# Racism for Caucasians **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 24, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688 "2003-01-24T20:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jus\_Checkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jus\_Checkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jus_Checkin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/1 "2003-01-24T20:04:45Z")
Most of us will agree that racism is wrong and are thankful that America has come a long way on the issue. I wonder though, why it seem ok for Caucasions to be discriminated against. What I’m getting at here is, many times when I hear an African-American comedian, they often rip on “white” people. I’ve heard them use the slang term “Cracker” without hesitation or make other jokes against “whitey”. Recently, I saw a comercial on TV that had a room full of African-Americans dancing and having a good time, suddenly the music and dancing stopped when they looked up and saw two white men there. Imagine if the race had been reversed in the commercial. Or if a white comedian refered to a person of color with a slang term. I’m not a racist and hope this post doesn’t make me sound like one. I just would like to know why the “rules” don’t apply when someone wants do discriminate against Caucasions. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/2 "2003-01-24T20:14:54Z")
Because whites are still in the best situation overall, and it’s OK to make fun of the group at the top of the heap. Similarly, it’s more acceptable to make fun of a rich person for being rich than a poor person for being poor (unless you’re poor - then you get a ‘bye’ just like a black comedian can make jokes about blacks, or Latinos about Latinos). ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/3 "2003-01-24T20:19:39Z")
White people in America are generally not discriminated against. Black people are. Making jokes about Blacks is therefore “kicking a man while he’s down”; making jokes about Whites isn’t. This rule isn’t universally followed, of course. It’s also kicking a man when he’s down to make fun of poor people, but boy, we just love to make hillbilly jokes, don’t we? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/4 "2003-01-24T20:22:11Z")
Plus, there’s a strong feeling out there that white people have “earned” a certain amount of humor at their expense. However, there is a huge level of difference between somebody making a joke about a cracker and somebody saying, “sorry, we can’t hire you. You’re white.” ---
**Author:** ![TeleTronOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4af34b/32.png) [@TeleTronOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeleTronOne)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/5 "2003-01-24T20:33:44Z")
Do those commercials/situations offend you? I’m caucasian, and they don’t offend me… but maybe I’m just hard to get to. I think the main difference is that making fun of us crackers won’t do us all that much harm… plus, I doubt nobody is going to voice any complaints that will get taken seriously. If the NAACP complains about a racist commercial, people tend to listen. If the KKK complains about a commercial, I doubt most people will care. Oh, and there are places in the U.S. where being white puts you on the low end of the totem pole. I used to live in Hilo, HI. They don’t like us haoles (did I spell that right? It’s been a while) too much down there. First night I was there I was almost run over, and had eggs thrown at me from a moving car. And of course, all the natives made fun of us when we ran for cover at the first sign of rain, but that’s understandable. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/6 "2003-01-24T20:50:56Z")
> [@](#): > > White people in America are generally not discriminated against. You are speaking, I assume, of racial discrimination only. White women are are discriminated against all the time. I don’t mind comics who make fun of whites. A lot of that is deserved. I do object to jokes about women or men which encourage stereotypical thinking and perpetuate problems with gender issues. ---
**Author:** ![Jus\_Checkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jus\_Checkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jus_Checkin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/7 "2003-01-24T20:52:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TeleTronOne \* > \*\*Do those commercials/situations offend you? I’m caucasian, and they don’t offend me… but maybe I’m just hard to get to. I think the main difference is that making fun of us crackers won’t do us all that much harm… plus, I doubt nobody is going to voice any complaints that will get taken seriously. If the NAACP complains about a racist commercial, people tend to listen. If the KKK complains about a commercial, I doubt most people will care. > \*\* Sometimes I do get offended because I personally wouldn’t use slang terms against an African-American (although I would like a shorter, politically correct term to use), and I would like the same respect in return. The one that offended me most was the commercial stopping because they see two white guys in the room. That IS discrimination. As far as comparing the NAACP and the KKK. C’mon. There’s nothing similar about the two. One fights for the rights of it’s people, the other fights to take away the rights or worse of others. You can’t tell me that companies that are mostly Asian or Indian or Latino, etc. don’t not give a job to someone because they’re “white” I know that happens. I just think if we are to rid America of racism it needs to be stopped on all levels. ---
**Author:** ![Jus\_Checkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jus\_Checkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jus_Checkin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/8 "2003-01-24T21:05:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\* > > I don’t mind comics who make fun of whites. A lot of that is deserved. I do object to jokes about women or men which encourage stereotypical thinking and perpetuate problems with gender issues. \*\* Why is it deserved? What gender issues are you refering to? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/9 "2003-01-24T21:11:40Z")
> [@](#): > > African-American (although I would like a shorter, politically correct term to use) Try _black_. It is accepted by an overwhelming majority of people who might described as African-American. If I encounter an individual who states that s/he prefers to be idenitified as African-American, I will comply out of politeness. Otherwise, I use the term that every single one of my black acquaintances use–black. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/10 "2003-01-24T21:20:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > **White people in America are generally not discriminated against. Black people are. Making jokes about Blacks is therefore “kicking a man while he’s down”; making jokes about Whites isn’t.** This is just a rationalization of the PC crowd [sup]who _would never_ utter a racist term[/sup] :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > \*\*This rule isn’t universally followed, of course. It’s also kicking a man when he’s down to make fun of poor people, but boy, we just love to make hillbilly jokes, don’t we? \*\* You forgot the “redneck” [sup]which isn’t necessarily the same[/sup] 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/11 "2003-01-24T21:34:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\*I don’t mind comics who make fun of whites. A lot of that is deserved. I do object to jokes about women or men which encourage stereotypical thinking and perpetuate problems with gender issues. \*\* Was I whooshed, or is this just incredible hypocrisy? ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/12 "2003-01-24T21:56:35Z")
I’m a white guy, and I don’t care if black commedians make fun of whites. One of the funniest bits I’ve seen is Eddie Murphy doing a white guy. Also the one from SNL where he goes undercover as a white and finds out all the secret advantages whites share. ---
**Author:** ![TeleTronOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4af34b/32.png) [@TeleTronOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeleTronOne)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/13 "2003-01-24T22:03:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jus Checkin \* > \*\* > As far as comparing the NAACP and the KKK. C’mon. There’s nothing similar about the two. One fights for the rights of it’s people, the other fights to take away the rights or worse of others. You can’t tell me that companies that are mostly Asian or Indian or Latino, etc. don’t not give a job to someone because they’re “white” I know that happens. > \*\* It was not my intent to suggest that the NAACP and the KKK are in the same league. I apologize if it came accross that way. I was trying to argue that if somebody aired a commercial that could be interpreted as ‘anti-black’, and the NAACP complained about it, most people would probably take them seriously. If somebody aired a commercial that could be interpreted as ‘anti-white’, who’s going to complain? Probably the KKK, I’m sure there’s other organizations as well. But what’s the overall reaction going to be like? Most likely, lots of people will view the complaining party in a similar light as they view the KKK, and therefore, won’t get a heck of a lot of serious attention, save for fellow members of the KKK (or whatever other organization floats their boat). I’m not saying that this is RIGHT, I’m just trying to show why caucasians can be called ‘crackers’ and most people don’t care, but if you call somebody a ‘nigger’, you’d better run. (That might not even be a good comparison, I’m not sure of the relative ‘badness’ w.r.t. both words. I don’t much care if somebody calls me a cracker, YMMV.) And certainly, whites ARE discriminated against in various circumstances, as I mentioned before, my situation in Hilo was less than ideal. I myself was turned down for several jobs, and I have no doubt that a lot of the reason was because I was white. ---
**Author:** ![king\_of\_spain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7cd45c/32.png) [@king\_of\_spain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/king_of_spain)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/14 "2003-01-24T23:13:08Z")
My suggestion: I am an American of Irish descent. There was a time when Irish-Americans faced fairly serious discrimination. However, today, if I went to buy something and the cashier saw my last name and said, “Get out of my store, you filthy mick!” I’d start laughing. Why is that? Because in modern America we’ve reached the point where prejudice against the Irish is so rare that it’s considered a bizarre, ludicrous idea. Therefore I can be sure that if someone expresses such prejudice, either (a) they’re completely joking and don’t actually believe any such thing, or (b) even if they are insane enough to be prejudiced against the Irish, their prejudice will almost certainly have no serious effect on my life. However, African-Americans’ lives are often still very seriously affected by racism - heck, there are people still alive today who remember having to live in fear of lynch mobs! So if a black person calls me a cracker, I’ll just shrug and think “she probably doesn’t mean anything by it, and even if she does, who cares?” - while anti-white racism exists, my life has never been remotely seriously affected by it, and I don’t expect it to. But I still find it completely understandable that the black person wouldn’t feel the same way about being called a nigger. ---
**Author:** ![Jus\_Checkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jus\_Checkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jus_Checkin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/15 "2003-01-24T23:26:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by king of spain \* > \*\*My suggestion: > > However, African-Americans’ lives are often still very seriously affected by racism - heck, there are people still alive today who remember having to live in fear of lynch mobs! … \*\* Most of the black comedians who are making racist cracks against white are too young to have been worried about a lynch mob, for example Chris Rock. What’s his excuse? He certainly isn’t hurting because he’s black. ---
**Author:** ![Monopoly\_Money](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Monopoly\_Money](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monopoly_Money)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/16 "2003-01-25T00:43:22Z")
Does anyone know how the term ‘cracker’ originated? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/17 "2003-01-25T00:57:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Does anyone know how the term ‘cracker’ originated? Quite a few of us, actually. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/18 "2003-01-25T01:04:36Z")
Cracker started out in the sixteenth century when _cracking_ was an expression for boasting (possibly related to “cracking a joke” today. It was later transferred to ruffians who were wont to boast (or crack) about how tough they were. In that form it came over to Georgia and the Carolinas with the early British colonists, and was applied generally to poor males (who were commonly considered to be ruffians in the way that kids inthe ghetto are routinely considered to be “toughs” today). Gradually, the word lost its older ruffian connotation, while keeping its meaning of poor. Folk etymologies about “cracking whips” (over slaves or over teams of oxen) and similar stories are not true. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/19 "2003-01-25T12:40:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\*You are speaking, I assume, of racial discrimination only. White women are are discriminated against all the time. > > I don’t mind comics who make fun of whites. A lot of that is deserved. I do object to jokes about women or men which encourage stereotypical thinking and perpetuate problems with gender issues. \*\* Why do I deserve it when my only crime was being born “white”? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688/20 "2003-01-25T13:08:59Z")
Racial discrimination and racial slurs are fundamentally wrong. There is no acceptable reason or condition for their application in a polite, rational society where people hold each other in respect. And the term “cracker” is highly offensive to me, regardless of how many people tell me to “lighten up - oops, sorry, you’re already white enough”. :rolleyes: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racism-for-caucasians/150688.md?page=2)