Racist Comedy?

[Dennis]

> The choice of the word "chinks" was a politically safe one for Sarah
> Silverman, in that if she had used "n-words" in the same joke, it
> would have made the joke more politically provocative, given how many
> Blacks are snared in the racist criminal justice system, often facing
> largely white & well-off juries (though it would have generated a
> larger controversy, since Blacks are a larger & better organized
> minority than Asians).
>
> *****   A white woman had been called for jury duty but didn't want
> to serve.  "My friend is, like, 'Why don't you write something
> inappropriate on the form, like 'I hate n-words?'" the white woman
> said.  But she didn't want people to think she was a racist, she
> said, so "I just filled out the form and I wrote 'I love n-words' -
> and who doesn't?"   *****
>
> However, I gather Silverman's intention was not at all to satirize
> racism that fuels the war on crimes.
>
> Yoshie

Astute and dead on. I think the "n-words" line would have been much edgier
and much better, for exactly the reasons Yoshie illustrated. And it would
have led to a better debate. Again, though, it was Silverman's choice, and I
think she was going with the casual racism of the everyday world, and not
the spirit-crushing, soul-destroying racism Yoshie speaks of.

DP