When It Goes Too Far...

In “The Nature Of Prejudice”,

Allport is better suited for this type of topic, since he seems to talk more about stereotyping and feelings that are provoked by prejudice and racism.

In the first chapter, he discusses what the “problem” is, which is prejudice. In this portion will refer back to it occasionally to present other issues or things I may have missed.

In this excerpt from Chapter 1, he gives the definition but although it’s only for negative prejudice, it is well suited for what we are trying to accomplish. But as we proceed, I will apply other definitions of prejudice that has been presented.

“Perhaps the briefest of all definitions of prejudice is: thinking ill of others without sufficient warrant. This crisp phrasing contains the two essential ingredients of all definitions- reference to unfounded judgment and to a feeling-tone. It is, however, too brief for complete clarity.

In the first place, it refers only to negative prejudice. People may be prejudiced in favor of others; they may think well of them without sufficient warrant.” (Allport, 6) 

In a sense, we can tie what he says here, to the application of the jokes presented. Whenever someone tells a not-so-tasteful joke, we can imply that they thought ill of the group or person that was the subject of the joke. And usually, making a joke on that level can have some sort of judgement and the joke, if delivered properly, can definitely provoke emotion. Good or bad.

And when emotion is involved according to our lectures, things tend to become irrational, and that’s when it starts to get muddy…

The moment emotions come into play…

Pretty much all logic goes out the window. People get hurt. People get insulted. And when that happens, all kinds of illogical things come into play. When we first addressed chapter one of prejudice book, Dr. Vega brought up how emotions can make us, in his words, “crazy”.

He discussed when not just personal values are insulted but we are insulted as well, we tend to act hastily towards it because it’s innate. Although it may not be a threat to our lives, insults can go from lightly poking to offensive the moment someone slips up. The same principle applies in different societies and cultures, for example the Yanomamo tribe. It is one of the biggest insults to say the name of a deceased one. (Chagnon, 8) The offender, even though it may be an accident, would receive very harsh consequences for that infraction. Or another example would be thumbing your nose at someone during the Spakesperian era, which was presented in his play Romeo & Juliet.

Point in short, when people are insulted, they have a tendency to react, as if it were like a defense mechanism.

When people are discriminated,

it is, in my opinion, a very deep insult since people are taking action to release their emotions unto other people, whether it is verbal, psychological or physical. And in the previous post, people tend to put up some sort of defense mechanism, since it’s in our nature.

Depending on the victim, they may handle it in different ways. In the prejudice book, on page 160, Allport illustrates some examples of, depending on the person, deal with it. For example, if a extropunitive person, or a person that blames the source of their frustration, they may revolt against it, take their frustration out on other groups or strengthening their in-group ties. On the other end of the spectrum, an intropunitive person, or a person that takes responsibility for not conforming or blames themselves, those people would tend to hate themselves, clowning or develop sympathy for other victims. (Allport, 160)

So what does that mean? When people are offended by the jokes, in a way, become the victim. And the people that fit the description above may do the same thing. Some, depending of their specific personality, can be more extreme in how they release their anger and frustrations (which will be discussed later in another post). And that COULD have some disastrous consequences.

When it comes to a joke…

Jokes are meant to be harmless and are meant to lighten up someone’s day or mood. But used in the wrong way, offensive jokes can have a negative effect on things that we wouldn’t really consider… For example, pollution of the younger generation and setting a bad set of norms for them to live by.

As I attempt to explain issues that relate to this topic, I will, at best, try and analyze and explore different perspectives due to the fact that they’re aren’t any studies done on “the science of jokes.” It’s part of us to naturally experience different feelings and how they’re provoked, either good or bad.

Like I said, they’re isn’t any studies done on jokes but there are studies done on racism and projection and with the tools that we were given, I’ll do what I can.

From here, I’ll post certain things that I found, mostly from other bloggers here on tumblr because they had some interesting posts that I found just browsing around here.