I remember during my first few years of being in this country, I faced discrimination and mockery to the fullest extent. I remember being the laughing stock in school. They made fun of my height, mocked my accent, called me "African Booty-scratcher" and so on and so forth. It took me going through hurdles to make a change that would better myself. I began to take control of my life, but many teens these days are not so lucky.
Most of us have probably laughed at someone’s appearance or at someone’s accent or voice at some point. We've probably made crude observations and comparisons, publicly or privately, in our writing or elsewhere. Weight, hair, clothes, voice — the list is practically endless. Now I'm not gonna lie, I've fallen victim to such a thing several time, usually to make myself feel better or when I am envious.
Perhaps we should be more hesitant and reflective about what we’re participating in and doing, because people have feelings.
Yet, if the language of mockery was without humor, probably all of these would seem merely nasty (which they are either way, but this would be more drastic). Humor gives a gloss of moral invisibility to statements “made in jest” — but perhaps we should be more hesitant and reflective about what we’re participating in and doing because people have feelings.
Mockery can happen in all forms of humor and in every kind of medium.
And still, what’s constantly forgotten is that there are people targeted; there are individuals with physical characteristics, ways of speaking, differing weights that either are direct targets. Then there are the bystanders: who share it with these more public targets, who they watch being targeted — afraid to say anything out of fear of being targeted themselves.
The prioritizing of minor enjoyment, bigotry, hot gossip or even just a moment of pleasure over the kind of harm we can cause to others seems a misplacement of said moral priorities. We don’t lose out by never hearing another "yo mamma" joke, but those who feel sensitive about their appearance or that of a family member (which in this case can be their mother) can at least find that niche were they can have happiness and not be worried about the vocal “jokers”.
If a person feels slighted by mockery of his/her physical appearance, there’s little he/she can do in defense if the offender thinks they’re fat, have no lips and so on. After all, the offender does think this (or at least has asserted that they do); no matter what the victim does, it won’t change the offender’s mind. Giving the mocker the attention and actually responding back with an insult won't change his/her mind. It'll only give them reason to continue to mock you.
Telling such people to get over themselves is not only sometimes worse than the initial insult, but also lacks compassion and understanding for those who have a legitimate problem with their appearance.
We could genuinely not care about what others think and stay positive and work on staying strong: yet what about those for whom physical appearance is more than just an over-indulgence or over-sensitivity? Telling such people to get over themselves is not only itself sometimes worse than the initial insult, it lacks compassion and understanding for those who have a legitimate problem with their appearance.
There’s difficulty and nuance to engage in. For example, it’s easy for offenders to dismiss those who dislike jokes as all being a "kill-joy" or an introvert. No doubt many will think that of me because of my mature state-of-mind most times. They might put my concerns of mocking physical appearances under the same banner as those offended by, say, religious imagery.
In the instance of religious offense, we can point out that there are no good reasons to believe in God, that not everyone believes, that faith is harmful, anyway; and it’s important to show the human aspects of religion via mockery to help show that its true. There are plenty of justified, moral reasons to mock religion.
If we care about actually making an impact for our cause, we must be quick on our feet to use the right tool to do what is right; not reach blindly into the ethical toolkit and hammer away at the nail of immorality we perceive.
Mockery doesn’t get a complete moral pass just because it makes us temporarily happy and helps advance various proper causes, like undermining the power religion has on people’s lives. Yes, mockery in general can aid a good cause, but that doesn’t let it off the hook when it unnecessarily targets someone.
