# What do you think of Trevor Noah's inside joke at the Oscars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214 "2019-02-25T23:47:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/101 "2019-03-05T14:19:24Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > Read all my posts, I clearly do not think history is irrelevant. I think a selective analysis of history where crucial facts and distinctions are ignored only spreads ignorance and false narratives. > > This is not complex, the very basic, simple premise that I believe is wrong from the perspective of science or history is that skin color based assesments of people are innaccurate, do not lead to anything fruitful and are ultimately harmful and not helpful. > > When I say this, it seems to me that a conclusion is jumped to that has nothing to do with what I am saying. I am not saying that black people have not been unfairly oppressed, I am not saying that past racism does not have current impacts that create tremendous disadvantages for people of color. What I am against is assumptions that because one group has suffered unfairly and disproportionally at the hands of another that all people with the same skin color as the oppressor group should be thought of the same or even part of that group. > > I am also against the perpetuation of social norms that allow for different rules for people with different skin color, to me that is wrong in the same way that segregation is wrong. > > If you believe anything I have said in regard to history is inaccurate, show me where I am wrong. If you don’t agree with my views, tell me where my views are inaccurate. If you want to change my view, you may possibly have some success if you show me where I am specifically and factually wrong. I will probably not even respond to any more vague statements similar to what you have posted above. The accusation is that you regularly take what people do say, and turn them into strawmen in order to rebut them. People in this very thread have said “no, that’s not what I said.” But then you insisted right afterwards that this is what they said. How can you have a discussion about things when one party argues the other party is saying something different than what they said. You want specifics? I can do that: this very reply. You have accused me of saying something I didn’t say. I did not say that your views about history are incorrect. I said that you do not find history relevant in your views over what is and is not racist. As such, discussing the history isn’t going to change your opinion about this. You thus will not be enlightened. I am not (in these comments) arguing your views are wrong in this. I am saying that there seems little reason to keep arguing with you when you don’t accept anything we consider relevant to actually be relevant, and you keep on arguing against things we didn’t say. If we can’t be on the same page, argument is pointless. Especially since you agree with the main thesis of the thread that Noah’s joke was not offensive. While I would be interested in you explaining why this is the case, since your view of racism is so completely different, and I can’t see the logic, but it’s really not important. There’s not much reason to convince someone they are wrong when they come to the correct conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/102 "2019-03-05T17:06:30Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Are you seriously trying to say that Jews are considered to be a privileged class? That it wouldn’t be “punching down” to mock the Jews? :dubious: Nope, that’s not what I’m trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/103 "2019-03-05T18:58:04Z")
**[Moderating]** **BigT** , if you take issue with **Mr. Nylock** personally, do so in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/104 "2019-03-05T20:04:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Are you seriously trying to say that Jews are considered to be a privileged class? What do you think their position was in, say, 80s South Africa? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/105 "2019-03-08T10:53:47Z")
I don’t understand what’s funny about it. He says privately to Xhosa speakers : “White people don’t understand Xhosa” and it’s funny because…??? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/106 "2019-03-08T11:09:20Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I don’t understand what’s funny about it. He says privately to Xhosa speakers : “White people don’t understand Xhosa” and it’s funny because…??? It’s funny _because_ white people don’t understand Xhosa. It’s a delicious (and harmless) in-joke amongst Trevor’s home community against a population that until recently was openly oppressing them. It’s not even “punching up”; it’s a light tweak of the nose. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/107 "2019-03-08T12:27:14Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I don’t understand what’s funny about it. He says privately to Xhosa speakers : “White people don’t understand Xhosa” and it’s funny because…??? It has a certain\* je ne sais quois\*. ---
**Author:** ![Jamiedarke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@Jamiedarke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamiedarke)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/108 "2019-03-08T17:43:21Z")
Trevor Noah sux big time. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/109 "2019-03-09T19:42:18Z")
Sorry, I totally heard your post in Trevor Noah’s “Young Jo’burg White Guy” impersonation voice… "Ja, bru. That Trevor Noah oke sux, bru. Big time, my china!! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/110 "2019-03-09T22:08:37Z")
I’ve observed that, the smaller the set of people who get a joke, the funnier it is to those who do get it. Xhosha-speakers are a fairly small set of people, as the world goes, so that in itself makes it funny, at least to them on the first audience of it. Then everyone else gets to laugh with them, once we hear the real translation. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/111 "2019-03-10T00:14:04Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > It has a certain\* je ne sais quois\*. (for non-French-speakers, that means, “A mood of solidarity and brotherhood”) ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/112 "2019-03-10T00:16:57Z")
> [@K364](#): > > I tend to be sensitive that digs to whites (males especially) are fair game, but if you flip them around to a minority there would be huge offense. Sometimes a joke is offensive because of history. And sometimes a joke is funny because of history, and how it inverts certain stereotypes. White people have historically stereotyped Black people as ignorant, while systematically denying them educational opportunities. Maybe this is relevant to whether it’s funny vs. simply offensive for a member of one group to make fun of the members of the other group for not knowing something – don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214/113 "2019-03-10T08:58:43Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > FTR, I am not offended by Noah’s joke and would roll my eyes if anyone out there is. Just calling a spade a spade. He was punching down - at the tame end of the punching down spectrum. A slightly unfortunate choice of words there.😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-trevor-noahs-inside-joke-at-the-oscars/830214.md?page=5)