I think the reason that it’s considered funny is that, while many consider racists stupid, it is almost unbelievably silly to think of someone as sub-human because of their hair color. It is true that I haven’t actually experienced prejudice of this kind but many of my red-haired friends routinely make ginger related jokes. At least in my circles, racism against red-haired people is entirely ironic. It might be worth noting that we were first exposed to anti-ginger feelings though humor, not from any legitimately racist source.
I can see strategic reasons for that belief—make a behavior low-status in order to discourage it—but there’s a problem that it’s false. There have been intelligent racists and high status racists, and I think the belief that racist is especially the province of the poor, stupid, and ill-educated has led to ‘racist’ being a much more explosive insult than it needs to be.
I absolutely agree. In any case I should have said “racism” anyway, as I’m comparing the ideas, with one being seen generally as “held by many but ill informed” and the other being seen almost with incredulity.
I think the reason that it’s considered funny is that, while many consider racists stupid, it is almost unbelievably silly to think of someone as sub-human because of their hair color. It is true that I haven’t actually experienced prejudice of this kind but many of my red-haired friends routinely make ginger related jokes. At least in my circles, racism against red-haired people is entirely ironic.
It might be worth noting that we were first exposed to anti-ginger feelings though humor, not from any legitimately racist source.
I can see strategic reasons for that belief—make a behavior low-status in order to discourage it—but there’s a problem that it’s false. There have been intelligent racists and high status racists, and I think the belief that racist is especially the province of the poor, stupid, and ill-educated has led to ‘racist’ being a much more explosive insult than it needs to be.
I absolutely agree. In any case I should have said “racism” anyway, as I’m comparing the ideas, with one being seen generally as “held by many but ill informed” and the other being seen almost with incredulity.
Cough… it could be worse...