Humour and Hatred: The Racist Jokes of the Ku Klux Klan
Top Cited Papers
- 1 May 2001
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Discourse & Society
- Vol. 12 (3), 267-289
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926501012003001
Abstract
The article examines the links between humour and hatred - a topic that is often ignored by researchers of prejudice. The article studies three websites that present racist humour and display sympathies with the Ku Klux Klan. The analysis emphasizes the importance of examining the `metadiscourse', which presents and justifies the humour, as much as studying the nature of the humour itself. The meta-discourse of the sites' disclaimers is studied in relation to the justification of a joke being `just a joke'. It is shown that the extreme racist humour of the KKK is not just a joke, even in terms of its own meta-discourse of presentation. The meta-discourse also suggests that the extreme language of racist hatred is indicated a matter for enjoyment. The sites portray the imagining of extreme racist violence as a matter of humour and the ambivalence of their disclaimers is discussed. As such, it is suggested that there are integral links between extreme hatred and dehumanizing, violent humour.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Irony as relevant inappropriatenessJournal of Pragmatics, 2000
- Gallows humour in social work practice: An issue for supervision and reflexivityPractice, 2000
- Joking Relationships and National Identity in ScandinaviaActa Sociologica, 2000
- Ethnic jokes and social function in Hawai'iHUMOR, 2000
- The Rise of Racism — An Austrian or a European Phenomenon?Discourse & Society, 2000
- Attitudes of whites and blacks towards ethnic humor: A comparisonHUMOR, 1999
- Wit and Politics: An Essay on Laughter and PowerAmerican Journal of Sociology, 1998
- Discourse and the Denial of RacismDiscourse & Society, 1992
- Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressful events and psychological distress: A prospective analysis.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1988
- Po-faced receipts of teasesLinguistics, 1987