Richard Dyer and bell hooks both discuss the impact of whites being in the dominant position of society. While Dyer looks at movies and their portrayal of blacks and whites, hooks looks more towards her real life as inspiration for her beliefs about race.
As history shows us, whites have generally been in the dominant role of society. Because of this, they have become the standard to which all other ethnic groups are measured. As a result, hooks notes in Black Looks that white students are surprised when black students give thought to whiteness because “most white people do not have to ‘see’ black people (constantly appearing on billboards, television, movies, in magazines, etc.) and they do not need to be ever on guard nor to observe black people to be safe, they can live as though black people are invisible, and they can imagine that they are also invisible to blacks” (168). I take from this chapter that she believes that because white people have never had to worry about what their race implies to others or whether or not they were represented, or represented correctly to society, whites do not understand the uncertainty and fear that a black person feels in a white dominated society. As a result, the relations between blacks and white are very complex. She later goes on to discuss the implications of an “institutionalized white supremacy” in her life (168). She talks about the fear and terror that blacks feel because they are living in a world that is dominated by another race.
I think that I would agree with her in that as a white person, I don’t understand what it’s like to be a black person in America. I don’t know what it’s like to live in a society which still has remnants of a culture that once considered people who look like me to be less than human. As a result, she notes and I would agree that the “inability to conceive that [her] terror… is a response to the legacy of white domination and the contemporary expressions of white supremacy is an indication of how little this culture really understands the profound psychological impact of white racist domination” (177).
After reading that, I thought of the many instances where black/white relations are a joke in the country, when, clearly, there are those who still are g
reatly and deeply affected by the racism that exists in America. One comedian, Daniel Tosh, holds nothing back. He makes light of almost every single taboo social issue, sometimes crossing the line. In his Comedy Central special, he jokes about racial issues in America and this one in particular stood out to me.
After jabbing Kobe Bryant, he makes a suggestion to change the scoring rules in college basketball to be based on race. Although an outlandish suggestion, I believe he does hit on a very real and underlying problem in America. First, he makes the age-old joke about blacks being better at sports than whites. But then, he takes it a step further to put whites above blacks in yet another area of society. He brings up the injustice that blacks and whites doing the same job are not paid the same. Although a serious issue, he brings it up in a humorous way showing us that race relations really aren’t, as hooks points out, as pressing of an issue as they should be in this country. If they were, they most likely wouldn’t be found in a stand up comedy act. This also implies that white is the standard, the better version, no matter how well the black athletes do. Why is it that whites are the standard? Is this remnants of the white dominated era that has preceded us? He goes on to make fun of whites who believe the injustice of unequal pay is acceptable to say “you reap the benefits, you just don’t like it thrown in your face? Uhhh I hate making more money for no reason.” If we really were working towards a better racial harmony in America would we really be able to laugh at these jokes or would be they hit as close to home as I assume these remarks would hit hooks?
As history shows us, whites have generally been in the dominant role of society. Because of this, they have become the standard to which all other ethnic groups are measured. As a result, hooks notes in Black Looks that white students are surprised when black students give thought to whiteness because “most white people do not have to ‘see’ black people (constantly appearing on billboards, television, movies, in magazines, etc.) and they do not need to be ever on guard nor to observe black people to be safe, they can live as though black people are invisible, and they can imagine that they are also invisible to blacks” (168). I take from this chapter that she believes that because white people have never had to worry about what their race implies to others or whether or not they were represented, or represented correctly to society, whites do not understand the uncertainty and fear that a black person feels in a white dominated society. As a result, the relations between blacks and white are very complex. She later goes on to discuss the implications of an “institutionalized white supremacy” in her life (168). She talks about the fear and terror that blacks feel because they are living in a world that is dominated by another race.
I think that I would agree with her in that as a white person, I don’t understand what it’s like to be a black person in America. I don’t know what it’s like to live in a society which still has remnants of a culture that once considered people who look like me to be less than human. As a result, she notes and I would agree that the “inability to conceive that [her] terror… is a response to the legacy of white domination and the contemporary expressions of white supremacy is an indication of how little this culture really understands the profound psychological impact of white racist domination” (177).
After reading that, I thought of the many instances where black/white relations are a joke in the country, when, clearly, there are those who still are g
reatly and deeply affected by the racism that exists in America. One comedian, Daniel Tosh, holds nothing back. He makes light of almost every single taboo social issue, sometimes crossing the line. In his Comedy Central special, he jokes about racial issues in America and this one in particular stood out to me.After jabbing Kobe Bryant, he makes a suggestion to change the scoring rules in college basketball to be based on race. Although an outlandish suggestion, I believe he does hit on a very real and underlying problem in America. First, he makes the age-old joke about blacks being better at sports than whites. But then, he takes it a step further to put whites above blacks in yet another area of society. He brings up the injustice that blacks and whites doing the same job are not paid the same. Although a serious issue, he brings it up in a humorous way showing us that race relations really aren’t, as hooks points out, as pressing of an issue as they should be in this country. If they were, they most likely wouldn’t be found in a stand up comedy act. This also implies that white is the standard, the better version, no matter how well the black athletes do. Why is it that whites are the standard? Is this remnants of the white dominated era that has preceded us? He goes on to make fun of whites who believe the injustice of unequal pay is acceptable to say “you reap the benefits, you just don’t like it thrown in your face? Uhhh I hate making more money for no reason.” If we really were working towards a better racial harmony in America would we really be able to laugh at these jokes or would be they hit as close to home as I assume these remarks would hit hooks?
1 comment:
There's that humor problem again? How do we critique humor, especially humor likely to be interpreted ironically? Does this kind of humor explode or reinforce oppressive cultural norms? Does it depend more on the humor itself, the delivery, the identity of the comic, or the identity of the audience member?
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