Comments continue to pour trickle in regarding Mister Wong, the Offensive Social Bookmarking Portal. One commenter seems to be offended by the “PC BS” we “Amerians” [sic] are spreading all over the world. Various people have chimed in, stating that Mister Wong is not racist.
As Ernie mentions on his personal blog, context counts.
Earlier today, there was a brouhaha (emphasis on the “haha” part) at blogging.la over a supposedly racist billboard seen on the Westside. LA radio station Power106 ran some billboards featuring their morning show host, Big Boy, on a billboard with the words “Big Boy’s got GAS!” and in smaller type “Win gas and cars all summer!”
The author of the original post is Jim Bursch, Editor of WestLAonline.com said the following:
Racist billboard not welcome on Westside
Context counts, and in this case, the context is a predominantly non-black neighborhood where referring to an adult black man as “boy” is wrong and racist. Also, there are contexts in which fart jokes are funny, but not on a public street where you see the same offensive “joke” every day, day after day.
This is just wrong.
What’s wrong is Mr Bursch calling out this billboard as racist, because the adult black man pictured is not being referred to as “boy” but “Big Boy,” a stage name and professional name he has used for years.
Another thing I find wrong is that he says that the context of the billboard being in a “non-black neighborhood” is inappropriate; implying this billboard would be more appropriately placed in a predominately black neighborhood.
In a similar vein, blogging.la asks: Question of the Week: Is Kwik-E-Mart’s Apu promoting a stereotype? The upshot of many of the comments on this post is that yes it is racist, but it’s also funny; therefore, it’s ok.
So my questions to you are:
- How do YOU know when something is racist?
- What part does context have in your determination of whether or not something is racist?
- Is it ok to be racist if you’re being funny?
- In what contexts are racist comments ok, if any?
25 points per question, please cite examples. Use only #2 pencils to write your response in your blue books. Extra credit available if you can work in a diagram.
(…as good Asians, I expect perfect responses from you, plus attempts at the extra credit.)
(Photo credit: Manuel W.)
