Was This Joke by a Junior High School Teacher Racist?

I can't believe nobody has mentioned this.

The irony in the joke is that China has almost zero telephone poles, if any. The country decided to go almost entirely cellular when that technology came about.

 

The joke itself shouldn't have been offensive. The fact that he told it weekly and you were the only Asian kid in the class makes it offensive.

 

The joke is about last names with cliched pun. I agree with others that it might sound offensive, but if you're the only Asian who didn't show any problems with it, the teacher had a green light to tell it again and again.

Now if he did the Jerry Lewis teeth...

It sounded like two Chinese can't make a White person. A&F is totally whitebread. That context alone makes it offensive.

 

I've always wondered if this joke is considered homophobic and/or racist:

What do you call two gay Irishmen?

Gerald Fitzpatrick and Patrick Fitzgerald

 

Not really. The situation of "almost zero telephone poles" applied more aptly to India than China. Overwhelming majority of the households in China (at least in cities) have ground telephone connections, while India, if I am not mistaken, places far less emphasis on investing in infrastructure but a lot more on high tech gadgets such as wireless phones and their networks.

 

Spoiler

 

Reply #6

 

Aww cmon, don't take things so "personal"...

you shifting this argument to my little jabs is kinda of a cop out. you were trying to make this thread silly with your previous posts and I just responded with some silly replies.

btw insulting one's intelligence when it's already in question on a particular topic is not the same as making fun of someone's language. I hope you see the difference.

I think you're running out of steam on the "it wasn't a big deal of a joke" stance and now you're trying to weaken my stance by judging my morals through my posts...good job, you'd do well in politics.

Now should we back to the discussion, had enough, or want to call me out on other posts?

 

It's about perception and experience, which vary from people to people, even within the same race. When I was learning English, "oriental" was not a bad word to refer to people of East Asia. In fact, many old-school English writers in China are still using it. I myself don't find it offensive but I would not use it just for the heck of it.

 

actually its not a cop out at all. i was making a point, which you seemed to completely miss.

 

actually I chose to ignore your "supposed" point, because it didn't have much merit. let me know when you have actual substance.

 

Im not falling for the bait.

 

well when you actually want to have a "supposed" discussion rather than ranting, ridicule and fake participation...not to mention actually makind an effort, then let me know.

in the mean time. enjoy your double standards.

 

Wow. You just don't get it.

 

When I was in middle school we had a very mixed school with alot of vietnamese, mexican, and black children, and not so many white children, although there were a decent amount
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So, anyways my 6th grade teacher got very fed up with this skinny white kid who always very rudely interrupted her class. One day the teacher (who was a 55 year old black lady) got so annoyed (with due cause) of this kid that she took her water bottle and poured it all over him.
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It was the funniest thing that I had seen, but the rest of the class just sort of laughed and then said awww. We all felt he deserved it. However, as the case goes at such an early age he started crying and the such. It never resulted in anything though, and I supposed he never told his parents what happened because there was never any action taken against the teacher.
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thank you. after reading op's post i read through the next 3 pages wondering if someone else was going to ask this. i've never heard a chinese person with the last name wing so the joke wasnt funny to me either.

even if there were Wings, it wouldn't be funny because puns and words sounding like other words is kinda lame to me...

 

Just to be clear, the joke doesn't mimic the sound of an asian language, it mimics the accent that some asians have when speaking English.

 

I'd get that hillbilly fired if it was me. if he told that to my kid, im marching down there and having a word with the principle.

 

this is what bothers me....people complain about being called names, but have no problems calling others names...