# Is It OK To Tell Non-PC Jokes About Your Own Race/Ethnicity/etc?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 11, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488 "2012-02-11T01:50:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/1 "2012-02-11T01:50:01Z")
Is it alright in your opinion to use what would often be considered “racist” or at least “insensitive” humour about your own race or ethnicity or class or whatnot?
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### Author:  [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/2 "2012-02-11T01:58:37Z")
I’d say yes. The underlying problem with those types of jokes when it comes from someone who is _not_ of that group historically is that there was bigoted or hateful sentiment, regardless of whether it was funny. But there is an assumption that a person who _does_ belong to that group is intimately aware that any jabs thrown aren’t hateful or bigoted. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I can’t think of any.
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/3 "2012-02-11T02:02:59Z")
I have significant Scottish heritage and I’m perfectly ok with telling Scottish jokes.
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/4 "2012-02-11T02:08:50Z")
It’s okay to tell any kind of joke as long as you tell it well and people laugh.
Both of those things, though, are not guaranteed.
I can’t think of a joke I would tell that would put down black people. I often poke fun at stereotypes. I might tease someone if they mix my name up with another black person’s by saying, “I know we all look alike, but come on now!” But coming out with a nigger joke? I can’t see that ever happening. I’m not saying I would never laugh at one, but the joke would have to be extremely clever. Moreover, the comedian’s negro card would have to be certified by Malcolm X himself for me to feel comfortable laughing.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/5 "2012-02-11T02:21:00Z")
What do you call a black man flying an aeroplane?
A pilot, you racist.
To address the OP, yeah I think it’s fine. In fact I think it’s fine to tell jokes about tightfisted Scotsmen too. 🙂
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/6 "2012-02-11T02:31:47Z")
French being cowards is ok too by me. Germans being German.
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### Author:  [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/7 "2012-02-11T03:47:14Z")
[http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/d3543fd50e/whoopi-goldberg-n-word-from-classicstandupfan](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/d3543fd50e/whoopi-goldberg-n-word-from-classicstandupfan)
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/8 "2012-02-11T03:49:39Z")
> [@monstro](#):
>
> It’s okay to tell any kind of joke as long as you tell it well and people laugh.
>
> Both of those things, though, are not guaranteed.
I agree. It’s not so much that it’s only OK to tell such jokes if you are of the same ethnicity/group; it’s that you are much less likely to be misunderstood.
> [@monstro](#):
>
> I can’t think of a joke I would tell that would put down black people. I often poke fun at stereotypes. I might tease someone if they mix my name up with another black person’s by saying, “I know we all look alike, but come on now!”
Reminds me of a white stand up comedian who made a joke involving the alleged large size of black men’s penises, followed by a comment of "You know, I’ve never had a black man stand up in the audience and say ‘That’s _racist_!’ "
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### Author:  [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/9 "2012-02-11T04:45:12Z")
I am going to be honest here, and not that it makes any logical sense, but I tend to get upset when I hear white people doing Mexican jokes, yet I will often laugh at Mexican’s doing white people or Mexican jokes.
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### Author:  [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/10 "2012-02-11T04:56:31Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I have significant Scottish heritage and I’m perfectly ok with telling Scottish jokes.
As long as you don’t have to pay anything for a microphone or laughtrack:p
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### Author:  [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/11 "2012-02-11T21:29:00Z")
I started to realize a few years back that ethnic humor is really tough to keep “in the family.” I realize haters are gonna hate and bigots are gonna big, but I wonder if ethnic humor within the community doesn’t make people outside the community feel they have implicit permission to make the same jokes.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/12 "2012-02-11T22:05:45Z")
Personally, I think it’s okay to tell non-PC jokes about ANY race or ethnicity. It’s a free country after all. Sticks and stones and all that. Nobody has am inalienable right not to be offended. They have the right to think you are an insensitive pinhead, but that’s about it.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/13 "2012-02-11T22:57:36Z")
No, and yes, and maybe. It’s wrong to use humor for denigration, it’s right to use humor to make people laugh, it isn’t a question for which there is consensus of opinion. I prefer to avoid the issue now, even a joke told for it’s irony may prompt some asshole to accept it for it’s bigotry. Makes it tough because I like to use jokes to educate people, and some of the funniest ones might offend someone.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/14 "2012-02-12T06:48:25Z")
> [@florez](#):
>
> I am going to be honest here, and not that it makes any logical sense, but I tend to get upset when I hear white people doing Mexican jokes, yet I will often laugh at Mexican’s doing white people or Mexican jokes.
What about white Mexicans making jokes, or Asians or Blacks of any nationality making jokes?
Spain has grown a multitude of regional TVs, most of which have at least one program which specifically pokes fun at the people from that region. The only one which doesn’t is Madrid: a coworker told us he knows a guy who’d been involved in developing one of those for Catalan TV and who tried to pitch something similar for Madrid. The people from Madrid TV got red-faced angry at the notion of making fun of themselves, it was Com Pletely Unac Ceptable! This story led to my team (5 people working in Madrid, of which only one is actually from Madrid) spending many hours trying to figure out whether it was because nobody in Madrid is from Madrid (can’t be, at least 20% of people in Madrid were born there, although maybe 1% have parents who were born in Madrid), or because those who actually are from Madrid have the Cibeles statue stuck up their asses (no, we knew locals with senses of humor and even had one in the team), or what…
I’ve got no problem with people from anywhere making fun of my culture/race/country, so long as it’s a) not cruel, b) funny and c) they actually understand what they’re talking about. C is often very, very lacking.
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2012, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/15 "2012-02-12T11:10:06Z")
I think it’s fine. I also think this is why I feel so comfortable ripping on whites and privilege… because I \*am \*white.
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### Author:  [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/16 "2012-02-12T13:08:13Z")
> [@B.Serum](#):
>
> I’d say yes. The underlying problem with those types of jokes when it comes from someone who is _not_ of that group historically is that there was bigoted or hateful sentiment, regardless of whether it was funny. But there is an assumption that a person who _does_ belong to that group is intimately aware that any jabs thrown aren’t hateful or bigoted. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I can’t think of any.
Seconded.
Lawyer and politician jokes, on the other hand, are entirely ‘fair game’ IMHO. 😉
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### Author:  [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/17 "2012-02-12T15:22:17Z")
It’s ok as long as you aren’t white ripping on any other race or ethnicity. If you are white you are only authorized to make fun of white people and their whiteness as well as common stereotypes about how our dicks are smaller than black dudes, we can’t dance like black dudes, we’re not as smart as Asian dudes and we don’t work as hard as Mexican dudes.
Everything else is off limits.
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### Author:  [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/18 "2012-02-12T15:37:28Z")
I’m a white guy, and it makes me uncomfortable in certain social situations when other people tell jokes about their own ethnicity. For example, one time at a happy hour with people from work, an older jewish partner in another practice group (one that I do tax stuff for–so this guy is kind of a client in a sense) kept making jew jokes. What am I supposed to do–laugh? It was just weird.
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### Author:  [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/19 "2012-02-12T15:45:33Z")
Partially, yes it’s ok and I even think to some extent humour is a necessary part of our humanity. But there is another exclusionary part to it: if I’m in a room full of friends who are all black, and they are cracking race-related jokes, then I can’t say anything.
Humour is just a difficult, sensitive & personal thing.
ETA: sort of like what Rand Rover said.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-tell-non-pc-jokes-about-your-own-race-ethnicity-etc/612488/20 "2012-02-12T18:50:56Z")
It’s the “Insider/Outsider” rule–it’s okay for a black dude to use the n-word, but not a white guy.
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