Does NHK fee collector keep knocking on your door for money? OFFTOPIC: Racist comment

[Elizabeth]

Next you are only going to think that people are taking this topic too seriously if you are unfamiliar with the nature or the mindset of the Japanese people. If you are refering to mine or Dave's posts here as being too serious than I suggest that you walk a mile or two in our shoes before you critisize where we are coming from on this subject.
I am not suggesting that you accept blindly what we are saying, only to attempt to understand where we are coming from before you make a blanket statement like the one I quoted here.

You mean by this that because you and Dave have experienced the level of discrimination that you feel you have from Japanese the word is unacceptable even as joke from a fellow "white person" ?

I personally got the humor of it, and am not condeming anyone's reaction but just trying to understand where this discussion got so obviously off on the wrong track....

 

[frostyg02uk]

If you read my last post Glenn your know that at least from my point im not offended by the word white but how the word was used. At the end of the day i dont know many if anyone on here from go so when someone uses that word the way it was its hard to know how to take it. in hindsight it can be taken as a joke but at the time it was quite confusing to try and understand what was meant. I always thought if a joke needs to be explained its not funny.

 

[made of stone]

I didn't see GaijinPunch's post as racist at all - rather I saw the humour in it.

Are we not allowed to poke fun at ourselves anymore - what has the world come to?!!

I guess i can no longer (jokingly!) call myself a lanky, curly-haired, pasty-skinned Brit then, lol :

 

[Elizabeth]

I didn't see GaijinPunch's post as racist at all - rather I saw the humour in it.

It's a bit of a technical analysis I suppose, but even if that were GP's intent (which I don't believe it was) I don't even think it's possible in the end to be racist against your own stock or ethnic group. Seeing your own kind as inferior, yes, there is the very real concept of "Race hated" or "Self-loathing" by some whites towards other caucasians (not that I'm accusing him of that, either...).

But racism seems to me to be the precise opposite of this, when the superiority of one race is projected above all others, obviously not above your own...There's something absurdly illogical in accusing a member of any ethnicity of proclaiming their own superiority as an 'racist outsider' railing against the deficiencies of their own group simultaneously.
Not in the case of GaijinPunch or anyone else...

 

[KirinMan]

You mean by this that because you and Dave have experienced the level of discrimination that you feel you have from Japanese the word is unacceptable even as joke from a fellow "white person" ?

If that's how you want to read it then fine, but then you miss the point as well. I disagree with people who use race, including "white" as a part of humour.

Not in the case of GaijinPunch or anyone else...

That all depends on who you are talking to, I disagree with you. I think that a person can be racisist or discriminate against their own race. It's happened throughout history.

Whether or not he GP intended it as I joke doesnt matter anymore. I made my point, if GP doesnt, or for that matter anyone else here doesnt like it I truly am not bothered by it.

I will say this though, it made a number of people here including you think about it and that makes a difference. Next time he may think twice about using something similar as a joke. Thank you.

 

[GaijinPunch]

Cheers to Glen, Eliabeth, and made of stone for "getting it". It was indeed a poke at foreigners, and....

he reason black people use the N word with each other is completely different and for the record i also dont agree with that either.

It is not. It is 100% the exact same. We (all gaijin, but even white) are a minority in Japan, and the topic was more or less about how bad we are b/c we don't pay NHK. Change the situation to some stereotypical things black people in America traditionally don't do, and imagine a black person describing the same thing. Having had many black friends, working in all-black work place, etc. etc. I can tell you with certainty what words would've been used.

Japan isnt Hawaii and no matter how hard to attemp to justify your remarks

I never said it was. Just an illustration.

There are no racist "words". It's the meanings behind them

This comment here sounds naive as hell, even though it may be true. If you believe this then to me you are naive as well.

I cannot take credit for it. It is George Carlin's statement. Guess I'm naive.

Geez I suppose you think I'm black now dont you?

Wha..?

I always thought if a joke needs to be explained its not funny.

Plenty of funny jokes not caught b/c those hearing them aren't clever enough to understand them.

 

[frostyg02uk]

If you think so then you dont need to explain yourself do you?

Really you dont know anything about me so dont tell me about how many black people you know like ive never met any. Where i live white people are the minority and about 70% of my family are non-whites. Like i said before dont take situations in hawaii or where ever as how the whole world views things, its not the be all and end all. And i dont think you should "try" to bring it onto a personal level by saying we arent clever enough to get your joke. I got it, thats why i asked you to explain what you meant by it. Also like i said before in hindsight it may be clear that its an attempt at a joke but at the time it was written it wasnt. Even now after the whole "its ok cause im white too" i dont see it as something i could even smile at.

 

[GaijinPunch]

You say tomato...



....

 

[frostyg02uk]

Haha ^-^ and you say?.........

 

[GaijinPunch]

Potatoe







........

 

[FrustratedDave]

My point is this thread is pointless, and the topic is hardly worth arguing over. Telling white people to pay NHK is pointless. Even if the average Japanese knew which gaijin did and didn't pay their NHK broadcast fee, they would still be seen upon in the same gaijin spotlight.

Cheers to Glen, Eliabeth, and made of stone for "getting it". It was indeed a poke at foreigners, and....

I "get it" , what you are trying to say that is ,but it is your assumptions that are hidden deep within does not make it funny if it was indeed a joke. You know what I really think is, that you said with out thinking and are now defending it as a joke. Why? b/c even if it was an attempt at sarcaasm it would be a very hard joke to "get", from what you have since said from that sentence.


And yet again you are assuming that all foreingers are "white" with that last blanket statement. You are indeed a very bold man if you think people of many races and nationalities will find you first statement funny, racist or not!

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I guess I'm going to have to stop making "cracker" jokes from now on...

Honestly.

Since becoming a moderator, I've held back my opinion on more occassions than I can count.

But seriously, all of you really need to lighten up.

If you found GP's comment to be inappropriate, OK, I can understand, but if you found it to be offensive, then how do you ever survive here in Japan?

 

[Elizabeth]

And yet again you are assuming that all foreingers are "white" with that last blanket statement. You are indeed a very bold man if you think people of many races and nationalities will find you first statement funny, racist or not!

There could also be a grain of truth to it. Maybe 'white gaijins' really do pay NHK fees less than other races. Maybe they're also younger, more transient (ie teachers), less integrated into the culture...there could be a host of more valid reasons than that GP is living under a rock and uniquely unaware of other foreign races in the country but his own.

 

[KirinMan]

that you said with out thinking and are now defending it as a joke. Why? b/c even if it was an attempt at sarcaasm it would be a very hard joke to "get", from what you have since said from that sentence.

I agree with you here, the tone of GP's replies after that post come across to me as defensive as well.

I can not for the life of me see where there is any humour in the following statement made by GP, and where this thread got split off to here....

My point is this thread is pointless, and the topic is hardly worth arguing over. Telling white people to pay NHK is pointless. Even if the average Japanese knew which gaijin did and didn't pay their NHK broadcast fee, they would still be seen upon in the same gaijin spotlight.

There is no joke hidden here, and if one wanted to take this one step further, after reading all of the replies defending this statement as a joke, or be called on the carpet to explain an off the cuff remark. One could comment then that all other "races" besides "white" follow along like good little troopers and pay the NHK bill.

To me if GP had just come out right afterwards and said, hey it was off the cuff or no big deal, this wouldnt have gotten to this point. To me he was condescending and arrogant in his reply hence where we are at today.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

This thread is going nowhere fast. I hope you've all had a chance to let off whatever steam you wanted to.

Thread closed.