02-08-2022, 03:06 PM
(02-08-2022, 02:49 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: That Planet of the Apes story is, objectively, a racist story. Now, Joe says he isn't a racist, but he only says that because he has it in his head that a "racist" is only someone who looks at a black person and rage fills their heart.
He doesn't realize that casual or comedic racism is still racism. I know why he told that story the way he did. He was going to see a movie, Planet of the Apes and he happened to go to a black neighborhood. There's a long standing racist trope that black people behave like or look like apes. So in his brain, he linked the two and made a joke. He thought of it as a clever quip.
He wasn't, in that moment, thinking "I'm going to insult black people in 3...2...1...." so, in his mind, he isn't racist.
He didn't invent the racist link between black people and apes. He didn't even necessarily endorse the link. But his mind is geared that way because of years of exposure to those racist tropes.
In a way, Joe Rogan and his Planet of the Apes story is the perfect encapsulation of what it means when you say "racism is ingrained in our society and culture."
Or, to put it another way, that our society is systemically racist.
Racist tropes exist about literally every single ethnicity, and within those ethnicities nationalities as well (I could go into this among Mexico/Central American countries for literally hours). If you're familiar with any of them, and if you're a living human who either leaves their home or has TV/internet access you are, you're going to naturally make those mental connections. This isn't even a conscious process. Pointing out the connection, or speaking on it, does not mean the person speaking is racist. Also, making a racial joke is not inherently racist, comedy has always been about needling each other over our small differences. I guess this is mostly a long winded way of saying intent is extremely important. If Joe Rogan is racist he's done an outstanding job, for decades, of concealing his anti-black racism from his black friends and colleagues.
