Punching down

October 1, 2024 12:21 AM

Certain themes recur in this reading list: “us” versus “them” thinking that fuels stereotypical humor; humor’s ability to make hatred pleasurable (and even attractive); humor as a mechanism for race-based solidarity; and most significantly, humor as a mechanism through which violence is reduced to a laughing matter. Notably, participation in racist humor is not necessarily restricted to people who identify with any political affiliation. The ambivalence and ambiguity of humor allow it to tread where explicit hate speech cannot. from Racist Humor: Exploratory Readings [JStor]

Including, among others:
Racism Without Hatred? Racist Humor and the Myth of ‘Colorblindness’”
"Jokes, Rhetoric and Embodied Racism: A Rhetorical Discourse Analysis of the Logics of Racist Jokes on the Internet"
Nationalism in the Digital Age: Fun as a Metapractice of Extreme Speech
"‘Deplorable’ Satire: Alt-Right Memes, White Genocide Tweets, and Redpilling Normies"
"Did You Call In Mexican? The Racial Politics of Jay Leno Immigrant Jokes"
"The Wasp’s ‘Troublesome Children’: Culture, Satire, and the Anti-Chinese Movement in the American West"
"Auschwitz Jokes"

posted by chavenet (1 comment total)

This is a great framework for actually being funny to everyone, not just somebodies! Thanks!

I’ve been trying to figure out who I’ve been quoting since 2008 about the role of the magical _____ to make subalterns (including LGBTQIA+) less scary to the hegemonic group: Hornback! And I’m glad to see South Park specifically come up in a conversation of “punching down”: “they treat everyone equally!” vs Desmond Tutus:

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

posted by rubatan at 2:46 AM on October 1 [1 favorite]