Title: It’s Not “Just a Joke”
Source: Teaching Tolerance: A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center
By: Monita K. Bell
October 6, 2016
Key Points: This article discusses the power of jokes to both influence and alienate people. It speaks about our need to be careful with humor because it can be a tool which can “normalize dangerous ideas”. Jokes which are specific to groups of people are not just jokes. Due to the fact humor is a way of belonging it can alienate people if you use it specifically against another group of people. The article gives the example of an interviewer filming a segment for news show for the upcoming election. The interviews quickly go from asking questions about the election to questions which are racial and stereotypical. The article wants us to understand it is our job to be mindful of the things we say…even if it is “all in good fun”.
Intended Audience: This article is for everyone, but it is specifically for educators. It wants us to make sure we are not influencing our students in a negative way.
Relevance: This article is specifically relevant to the current times. It discusses the mood of the nation with the upcoming election and reminds us to be careful with the things we say around the young people we educate. Humor has always had a great deal of power. We need to use it to bring people together, not tear them apart.
Mr. Krigbaum,
ReplyDeleteIn today's society with all the social unrest our nation is experiencing it is important to understand our role as educators and understand our words have great impact. It is important to understand when something is humorous at another's expense it often can have detrimental effects on that individual. I really agree that humor has a great deal of power and everyone should think about the implications of what they say publicly.
Overall well done!
Humor, especially self-deprecating humor, has the ability to relieve stress. I believe it is critically important in any field of work, but jokes must not be used at another's expense. We, as teachers who set the tone, need to be aware of the power imbalance in the classroom, and be extra cautious when we use humor. We can successfully use it in such a way to lighten the mood, add interest to a boring topic, or diffuse a tense situation, but to use it to demean another's dignity will cause great damage to an otherwise healthy, safe classroom culture. Thanks for the interesting article Christopher.
ReplyDeleteChristopher,
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading this artile I kept thinking of the saying "There is a truth in every joke". I do not always agree with this statement,but we as a culture do express ourseleves through humor...and perhaps at times that it can be passive-agressive and hurt someone. This article does an excellent job of stating how at times jokes within our culture show an unknown privilege; "This joke is not harming me, so it is not harmful at all." I enjoyed the author's message of being mindful to know WHO you are joking with, and what message you are sending. You never know where someone is coming from, and to be conscious of this in our future careers is vital.