Is this casual racism? Along the lines of ching chong jokes?

[Cimcardishan]

I'm BBC (British born Chinese) and feel that it seems more permissible to be casually racist about Chinese than other racial groups. A few years ago there used to be a Chinese tea advert with a kung fu monk and really bad accent which just felt wrong to me. I don't think that kind of advert would have been made about jerk chicken or naan bread for example.

Someone just posted on my FB jokes with Chinese accent, one liners, eg.Tie my shoe Tai Mai Shu

OK, thats pretty rubbish but it was a long list of them. It wasn't to me personally.

I found it old fashioned and un PC. I feel if someone posted this with Jamaican or Indian accents it would be disapproved of.

Am I being oversensitive?

Yeah, that's a good idea- before you say you're hilarious joke, you could say, 'I've got a brilliant joke about blacks or Jewish people or murdered children' and then you could wait and see how everyone responds. I bet your 'experienced and qualified' teacher friends will love that.

Or you only share potentially offensive jokes with friends you know well. It's not that difficult.

I find it funny you think it's okay to discriminate against people with mental illnesses but harmless jokes and you're getting on your high horse

Ego what normally happens is if your sense of humour is incompatible with someone's you just don't hang out and each get on with your lives

Depends on context again. Jokes about tragedies are common

Who said it was ok to discriminate against people with mental illnesses?

How did I discriminate against people with mental illness? I said no one was under any obligation to date someone who has paranoid schitzophrenia.
You said it was prejudiced and like being a racist
(I have to admit at the time I didn't realise how bizarre your thoughts on racism were.)

you think it's okay to discriminate against people with mental illnesses
Who thinks that?

sooty another poster.

Were you not the poster who claimed they knew a schizophrenic who was an arse and so wouldn't risk it?

I don't think so. I don't know what you and Brand are on about. One trying to claim I posted as someone else and the other trying to claim I wouldn't risk dating someone with schizophrenia because I'd known one schizophrenic who was an arse.

Fraid it was not I.

Check out the thread. I argued consistently that women can date or not date whoever they want

As nearly always, a discussion about racism is diluted by all kinds of other 'stuff'.

Racism is not the same as a jokes about MM, jade goody etc, nor is it the same as transphobia etc

Lass you don't find any of these funny?

No. As others commented

The jokes are pathetic and juvenile rather than shocking

Its like 5year olds laughing at bums willys and farts isn't it? They tend to grow out of it though

There is lot of research about how black humour and gallows humour helps health professionals and disaster response people to deal with everyday stressful situations. That includes teachers and professionals dealing with people with mental health problems, some of whom are aggressive. So yes, policemen make jokes about murdered people, doctors about people with cancer, teachers about difficult pupils. They all do, but they do only with people they know well, perhaps other professionals who understand them and know that the situations they use in their jokes are not funny, but using humour to dilute the distressing situation is.

This is well known and understood by most reasonable people. And yes, many people who don't admit publicly that they laugh at dark humour DO laugh at dark humour.

And the answer is yes, in the right context and with the right people, many people can find a joke about a kidnapped person, a murdered child, a tragedy, terrorism and torture funny. If some of you "do not know a single person who would do that" is because people who do that do not do it with you, for very obvious reasons (having a massive chip on your shoulder, having to walk on eggshells around you and being unable to understand or even wanting to understand what is being discussed are three very liklely reasons).

A racist person may laugh at a racist joke (or may not, if they don't find it funny). A non-racist person may also laugh at a racist joke, whether you like it or not. You can get as aggrieved and offended as you like, people will keep enjoying outrageous black humour with other like-minded people. My life has been, and is, full of laughter at many things. I would not change a single one of them. And I would not waste a single hour of my leisure time with someone I have to be careful around because they choose to get offended. I learned many years ago to keep away from these people, because I love humour, and I love feeling relaxed around my friends, and I also learned that getting offended is a choice, a choice I choose NOT to make. My life is much happier as a result.

Well that was a long winded way of telling us how much you love laughing at racist jokes and dead children, auryunne.

auryne well said.

Helmet, your ability for understanding seems very limited. My last comment was not even about me, it was a discussion about how some professionals sometimes use black humour for a purpose. But as you insist on mentioning it yes, in some cases and some situations I can find humour about dead children and racist jokes very funny. Get over it.