Conan makes a whoopsie

[Kramodlog]

More on the kids topic... In today's computer media world, whatever is posted with a kid or by a kid sticks around. This applies to potentially embarrassing videos like Halloween candy pranks too. Parents and other adults really need to take more responsibility for the stuff that goes up with kids that may come back to haunt them, rightfully or not. How many of the Halloween candy kids will, as teens, feel mortified they bawled or otherwise list their and now can't get those videos out of bully hands? Kids may say the darnedest things, but the adults are supposed to be the ones showing good judgment.

Parents aren't omniscient. If the kid just said that because he heard it at school or just because he came to that conclusion by watching Marvel movies, it is hardly their responsability. It does becomes their responsability after he said that, to understand where the kid got that and maybe have a talk about what is racism and genocide.

 

[Deset Gled]

I didnt get the impression that he was making any assumptions about her race, so much as he was making assumptions about her marital practices based on her religion.

...

It is worth pointing out that Islam is a racially and ethnically diverse religion. It is also a huge faith that spans much of the globe. It is not limited to the middle east and north africa.

This is exactly why I think the joke has a racist element. I believe the "marital practices" that you are referencing are ethnic traditions, not simply religious ones. Islam does not inherently promote polygyny (some Islamic countries actually ban polygyny on religious grounds), but certain Islamic ethnicities do. The joke enforces the incorrect belief that all Muslims are members of an ethnicity that promotes polygyny. Furthermore, the humor of the joke is based specifically off of the ethnic marriage traditions (not the religion itself), which is what makes it racist.

The same could pretty much have been applied if the character in question was publicized as a Mormon. Would that have made it racist too? Or would that have been waved off the racist label because the vast majority of Mormons are, understandably given the church's own racist history, Caucasian?

At the risk of breaking too far into a religious discussion, Islam and Mormonism have very different relationships with polygamy. While Islam does not inherently promote polygamy, the history of the LDS Church has much more direct ties to it. A joke about Mormons does not have to reach outside of purely religious aspects to reference polygamy, so that joke would be purely religionist.

FWIW, I'm not trying to condemn Conan here. Whether the joke is racist or religionist is a purely academic matter. I can appreciate offensive humor as long as the amount of humor is greater than the amount to offensiveness. This joke failed not because it was particularly offensive, but because it was not particularly funny.

 

[Robin Hoodlum]

This joke failed not because it was particularly offensive, but because it was not particularly funny.

That's my take as well.

 

[billd91]

Parents aren't omniscient. If the kid just said that because he heard it at school or just because he came to that conclusion by watching Marvel movies, it is hardly their responsability. It does becomes their responsability after he said that, to understand where the kid got that and maybe have a talk about what is racism and genocide.

Parents and other adults don't have to be omniscient. They just have to show some judgment in what they decide to put out there on a wide, persistent forum. And a discussion with 1st graders that goes into killing everyone kind of cries out for a little more judgment.

 

[Bedrockgames]

This is exactly why I think the joke has a racist element. I believe the "marital practices" that you are referencing are ethnic traditions, not simply religious ones. Islam does not inherently promote polygyny (some Islamic countries actually ban polygyny on religious grounds), but certain Islamic ethnicities do. The joke enforces the incorrect belief that all Muslims are members of an ethnicity that promotes polygyny. Furthermore, the humor of the joke is based specifically off of the ethnic marriage traditions (not the religion itself), which is what makes it racist.

.

Again, I disagree with this reasoning. I understand what you are saying, but don't find your argument convincing, and do not wish to debate the issue (though polygyny in Islam is certainly an interesting topic) because I think it would quickly violate the ban against political discussions.

 

[Kramodlog]

Parents and other adults don't have to be omniscient. They just have to show some judgment in what they decide to put out there on a wide, persistent forum. And a discussion with 1st graders that goes into killing everyone kind of cries out for a little more judgment.

First off, you are blowing things out of proportions. He did not go into killing everyone. That is an exageration (and probably would have been more acceptable as it doesn't single out a nation). And it was funny that a kid came up with that to solve a debt issue. Says a lot about his environment. Maybe

Secondly, not really. It is a 1st grader. Who will remember that in a year? Who will remember his face? Was his whole name even mentioned? The funny thing is that people are prolonging the life of the segment by drawing attention to it.

And if in 10 years someone brings this up, the kid should should shrug and say, rightfully at that, that he was a 1st grader and kids do not always realize what they say. Assuming he doesn't advocate genocide to solve debt issues anymore.

 

[Kramodlog]

The actual segment.

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[Lwaxy]

Oh my dear gods.

I have to disagree that this was anywhere approaching racism. Kids say those things because they are absurd and they probably find the question itself outlandish. What does this boy know about paying back debts? He said the first weird thing in his mind. Does the kid even know where China is?

I said a similar thing that age. At school out loud because the situation was going over my head and on my nerves and an answer was expected from me. This looks very much the same. And neither me, nor any of my family save a distant relative everyone else avoided has ever been racist or any other ism (at least that I know of). I got the desired effect - I shocked the teacher, made her leave me alone for now and so got out of an uncomfortable situation. The boy on the shows seems to have done just the same. L

Luckily for me, it was not broadcasted. My parents got a call and told the teacher where to stick it. End of story.

I really don't want to be a kid these days.

 

[Kramodlog]

I have to agree. The kid wanted attention, period. Kimmel saw it too andplayed with it. I'd be willing to bet a lot of people who commented on it didn't even see it. Like me, at first.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

If this was a joke, well, I like it.

all in good jest, rest assured.

I think O'Brian is awesome (though I may have just misspelled his lat name). It's just that whenever I see "Conan" absent anything else, I think death-dealing Cimmerian. Right after, I think Conan The Librarian.

The gangly comedian is a distant third, followed by unlikely pet names.