Americans’ Opinion Is Split on the Topic of Racist Jokes

The topic of racist humor stirs up controversy among Americans. In the period from 7/28/14 to 10/20/14 Meetville (dating app to find the right person) has conducted a survey  to measure the views of Americans on the topic.

56,332 voters have given their answer to the following question:  “Do you have a problem with racist jokes?” We have seen a balance in responses, 55% - No, 45% - Yes. Yet Americans by most still believe that racist jokes are unlikely to cause too much tension.

Indeed, in today’s liberal society laughing about the differences is a way of mitigating racism. It is seen by most people as a way to point out the insignificance of stereotypes, rather than to spark hate.

However, we shouldn’t ignore certain aspects of humor, says Thomas Ford, a psychologist from Western Carolina University, who has studied the effects racist humor has on people. He found out: “Humor depends largely on the context and on the personality and the attitudes of the audience. Depending on the views you hold against or in favor of a certain nationality, or what you consider to be justified or unjustified racism, hearing these jokes may or may not prompt you to discriminate against those people.”

Among those who answered “Yes”, we see 71% - Male votes, 29% - Female; with “No” we have 79% - Male, 21% - Female.

Alex Cusper, Meetville service analyst, states the results show that men are more prone to discuss the topic. He believes it is due to the historical perception of men as protectors of the kin. This also explains why in some cases men are considered to be less tolerant than women.

Meetville,a leading mobile dating service, regularly conducts research among its users. Millions of people from the U.S., Canada, Britain and Australia answer hundreds of questions every month. You can find the results of the poll  here. If you are interested in research on a particular topic, please contact us. Any reprint of the material should be followed by clickable links to the survey.