Recently
I was sitting my the couch with my friend who is a black-American and he
brought up something that caught my attention. When flipping through the
channels I automatically stopped when I saw that the show Friends was on.
When I started singing “I’ll be there for youuuuuuuuuuu” he said “of course
you watch this, you’re white”.
Excuse
me?
I
was in shock because I thought that everyone grew up watching Friends! Just
because Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross, and Joey aren’t black it doesn’t
mean that you can’t watch the show!
And
then he proceeded to ask, which show I thought is better: My Wife and Kids, or
Friends. Obviously I was going to choose Friends! Now, don’t get me wrong I
find My Wife and Kids very funny as well, BUT IT DOES NOT COMPARE TO FRIENDS.
Somehow,
since I preferred a show that happened to have mainly white-American characters
as opposed to black-Americans, I unintentionally came off as being a “racist
white girl”. Hmmmm…
I thought this was so funny, but at the same time I can totally relate! African American people can be very sensitive and take offense to things that we don't realize. It's hard to put ourselves in their shoes, but I think it is a little bit of an exaggeration to take such offense to choice in TV show! I am a Friends fan all the way too!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel, that as I first began to read this I started laughing. At the same time, however, this comment that your friend makes does frighten me in the sense that picking a certain television show over another is now considered "racist." There is one thing to be an actual racist, but it's another to joke about it and use the term carelessly. The way I take this story to be was that he was trying to joke around with you, but at the same time doesn't realize how serious racism is in the world today. People tend describe others as "racist" when in reality they are not at all.
ReplyDeleteTo me, this just seems like a funny exchange between two friends. The term "racist" seems to be a word that is used much too loosely; the word seems to have lost the seriousness of its true meaning. Does someone really think Friends is a funnier show simply because the cast is all white? I think not. We don't all laugh at the
ReplyDeletesame things. Humor can't be explained in black and white terms.
I appreciate how you expressed your opposing view because it helped me to view the situation it a different light.
Delete