Cambridge English Dictionary defines context as ‘the situation within which something exists or happens, and that can help explain it.’ It also uses the example ‘He thinks smacking is OK in the context of a happy family,’ which is really bizarrely dark and I think Kevin in sub-editing should probably keep his unresolved anger towards his father separate from his professional life.
A simpler example might be that jokes about violence against women are not really ideal in the context of a world struggling with violence against women. Or even that referring to an Indigenous football player who has faced racial abuse as King Kong is not really ideal in the context of, well, racism. Or calling a figure skater’s outfit ‘a bit of Brokeback’ in the context of the history of homophobia, or calling Western Sydney the ‘land of the falafel’ in the context of…
Look, the great thing about learning and understanding context is that you can easily learn from a silly unintended mistake instead of making them over, and over, and over even though you’re a well-trained media personality who should absolutely know better.
But we’re all pretty educated in the age of the world wide web now, right? All the information in the world and countless dank memes all at our fingertips. The Earth is a few billion years old and you got to live at the same time as Dat Boi. But somehow a lot of prominent media figures and Facebook commenters with profile pictures of cars are still struggling with the concept of context.
Why is this 1997 Commodore yelling at me in all caps about being allowed to wear black face and PC gone mad? I’ll never know. But here’s a simple guide to context that even the most opinionated Holden may find helpful.
1. Sexism
“But if the roles were reversed this would be fine.”
“But a man wouldn’t find this joke offensive.”
You’re not wrong, mate. It’s almost like if there wasn’t a massive history of violence and oppression of women then there wouldn’t be an issue at all? Call feminist ally Matt McGorry, because I think you’ve just solved sexism. Saying mean things to your friends and colleagues can be extremely funny, especially when your boss is actually a real dickhead. But when women struggle to succeed in historically male-dominated industries and also historically get murdered by men a lot, making jokes about drowning them is just not funny in the same way Daryll Cullinan vs Shane Warne was the funniest cricket sledge of all time.
2. Racism
A whole heap of bad stuff has happened to people who aren’t white. Like really, heaps of it. I’m really sorry about that time a black person called you White Bread, but I could wager it didn’t hurt too much if your ancestors weren’t called that while they were being hung. It’s also not a word that’s still used disparagingly by crazy white nationalists who think white genocide is a real thing, and also white bread is delicious. I try my best to avoid doing anything crazy white nationalists or neo-Nazis do as a general rule. The context of this is that neo-Nazis are objectively not good. Also you really don’t need to do black face, please just stop doing black face, I cannot believe we are still arguing about black face.
3. Homophobia
Same deal with racism and sexism. Bad stuff, jokes that came from violence. I think we’ve just about covered Context 101. Gold stars for all, except for Eddie.
4. Eddie McGuire
Heavily rich white bloke, president of a football club, noted repeat mistake offender. Open season.
For all the latest comedy articles, videos and updates at SBS Comedy like us on Facebook and Twitter
