Is Offensive Comedy Hurting Us?

By: Philip Hinson

omedy has always been about

pushing boundaries and riding the line

between what people find acceptable
and unacceptable. Some have been
more willing to cross that line than
others and they have often been met
with criticism. Is it harmful when a
comedian tells a joke that some people
find offensive? Can our culture be
negatively impacted by jokes about
stereotypes or rape?
Racist and homophobic
jokes are in many comedians sets.
Do these jokes perpetuate or justify
an intolerant mindset? The
Normative Window Theory of
prejudice says that we all put
people or groups onto a scale of
how justified we are in being
prejudiced or discriminatory
toward them. In a study done my
Dr. Thomas Ford and his masters
students, subjects were tested on
their level of prejudice towards
certain groups and were then asked
to allocate funds to different
organizations in a schools budget
after hearing certain jokes. It was
found that hearing jokes about a
group that most people already
justifiably discriminate against
didnt cause more discrimination.
However, hearing jokes about a
group for which the opinion is in
the process of shifting causes
people against that group to feel
more justified in their

discrimination. For comedy, this

means that harsh jokes targeting
minority groups for which there is
still discrimination against, can
actually strengthen those beliefs.
The reasons for the
creation of stereotypes and their
effects are not always clear to
understand. In the book Stereotypes
and Stereotyping, it is explained
that stereotypes are essentially
schemas, a way for us to organize
information, in
this case about
groups of people.
Whether they are
accurate or not,
stereotypes
require a group to
have certain
unchanging
characteristics.
This creates a
dangerous
opportunity for us
to act based on
these predisposed
ideas about individuals that belong
to certain groups. However, it is
important to remember that
stereotypes are not the only
influence on human action.
I think we can agree that
stereotypes are not good, but is it
true that comedy supports them?
Roger Cohen and Ryan Richards
say no. Comedy is a platform that
forces people to confront realities

in society that they want to ignore.

They also claim that it can actually
help eliminate a stereotypes power
over a minority group. Stephen
Rosenfield, a comedy writer,
describes a reoccurring pattern in
comedy. It begins with a groups
being subject to stereotype jokes.
People within the group will begin
to do jokes about the stereotype
ironically, breaking down the
stereotype in the process. Others
have said that this process in not

entirely accurate. They point to

examples such as members of
white supremacist groups using
Chris Rocks act to justify their
racism. This is obviously
misconstruing the point of Rocks
comedy. Greg Giraldo, another
comedian, says that a joke should
not merely bash a minority group,
but it should teach not to bash by
making fun of things the audience
knows not to be true.