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Fighting racism: This is the biggest mistake people make
Voices of color are necessary for understanding racism, but it should be on their terms.
17 April, 2020
- Topics of race and racism are often uncomfortable, especially for the people of color being pressured to share sensitive and vulnerable information.
- While some people of color have chosen to educate others on what racism looks like and how to fight it, not all people of color should be expected to. Writer and consultant Robin DiAngelo argues that the onus is on white people to seek the information being offered, not to try and extract it.
- As a white person, DiAngelo acknowledges that her voice "cannot be the only voice" and that voices of color are necessary to reach understanding.
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Jordan Peterson: Career vs. motherhood: Are women being lied to?
We as a society need to rethink the way we value careers over everything else.
17 March, 2020
- Around age 19, women are generally focused on their careers. That changes around the age of 30 when they realize that a career is not the primary purpose of their lives.
- There are a handful of things that are actually fundamental to life, and if one of them is missing it will get in the way of personal fulfillment.
- For the women with ambitions to be mothers, teaching them that careers are more important does them a great disservice.
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The pagan origins of three Catholic practices
A few traditions in the Roman Catholic Church can be traced back to pagan cults, rites, and deities.
20 February, 2020
Photo by Josh Applegate / Unsplash
- The Catholic rite of Holy Communion parallels pre-Christian Greco-Roman and Egyptian rituals that involved eating the body and blood of a god.
- A number of Catholic holidays and myths, such as Christmas, Easter, and Mardi Gras, graph onto the timeline of pre-Christian fertility festivals.
- The Catholic practice of praying to saints has been called "de-facto idolatry" and even a relic of goddess worship.
<p>By the fourth century, the Christian Church had established itself as the official faith of the Roman Empire through a successful grassroots campaign to dominate, and almost exterminate, paganism. But did it? </p><p>In reality, the early Church had to merge itself with pagan practices and beliefs in order to blend into Roman society. In the rites and symbols of the Roman Catholic Church, we can find surviving, though rebranded, pre-Christian myths, deities, festivals, and rituals. Here are three Catholic practices that can be traced back to ancient pagan religions and cults.</p>
Transubstantiation
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc4MDMzOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTg5MTM2NH0.rpSOYmtmT3s5HJTxX2MHmg9uiq5v_cQsvM4e4JSE6bc/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C445%2C0%2C445&height=700" id="10194" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b4dba99f0925a7867132356f63cfed37" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Photo by Debby Hudson / Unsplash
<p>One of the more fascinating elements of Catholicism is the ritual cannibalistic consumption of their "demigod" known as Holy Communion or Eucharist. During Catholic mass, <a href="https://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201706/where-do-hosts-come-31037" target="_blank">bread</a> and wine are transformed into the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, who is considered the son of God, in a rite called "transubstantiation." This isn't a symbolic transformation. <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm" target="_blank">A core teaching</a> of the Catholic faith is the belief in literal transubstantiation. Practitioners eat the body and blood of Christ to become one with God.</p><p>Similar rituals were practiced in the underground "mystery religions" of the Greco-Roman world. In a few of those occult religions, celebrants shared a communal meal in which they symbolically feasted on the flesh and got drunk on the blood of their god. For example, <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Mithraic_Mysteries/" target="_blank">the Mithraic Mysteries</a>, or Mithraism, was a mystery cult practiced in the Roman Empire in 300 BC in which followers worshipped the Indo-Iranian deity Mithram, the god of friendship, contract, and order. Mirroring the Catholic Eucharistic rite, the idea of transubstantiation was a characteristic of Mithraic sacraments that included cake and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haoma" target="_blank">Haoma drink</a>. But the ritual probably wasn't original to Mithraism either. In Egypt around 3100 BC, priests would consecrate cakes which were to become the flesh of the god Osiris and eaten.</p>Holy Days and Carnivals
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc4MDM0Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjIwNDU1N30.wU_6PRocoZKY63msF-07RuVgfAbQmNpJqk9AunwpMs4/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C202%2C0%2C202&height=700" id="d13d6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e82e5ad02156aa156fd726274050fb66" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Photo by Lívia Chauar / Unsplash
<p>The survival of ancient communities was intimately dependent upon the fertility of the land, so their religious symbolism and festivals reflected this fundamental bond between humans and the cycles of nature. A number of Catholic holidays and myths parallel the timeline and adopt the symbols of pre-Christian fertility festivals. In Catholicism, Jesus Christ is thought to have been born on December 25, Christmas Day. In pre-Christian Roman religions, the Winter Solstice was a core sacred event that took place on December 25 at the time of the Julian calendar. The best known custom was the Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was celebrated similar to Christmas with drinking, fires, gift-giving, and tree worship. </p><p>Similarly, the Catholic Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras, is rooted in the pre-Christian Roman celebration of Lupercalia. A February holiday honoring the Roman god of fertility, its customs involved feasting, drinking, and "carnal behavior." Today, the same can be said of Mardi Gras, when Catholics (as well as non-Catholics) eat festival foods and party before abstaining for 40 days during Lent. </p><p>When it comes to Easter, celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, the symbolic story of the death of a god (or sun/son) and springtime rebirth is a tale as old as time. The spring equinox was recognized by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism" target="_blank">various pagan cults</a> as a festival marking the resurrection of light triumphing over darkness and the fresh fecundity of the land. One such festival was Eostre, which celebrated a northern goddess of the same name. Her symbol was the prolific hare representing fertility.</p><p>Speaking of goddesses...</p>Goddess Worship: The Virgin Mary and Saint Brigid
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc4MDMzNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNDAwMzY2OX0.XxCP-VNBsWx9O7sir9wIMJcUVsiFkvaRfa_GgyuIFJA/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C572%2C0%2C3339&height=700" id="e519b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a5969e079ce629e1171f8650ea3346a8" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Photo by Grant Whitty / Unsplash
<p>Though theoretically monotheistic, the Catholic practice of praying to saints has been called "de-facto idolatry" and even a relic of goddess worship. Rebranded pagan goddesses can be found in the Catholic Church today in forms of Saint Brigid and the Virgin Mary. </p><p>Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ, is arguably the most important Catholic icon save for the Holy Trinity. She's likely the amalgamation of pre-Christian mother goddesses from antiquity whose ranks include Artemis, Demeter, Diana, Hera, Isis, and Venus. The cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis may have had a particularly strong influence on Christian myth. While historical records can not substantiate this entirely, there is <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/~sf2220/Thing/web-content/Pages/meg2.html" target="_blank">physical evidence</a> of statues of Isis cradling Horus that were converted and reused as the Virgin Mary holding Jesus. </p><p>Brigid, the beloved Celtic goddess associated with fertility and healing, is perhaps the clearest example of the survival of an early goddess into Catholicism. Practitioners, <a href="https://twitter.com/PresidentIRL/status/1223182697142607872" target="_blank">particularly in Ireland</a>, pay tribute to <a href="https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=453" target="_blank">Saint Brigid of Ireland</a> who shares many of the early goddess's attributes. Her feast day on the first of February falls around the same time as the pagan celebration of Imbolc.</p><p>The appropriation of these pagan practices and symbols by the Catholic Church shows how, as social interests change and new institutions are established, religious myths and practices are not so easily exterminated. Today, millions of Catholics eating the body and blood of their god, bowing their heads to feminine idols and celebrating natural cycles on the Liturgical Calendar are still worshiping in the ways of the ancient pagans.</p>
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These 10 countries are closest to achieving gender equality
Iceland has closed almost 88% of its gender gap and increased its lead over second-ranked Norway.
18 December, 2019
Daniel Stephen Homer/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Iceland has once again held on to the top spot in the World Economic Forum's latest Global Gender Gap Index.
<p>For 11 consecutive years the Nordic nation, with a population of just over 360,000, has been the frontrunner in the index, which benchmarks countries according to how close they are to reaching gender equality.</p><p>Iceland has closed almost 88% of its gender gap and increased its lead over second-ranked Norway.</p><a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/gender-gap-2020-report-100-years-pay-equality" target="_blank"><img alt="The World Economic Forum Gender Gap Top 10" src="https://assets.weforum.org/editor/Z0W76EBmpG7snugk6D4VgrOxwTtq5adcdt07QDoO-HQ.png"></a>Iceland leads the way at gender parity. Image: World Economic Forum<p><br/></p>
<h4>A century away</h4><p>
The latest figures indicate an overall positive direction of travel.
</p><p>
The global gender gap – which is measured across four key areas, or subindexes: health, education, work and politics – has narrowed slightly to 68.6%. The average gap left to close is now 31.4%, compared to 32% last year.
</p><p>
But there is still an excruciatingly long wait for gender equality: it will take 99.5 years to achieve full parity between men and women at the current rate of change.
</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The gender gap is on course to close.... in 99 years <a href="https://t.co/nkB1ddNNvy">https://t.co/nkB1ddNNvy</a><br>— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1206738709212749824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
The majority of countries made strides towards parity in the last 12 months – some moving faster than others. The 16 countries that make up the index's top 10% recorded an improvement of more than 3.3% year-on-year.
</p><p>
Since the report began in 2006, Nordic countries have frequently monopolized the top spots in the ranking, and 2020 is no exception. Just below second-placed Norway are Finland and Sweden.
</p><p>
In fifth place is Nicaragua, followed by New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, Rwanda and Germany.
</p><p>
The most-improved countries are Albania, Ethiopia, Mali, Mexico and Spain.
</p><p>
The United States is 53rd this year, a fall of two places. The world's second-largest economy, China, is down three to 106th.
</p><p>
Looking at the data by region, Western Europe has made the most progress in closing the gender gap, followed by North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa.
</p>
<h4>
Progress in politics
</h4><p>
85 of the 153 countries covered in the latest edition have never had a female head of government. Perhaps no coincidence then that five of the top 10 most gender-equal countries have women in charge.
</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">It's official: Finland's Sanna Marin was just appointed prime minister, making her the world's youngest sitting head of government at age 34.<br><br>The Social Democrat will lead a coalition of 5 parties all headed by women. Four of those women are under the age of 35. <a href="https://t.co/9LWBUw7cLF">pic.twitter.com/9LWBUw7cLF</a><br>— AJ+ (@ajplus) <a href="https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1204520114436968448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
This year's overall improvement was mostly the result of progress in politics, as the number of women in parliaments around the world increased. Even so, only 24.7% of the gap in the Political Empowerment subindex has been bridged so far.
</p><p class="caption">
<img alt="Women's political empowerment: Global Gender Gap Report" src="https://assets.weforum.org/editor/7cjsJ4R56ZBfw2PX0CmS4USl8-jH6aH2Ul_sA9maLjw.jpg">Less than a quarter of the gap as been closed. Image: World Economic Forum
</p><p>
There were also marginal gains in Educational Attainment and Health and Survival, both of which are nearing parity at 96.1% and 95.7%, respectively.
</p><p>
However, the Economic Participation and Opportunity gap widened slightly, meaning it will now take even longer to close – 257 years, compared to the previous estimate of 202 years.
</p><p>
Reprinted with permission of the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/gender-gap-equality-women-parity-countries/" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</p>
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Psychology behind the unfunny consequences of jokes that denigrate
"It's just a joke," right?
11 December, 2019
Dorann Weber / Getty Images
Q: Why did the woman cross the road?
A: Who cares! What the hell is she doing out of the kitchen?
Q: Why hasn't NASA sent a woman to the moon?
A: It doesn't need cleaning yet!
These two jokes represent disparagement humor – any attempt to amuse through the denigration of a social group or its representatives.
<p>
You know it as sexist or racist jokes – basically anything that makes a punchline out of a marginalized group.
</p><p>
Disparagement humor is paradoxical: It <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(93)90111-2" target="_blank">simultaneously communicates two conflicting messages</a>. One is an <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000052" target="_blank">explicit hostile or prejudiced message</a>. But delivered alongside is a second implicit message that “it doesn't count as hostility or prejudice because I didn't mean it — <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/humor-2013-0017" target="_blank">it's just a joke</a>."
</p><p>
By disguising expressions of prejudice in a cloak of fun and frivolity, disparagement humor, like the jokes above, appears harmless and trivial. However, a large and growing body of psychology research suggests just the opposite – that disparagement humor can foster discrimination against targeted groups.
</p><h2>Jokes that release restraints</h2><p>Most of the time <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00244" target="_blank">prejudiced people conceal their true beliefs and attitudes</a> because they fear others' criticism. They <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.3.414" target="_blank">express prejudice only when</a> the norms in a given context clearly communicate approval to do so. They need something in the immediate environment to signal that it is safe to freely express their prejudice.</p><p>Disparagement humor appears to do just that by affecting people's understanding of the social norms – implicit rules of acceptable conduct – in the immediate context. And in a variety of experiments, my colleagues and I have found support for this idea, which we call <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0801_4" target="_blank">prejudiced norm theory</a>.</p><p>For instance, in studies, men higher in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.491" target="_blank">hostile sexism</a> – antagonism against women – reported greater tolerance of gender harassment in the workplace upon <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.56" target="_blank">exposure to sexist versus neutral (nonsexist) jokes</a>. Men higher in hostile sexism also recommended greater funding cuts to a women's organization at their university <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167207310022" target="_blank">after watching sexist versus neutral comedy skits</a>. Even more disturbing, other researchers found that men higher in hostile sexism <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0099198" target="_blank">expressed greater willingness to rape a woman</a> upon exposure to sexist versus nonsexist humor.</p><p> <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w"></a></p><p class="caption"> Sexist humor can expand the bounds of what's an acceptable way to treat women. Thomas E. Ford, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></p><p>How did sexist humor make the sexist men in these studies feel freer to express their sexist attitudes? Imagine that the social norms about acceptable and unacceptable ways of treating women are represented by a rubber band. Everything on the inside of the rubber band is socially acceptable; everything on the outside is unacceptable.</p><p>Sexist humor essentially stretched the rubber band; it expanded the bounds of acceptable behavior to include responses that would otherwise be considered wrong or inappropriate. So, in this context of expanded acceptability, sexist men felt free to express their antagonism without the risk of violating social norms and facing disapproval from others. Sexist humor signaled that it's safe to express sexist attitudes.</p>
<h2>Who's the target?</h2><p>In another study, my colleagues and I demonstrated that this prejudice-releasing effect of disparagement humor varies depending on the position in society occupied by the butt of the joke. Social groups are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368430213502558" target="_blank">vulnerable to different degrees</a> depending on their overall status.</p><p>Some groups occupy a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Stereotyping-and-Prejudice/Stangor-Crandall/p/book/9781848726444" target="_blank">unique social position of what social psychologists call "shifting acceptability."</a> For these groups, the overall culture is changing from considering prejudice and discrimination against them completely justified to considering them completely unjustified. But even as society as a whole becomes increasingly accepting of them, many individuals still harbor mixed feelings.</p><p>For instance, over the past 60 years or so, the United States has seen a dramatic decline in overt and institutional racism. Public opinion polls over the same period have shown whites holding progressively <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1986-98698-003" target="_blank">less prejudiced views of minorities</a>, particularly blacks. At the same time, however, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00183.x" target="_blank">many whites still covertly</a> have negative associations with and feelings toward blacks – feelings they largely don't acknowledge because they conflict with their ideas about themselves being egalitarian.</p>
<p>Disparagement humor fosters discrimination against social groups – like black Americans – that occupy this kind of shifting ground. In our study, we found that off-color jokes <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1368430213502558" target="_blank">promoted discrimination against Muslims and gay men</a> – which we measured in greater recommended budget cuts to a gay student organization, for instance. However, disparagement humor didn't have the same effect against two "justified prejudice" groups: terrorists and racists. Social norms are such that people didn't need to wait for jokes to justify expressions of prejudice against these groups.</p><p>An important implication of these findings is that disparagement humor can be more or less detrimental based on the social position occupied by the targeted groups. Movies, television programs or comedy clips that humorously disparage groups such as gays, Muslims or women can potentially foster discrimination and social injustice, whereas those that target groups such as racists will have little social consequence.</p><p>On the basis of these findings, one might conclude that disparagement humor targeting oppressed or disadvantaged groups is inherently destructive and thus should be censured. However, the real problem might not be with the humor itself but rather with an audience's dismissive viewpoint that "<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000052" target="_blank">a joke is just a joke</a>," even if disparaging. One study found that such a "<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0019627" target="_blank">cavalier humor belief</a>" might indeed be responsible for some of the negative effects of disparagement humor. For prejudiced people, the belief that "a disparaging joke is just a joke" trivializes the mistreatment of historically oppressed social groups – including women, gay people, racial minorities and religious minorities – which further contributes to their prejudiced attitude.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjE1MjEzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODgwNTQ2M30.zAEi-B3pKp6nxmKrUgCH-bT4Oq_jeTj4KhwrLu458T4/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C90%2C0%2C977&height=700" id="2fc8a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="83c3b35eeb8e8b5311027964be1a2b77" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Chris Rock during the 77th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre" />
Oscar host Chris Rock during the 77th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, Ca
Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
<h2>Can you be 'in on the joke'?</h2><p>In addition, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000057" target="_blank">if one initiates disparagement humor</a> with the positive intention of <a href="http://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=D6591C" target="_blank">exposing the absurdity of stereotypes and prejudice</a>, the humor ironically might have the potential to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000059" target="_blank">subvert or undermine prejudice</a>.</p><p>Chris Rock is one comedian well-known for using subversive disparagement humor to challenge the status quo of racial inequality in the United States. For instance, in his <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/movies/chris-rock-monologue.html?_r=0" target="_blank">opening monologue for the 2016 Academy Awards</a>, he used humor to call attention to racism in the film industry and hierarchical race relations more generally:</p><blockquote>I'm here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People's Choice Awards. You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even get this job. So y'all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now.</blockquote><p>The problem is that in order for the humor to realize its goal of subverting prejudice, the audience must understand and appreciate that intention. And there's <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000059" target="_blank">no guarantee that they will</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/chappelles-story#ixzz4HFUHcnHg" target="_blank">Comedian Dave Chappelle described</a> this interpretation problem in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2006. He discussed a skit in which he played a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xprpXDnIU6A" target="_blank">pixie who appeared in black face</a>.</p><blockquote>There was a good-spirited intention behind it. So then when I'm on the set, and we're finally taping the sketch, somebody on the set [who] was white laughed in such a way – I know the difference of people laughing with me and people laughing at me – and it was the first time I had ever gotten a laugh that I was uncomfortable with. Not just uncomfortable, but like, should I fire this person?</blockquote><p>Chapelle's intentions with his racially charged comedy were misunderstood. By lampooning the stereotype, he meant to call attention to the ridiculousness of racism. However, it became apparent that not everyone was capable of or motivated to look past Chapelle's comic stereotypical portrayal to get his subversive intent.</p><p>One study found that people higher in prejudice are particularly <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1974.tb00353.x" target="_blank">prone to misinterpret subversive humor</a>. Researchers in the 1970s studied amusement with the television show "All in the Family," which focused on the bigoted character Archie Bunker. They found that low-prejudiced people perceived "All in the Family" as a satire on bigotry and that Archie Bunker was the target of the humor. They "got" the true subversive intent of the show.</p><p>In contrast, high-prejudiced people enjoyed the show for satirizing the targets of Archie's prejudice. Thus, for high-prejudiced people, the subversive disparagement humor of the show backfired. Rather than calling attention to the absurdity of prejudice, for them the show communicated an implicit prejudiced norm, conveying a tolerance of discrimination.</p><p>Psychology research suggests that disparagement humor is far more than "just a joke." Regardless of its intent, when prejudiced people interpret disparagement humor as "just a joke" intended to make fun of its target and not prejudice itself, it can have serious social consequences as a releaser of prejudice.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63855/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation"></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/thomas-e-ford-291551" target="_blank">Thomas E. Ford</a>, Professor of Social Psychology, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/western-carolina-university-2695" target="_blank">Western Carolina University</a></em></p><p>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com/" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/psychology-behind-the-unfunny-consequences-of-jokes-that-denigrate-63855" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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