Was This Joke by a Junior High School Teacher Racist?

is that offensive?

edit: i always wondered was this offensive because its just about names. that's why I wrote that, I probably should have asked in that post

 

let me preface this. I'm chinese.

But that has to be the stupidest joke i've ever heard. And to think he kept telling it to u every week.

 

As a Chinese-American, I don't find that joke offensively. Then again, I'm the type that makes fun of my own race and others too.

BUT... there are people out there that would take offense. When I was in middle school about 7 or 8 years back, Abercrombie and Fitch came out with a line of clothing that were deemed "racist" by Asians because of taglines on shirts that said: "Two Wongs can't make it White" and had a chinese dude in laundromat or something. A buncha Asians got their panties tied in a knot cause of that... I personally thought it was funny and wanted a shirt for myself. If I wore it, it wouldn't be racist right?

 

i not going to pass judgment on anyone here, or the teacher. You have no idea his intentions so i'm not going to call someone racist because they tell a racist joke.

Also, whether or not it is ok to tell such a joke is debateable, so I'm going to ignore that as well.

What I am addressing is the fact that the teacher recieved "positive" feedback after telling the joke and thus did not know it was making a student uncomfortable.

I say the basics are to not take everything so personal.

 

Nah, lol I thought that was pretty funny

 

As an American who doesn't like Chinese food...

I thought it was a stupid joke.

the Chins in the phonebook one I always heard but never really got it until I was an adult.

 

well the joke is actually about fat people but with a chineese twist. maxium efficiency

 

That is not racist, unless calling someone a Wing and a Wong is considered racist.

That is just a play on words.

Like when someone is fat you say they have more Chins than a chinese phonebook...that isn't raciest either, it is a play on words.


DD

 

quit being a weightist

 

wing/wong stereotypes and makes fun the way a group of people speaks. not blatently racist -- but pretty insensitive.

the chin one just references a common last name. i wouldn't be offended by that.

 

Exactly.

I mean, would it be considered racist of there were animals, or cars, or eateries in China called wings/wongs? I didn't think so. It's just a play on the words, with no derogatory connections.

 

All your answers are vague and soft peddling around the topic.

True, the teacher did not receive negative feedback after the joke therefore can't tell if he offended someone (like he needs to a warning signal to see if a ethnic joke is ok to tell ). But you know and I know that's not the crux of the topic.

You say it's debateable if a joke like that should be told in a classroom setting with young students. What's debateable about that? Tell me one good instance where a joke like that would be appropriate for a teacher to tell in front of their students? Teaching of world history, china's overpopulation, the telecommunication issues of China? He was a science teacher BTW, so I wouldn't know why he would be talking about those topics.

The room was full of black students, I'd love to hear what would have happened if the teacher popped off a black joke. That makes him a coward also, he has no cajones to make a black joke because he knows he may not even make it out of the school alive that day but he'll make stupid asian joke cause the meek little asian kid won't mind. Need I remind he is a school teacher?

Oh, the basics of what is personal is different from person to person, so you can't lump everybody into your generalized statement.

 

i take offense that no one has said any white jokes...clearly y'all are racist

 

Look at bnb's response and that's the reason why.

Wasn't everybody up in arms when Shaq made that r****ded asian joke about Yao? This joke may be a lesser degree but the point is the same, making fun of people that don't sound american.

Wight?

 

I thought Wing was a Korean name..

 

Actually, it is making fun of the perceived Chinese accent for English with replacing "R" sounds with "W"s - "wing a wong number".

pgabs's is different because it only refers to a Chinese name that can have a different meaning in English but is really making fun of the fat person.

 

Does the joke insinuate anything negative about the way east asians speak, or does it merely cite a way that many of them sound? Unless there's some meaning behind wing or wong that I'm not aware of, then it's the latter.

Similarly, if I make a joke that's a play on the fact that some Texas ranch hand says "pawd'na" instead of partner, does that make it Texas ranch handist? C'mon now.

 

the whole freaking story is vague. You don't know the guy. You dont know his intentions. Im not going to pretend, like you are, that I know all that went on..both internally and externally.

My only point, and it is damn accurate and simple...and on topic, is that the guy never received any negative feedback because from what hotballa said, everyone was laughing. including him.

Im not going to pass judgement on this guy, and especially talk about his "cajones", because all we have is hotballas tiny little description of an event that happened to him when he was a kid. Sorry, but i'm going to need more information before i start passing moral and call him a coward judgements on the guy.

is that too vague for you? too off topic?