be held to the same standard, though, b/c blacks get a pass on use of negative sterotyping of their own race.
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What? Of course someone of the same race would be able to get away with it! White people also get away with making fun of their own race all of the time and other white people do NOT get upset about it. Now you're talking about something completely different, really. Jews can make fun of Jews without the majority of Jews making a fuss. Christians can make fun of Christians without the majority of Christians getting upset. Japanese can make fun of Japanese without the majority of Japanese getting upset. Big deal! Groups of people relate to each other.
When you cross the line it is then up to the group of people you are making fun of to decide whether or not what you are doing is offensive! If you are not part of the group of people then you
can not relate and therefore have no say in whether what you are saying is appropriate or not. It's up to the group you are saying it about. If a person with Downs Syndrome gets up on stage and starts making fun of other people with Downs Syndrome but they are all okay with it, who are you to say anything as someone without it? This is a totally different issue.