If someone tells a racist joke, does that also make you racist?

A Jew and a Mexican are having coffee. The Jew asks the Mexican “Do you have any Jews in Mexico?”

Oh, yes señor, we have many Jews in Mexico. We have tomato Jews, papaya Jews, horchata jews and sandia Jews. Many Jews, yes.

Did you find this offensive or did it make you laugh?

Humor is one of the ways people deal with issues. In Mexico there's a joke that goes:

"What do Mexicans do when there's a big tragedy?"

"Tell great jokes about it"

The joke at the top is a great example of dark humor. According to the Urban Dictionary, Dark humor (or black comedy) is a humor that is viewed as dark, morbid, cruel, offensive to some, and or graphic in nature and is yet, still found funny. Though offensive to many, is a huge psychological boon for those who, generally because of a heightened sensitivity or overly sophisticated intelligence, need to let off steam about the painful circumstances of life. 

However, what happens if the joke is somehow a little bit... racist?

Would you ignore it? Would you laugh it off?

What would YOU do?

The more I think about it, truly racist humor is typically less about being funny and more about being offensive and demeaning to a group of people. Personally, I would say that yes, it makes you racist. Laughing tells jokesters that you agree and approve of their point of view. Laughing also encourages others to laugh too.

So what should you do?

Here's one tip: Pretend you didn't understand the joke and ask them to explain it further.

If one just explains that "hey, that is racist and not funny" then the joke teller replies "oh, whatever" and goes to someone they believe will find it funny. If you sit there and act confused in order to get the teller to explain why it is funny (subjectively), you're getting them to come to the same conclusion you have, possibly. They may not initially realize just how disgusting and vulgar the joke is until they sit there and step by step come to that conclusion for themselves. 

It's like teaching a child math. You can tell them that x has to be plugged into the equation, and they'll nod their heads, but you have to actually let the children put x into the equation in some practice examples in order for them to understand why and how it works.

Check out this interesting article about how dark humor might indicate intelligence: A Dark sense of humor might indicate intelligence . (2017, January 20). Retrieved July 12, 2017, from https://www.bustle.com/p/a-dark-sense-of-humor-might-indicate-intelligence-showing-exactly-what-your-taste-in-jokes-reveals-about-you-31698

References: How to stand up to someone who is making racist jokes. (2016, December 16). Retrieved July 12, 2017, from https://www.entitymag.com/stand-someone-whos-making-racist-jokes/

Melissa