Though the "Successful Black
Man" meme might be funny to you, it is still a joke about racial stereotypes.
The most interesting aspect of this internet meme, and many others, is that the
fact that these memes don’t trigger as much of a negative response as they
would if someone were to just say the joke to another person. When racist jokes
are said verbally to one another, they come off harsh and are on the verge of
almost not being funny. When we say racist jokes verbally to one another we
take the risk that the other person won’t think we are in fact really being
racist, or that they think we really feel a certain way about a certain race,
and even risk someone else around us hearing the conversation and thinking we
are racist. The fact that more people think racist memes are hilarious than
rude can only be explained by how people are kept more anonymous when speaking
on the internet, and therefore do not care what people think about them.
An interesting aspect of this
specific meme is how it combines upper class Caucasian stereotypes with African American
ones. Though the title is "Successful Black Man" this meme could be offensive
to others that aren’t African American.
A common
problem with racial jokes when said verbally, are who is saying them. If an
Asian man is telling someone a racist joke about Asians, it’s perfectly
acceptable, but if a Caucasian man tells a racist joke about Asians, another
Asian man may not be okay with what he said. If someone online posts a meme
that is racist towards a race that is not his own, it is not as scrutinized among
his peers as much as if he were to have said a joke about it, verbally. Of course
if the person who says it, remains anonymous then we will never know what race
he is, but even if it is posted on a social network like Facebook, and the person’s
name is next to the picture they posted, it is still not as frowned upon.
I'm a big fan of memes and I think this is a very funny meme because of how African Americans are seen on Television, like for example Chris Brown in this meme my that my friend made.. http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/404215_285341971520400_100001337978326_680771_1679088479_n.jpg I'm not racist, and I don't hate on people but I like to have fun with memes sometimes just because I find it funny how they portray stuff exactly as the media sets people out to be, and sometimes the way the media portrays certain races is just too ridiculous and I like to laugh at it.
ReplyDeleteI like this Meme and the main reason I think this stereotypical meme isn’t criticized too much is because it has a good ending and the man is successful. This meme is more positive than the Muslim man meme. Another view is that this stereotype is quite wearied out, it’s old if it was newer it might be more criticized.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. Yea I agree, I think that if you think memes like these are funny, it doesn't make you a racist.
ReplyDeletei think this is a typical stereotypical meme, and its by far not true to say black men beat their wives.i like the background information you give. lastly spell/ grammar check. overall good job man.
ReplyDeleteI actually think this meme sends an important message, and is a positive token of our society. It forces people to second-guess negative stereotypes that black men, and black people in general, are forced to live with. If you've ever harbored thoughts that go along with those negative stereotypes in regards to a black person who did not deserve that, you may feel a bit of guilt (albeit hidden by laughter) as you read the second half of the meme. And I think that's a good thing for us, to realize that Successful Black Man could be any black man.
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