rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

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I like how black people are inherently musical in frgobs's subconscious

what the hell are you talking about?

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:06 (twelve years ago) link

I think for a lot of people Chapelle was being contemporary, but for a lot of people (and the target market of Comedy Central) it aimed high as far as audience maturity and experience. Not that a good cable audience would have existed, other than maybe a premium channel where the barrier to entry was higher and people would have to seek it out or rely on word of mouth. Instead, the same people who thought dressing up as Aunt Jemima for their drinking parties were watching.

Now the standard tv audience is doing this knowing nod "that's so racist, I'm not a racist" shuck and jive. That worked occasionally when you got the feeling the writers or performers were working from a post-racial stereotype angle and being ridiculous, but usually it's just lazy shorthand for "race humor is awkward, awkward is funny"

x-p did Chapelle say "the itis?" I remember it more from Boondocks

mh, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:06 (twelve years ago) link

Yeah, 100% agree with everything that people are saying all day re: "I'm Shithead" which sucks and don't watch it if you haven't, I wish I didn't.

I do feel that this thread/ILX in general casts its net a little wide w/finding offense in comedy sketches, tho. Apparently two people on this board think Tim and Eric is minstrelsy? Whoa.

Dancin with Mr. D__ (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:08 (twelve years ago) link

Chappelle had a fake commercial (starring Rashida Jones iirc) about a sleep aid for African-Americans called "Ribs" that worked by triggering "The Itis" (side-effects could include "mudbutt")

Bam! Orgasm explosion in your facehole. (DJP), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:09 (twelve years ago) link

(Not defending Tim & Eric in terms of "funniness"-- not my thing, really) xp

Dancin with Mr. D__ (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:10 (twelve years ago) link

which commercial was Rashida Jones in? they are all kind of blurring together for me

Bam! Orgasm explosion in your facehole. (DJP), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:10 (twelve years ago) link

(frogbs: have you looked back at your post and figured out what I was talking about yet)

Bam! Orgasm explosion in your facehole. (DJP), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:11 (twelve years ago) link

they all blur together in my daydreams, and they are all amazing and star Rashida Jones

mh, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:11 (twelve years ago) link

As an Chappelle example from IRL, I knew someone parroting back the "itis" routine after a particularly big BBQ dinner. He honestly had no idea what the slang word really meant or what it was short for or what its history was—which is something Chappelle clearly expected from his audience—he just thought it was a funny way to say 'full of BBQ." When he had it explained, he was pretty fucking mortified.

parroting terms that white people generally don't know the history of != "wildly sophisticated"

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:13 (twelve years ago) link

now i have chappelle's "i'm the black sheep the real black sheep, doodley doot doot doodley doo" song stuck in my head

Planned Perrintweet (some dude), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:13 (twelve years ago) link

the "skeet skeet" bit was pretty sophisticated

Planned Perrintweet (some dude), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:13 (twelve years ago) link

I don't know from itis.

Dancin with Mr. D__ (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:13 (twelve years ago) link

(frogbs: have you looked back at your post and figured out what I was talking about yet)

you're reaching pretty damn hard, but someday you'll get there

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:14 (twelve years ago) link

Wait, what are we assuming "itis" is short for?

mh, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:15 (twelve years ago) link

mh is white, btw

誤 means 訳. 訳 means 侮辱. (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:16 (twelve years ago) link

frogbs, dan was joking.

nah (crüt), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:16 (twelve years ago) link

titis

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:17 (twelve years ago) link

As an Chappelle example from IRL, I knew someone parroting back the "itis" routine after a particularly big BBQ dinner. He honestly had no idea what the slang word really meant or what it was short for or what its history was—which is something Chappelle clearly expected from his audience—he just thought it was a funny way to say 'full of BBQ." When he had it explained, he was pretty fucking mortified.

i hadn't seen the sketch or the boondocks ep. what is 'itis' short for and what is its history?

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:17 (twelve years ago) link

i wasn't aware of 'the itis' having any racist subtext tbh

i think this is serious (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:18 (twelve years ago) link

i think we're all about to learn something very interesting from whiney, or about whiney.

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:19 (twelve years ago) link

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
i seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Dancin with Mr. D__ (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:19 (twelve years ago) link

I'm not really sure how it makes a show 'wildly sophisticated' if 90% of your white audience (and some % of your black audience?) isn't going to get a throwaway joke

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:20 (twelve years ago) link

Now the standard tv audience is doing this knowing nod "that's so racist, I'm not a racist" shuck and jive. That worked occasionally when you got the feeling the writers or performers were working from a post-racial stereotype angle and being ridiculous, but usually it's just lazy shorthand for "race humor is awkward, awkward is funny"

haha i cannot tell if mh is fucking with us by casually using "shuck and jive" in this way

Planned Perrintweet (some dude), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:20 (twelve years ago) link

The itis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The itis is a Caribbean term in Black American Vernacular English to describe a condition of sleepiness associated with eating meats and sauces, a real human phenomena known as food coma. The term "itis" or "The itis" actually derives from its racial(ist) connotation "*****ritis" with the racist word later being dropped as usage of the term came to the U.S. This word derives from slave owners trying to describe why slaves did not want to work after eating. After slavery was abolished, their replacements (the Indian "coolies"鈥攁nother racist term) did such work in order to appease the former slave owners.

The foods commonly considered to be soul foods are generally high in both fat and carbohydrates, and are thus more likely to induce sleepiness. The suffix -itis, while used clinically to describe an inflammation, has come in the public mind to refer to any medical condition, along with -osis. With the advent of modern popular culture and the popularity of black comedians in the United States, the concept of the "Itis" has moved beyond its provincial roots and has become fairly well known throughout American culture, and to a certain extent beyond.

[edit] The itis in popular culture
Comedian Dave Chappelle, on his program Chappelle's Show, featured a joke advertisement for a sleep aid specifically for black consumers known as "ribs," consisting of pork ribs cooked in barbeque sauce, explaining that it induces a state known as "the itis."
Aaron McGruder's cartoon program The Boondocks featured an episode where the grandfather opened a soul food restaurant named "The Itis" serving the Luther Burger. Customers would reserve a table and, following their meal, would rent naptime in a bed provided by the restaurant.

You see when any person take food the blood is diverted to the 21 feet of intestine, hence reducing the amount of oxygen to brain, hence the body compensates by stopping all physical activities so that vital organs receive blood & oxygen . So the best option is put the person to sleep, a normal physiological phenomena.

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:20 (twelve years ago) link

lol are you guys for real that you couldn't actually infer that

Bam! Orgasm explosion in your facehole. (DJP), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:21 (twelve years ago) link

Itis??? This is a "thing" that is, like, A THING?!? Have never heard it in my life, just watched Chapelle skit and it's making like two iotas more sense but not much.

xxxxxxxxxp holy shit

It means why you gotta be a montague? (Laurel), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:21 (twelve years ago) link

had no idea (about 'itis' or the word it comes from)

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:21 (twelve years ago) link

lol are you guys for real that you couldn't actually infer that

unless you know the original slur, you would have no ability to make that inference!

Mordy, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:22 (twelve years ago) link

"a real human phenomena known as food coma."

Critique of Pure Moods (goole), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:22 (twelve years ago) link

SCIENCE

Planned Perrintweet (some dude), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:22 (twelve years ago) link

This is literally the first time I've heard "itis" or its etymological parent

Dancin with Mr. D__ (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:22 (twelve years ago) link

"racial(ist)"

Critique of Pure Moods (goole), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:22 (twelve years ago) link

This phenomena is more common after lunch.

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:23 (twelve years ago) link

[/unsophistication]

Dancin with Mr. D__ (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:23 (twelve years ago) link

I must be hanging out with the right people (for a change), never heard so much as a stray mention.

It means why you gotta be a montague? (Laurel), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:23 (twelve years ago) link

Related information

Can regular doses of apirin cause anal bleeding and diarohea ?
Not by itself. Aspirin is a blood thinner, so if you have other gastro-intestinal problems or hemmorhoids, it could.

...
How do i go about raising money for myself so i can get gastric bypass surgery i so badly need ?
Get a job.

puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:23 (twelve years ago) link

still waiting to hear how this makes Chappelle more sophisticated than Tosh or MacFarlane (not saying he isn't, but this isn't really a good example)

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:23 (twelve years ago) link

frogs you are the dumbest asshole

誤 means 訳. 訳 means 侮辱. (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link

:B

¯\(ツ)/¯ (am0n), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:26 (twelve years ago) link

maybe you should go back and watch the show again? christ dude fuck off then

frogbs, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:26 (twelve years ago) link

I've heard of/regularly employed the term "the itis" but I never knew it was short for that. Whoops.

nah (crüt), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:26 (twelve years ago) link

This is literally the first time I've heard "itis" or its etymological parent

mookieproof, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:31 (twelve years ago) link

I only assumed it was a generic term for coming down with something… bronchitis, labyrinthitis, blahblahblahitis, etc.

pplains, Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:32 (twelve years ago) link

Bf sez: "You don't know what it means b/c you don't smoke pot / didn't grow up watching In Living Colour"

Dancin with Mr. D__ (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:32 (twelve years ago) link

I'm mostly shocked that you guys didnt watch Chappelle's Show when it was on

誤 means 訳. 訳 means 侮辱. (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:34 (twelve years ago) link

I don't even own a TV

I am that young sis, the beacon, a yardstick (dayo), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:35 (twelve years ago) link

smh @ an American adding a British u to an American TV show name

nah (crüt), Wednesday, 18 January 2012 22:35 (twelve years ago) link


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