Is it racist if nobody gets offended?

Question

Male college dorm, guys of several different racial and ethnic backgrounds, all of them honor students. They constantly make racial comments to eachother.
Examples:
The only people screwed worse than White guys for scholorships are Asian guys.
I expect the other guys to fail a math test but not one of the Chinese guys. Dude we're demoting you to white. If you flunk another one we'll declare you black. After that you're Hispanic.
Who's the dummest? Who's the dummest? - From a Hispanic guy that didn't score high enough for a National Merit scholoship but still got a National Hispanic Scholorship.

These guys also have a game where they all sit around a table and hurl racial and ethnic insults at eachother.

Answer 1

I raised a son by myself. Some of the things I heard and saw while he was growing up shocked me to my toes. I thought I had taught him and his friends better then that. But after a couple of years of listening to what you describe, I began to analyze their behavior. I could be wrong but there are elements I identified that could be beneficial to them as men.

First: they learned to banter with their peers. If they could not keep up or did poorly in this, it was OK because they were among friends and would not be shunned. This served them well when they were in a different crowd or around older boys.

Next: boys and men to compete effectively, have to learn verbal jousting (which replaces physical aggression) and the activity you described is perfect training for this.

Last: it's just pure fun to pick on your friends - and to have them like you enough to pick back. My girlfriends and I have a ball when we are alone using a lot of language you wouldn't expect women in their 50s to use!

Answer 2

My college friends include a Haitian, an Italian, a Russian, an Indian, a black-white-Native (that's me, lol), and a Vietnamese-Puerto Rican. You can't get much more diverse than that! lol

We make racial cracks on each other sometimes, and it's funny because we know that none of us mean it and that we're all friends and care about each other. Things like what you mentioned and what we say aren't RACIST jokes, but STEREOTYPE jokes. Saying something like, "An Asian isn't gonna flunk an exam" with and Asian friend around and everybody laughing, is different than saying, "All Asians are bastards and they should all be killed" with an Asian friend around and everybody getting quiet and uncomfortable.

This may be because I'm spoiled with such a wonderfully diverse city, school, and circle of friends, but I personally think that stereotype jokes aren't that bad as long as the person who's saying them isn't racist. Truely racist jokes said by truely racist people is another story.

Answer 3

It is racist, because you're making false judgements about people based on their race, not who they are individually. Why make racial comments, when they can work on expelling these slurs from different people's dictionaries. It's not funny at all and it is racist, even if no one is offended. The fact that no one is offended shows their immaturity and how they have no care for the uniqueness of each culture and race. You cannot say no one is offended because I am offended and that stupid joke is ugly. What's funny is how stupid they are for honor students.

Answer 4

racial and racist are finely separated.true hatred because of race is racist, humor and poking fun at others may be racial, but not racist. Basically, I guess it all depends on the source and the environment.

Answer 5

The remarks are still racist (because they are durogatory to a certain race) even if no one in the room is offended by it. It's the statement not the reaction to it that is racist.

Answer 6

Don't make racist remarks even in jest. There's something you should know. I eat racists for breakfast. I put them on my cereal.

So even if you are joking, I might get the wrong idea.
And you wouldn't want that.