The Big [Censored] Theory

Interesting to see what passes for a joke on The Big Bang Theory. I knew the show was bad but wow. Perhaps just as surprising is the author's suggestion that a xenophobic remark about a Chinese restaurant is "harmless". I'm not even particularly sensitive when it comes to race relations, but that's just such a negative stereotype it's hard to ignore.

I despise Chinese censorship, but I would support the Chinese government blocking The Big Bang Theory purely on the grounds that it stinks.

No work of fiction only has heroes and reasonable people.

For me is one of the loveliest series I have seen

So here's the thing, is that joke making fun of a Chinese restaurant, or is it making fun of racist americans who make comments like that?

The reality is most Americans have someone like that in their family. Read the rest of the scene: Leonard is distinctly uncomfortable, tries to politely correct the wordage, the comment is lost and the originator moves on.

In any case, are you saying that... words that offend you should be removed from media? You know, like... some kind of... woke person who is really sensitive to racism?

This could imply that according to Sturgeon's law, you'd support censoring 90% of everything out there.

(I don't know if your last, pro-censorship line was a joke, but if so, it was a lame one. But I'm against censoring or deleting it, though.)

The joke is the latter. The woke college grads who write the shows think it's funny to have/lampoon racist characters. However, it is a staple of the fare that these characters must exist in the shows to add foils and character depth.

> xenophobic

It's interesting how politically charged words mutate over time.

Pop Culture Detective did a video on the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3-hOigoxHs

Well the shows were written before wokeness was invented, so we're gonna need a new theory.

The joke about the chicken is interesting to me.

I see to your point, the joke leans to imply that Chinese people will lie about the ingredients served in their restaurants to save some money.

This stereotype, however, is predominant amongst Chinese people in China. This joke would fit right in on any Chinese TV show, questioning the legitimacy of the meat at a cheap restaurant is a joke older than the country. This may be why the author calls it "harmless".

It would be the equivalent of a Chinese sitcom where a character might suggest that visit a Texas Barbecue you might get shot by some revolver-wielding cowboy. I don't think many Americans would take offense.

But as the author mentions, strict self censorship amongst broadcasters has effectively cut all scenes that mention "China" or "Chinese" just to be safe.

Sorry, no. You don't get to be a college professor teaching woke theory without spending decades polishing and teaching it. As someone who have been well-exposed to US higher education for decades, I can speak from experience. The theories that embody wokeness have been taught for at least the last 30 years.

Xenophobia is about prejudice. The joke in question relies on underlying prejudice towards the image of Chinese restaurants in America in order for the joke to land.

If you don’t understand the stereotype of Chinese restaurants the joke wouldn’t be funny to you.

Is it bad or legitimately harmful to perpetuate those types of stereotypes? Probably not. But I don’t think the quality of the joke makes up for it in this case.

> It would be the equivalent of a Chinese sitcom where a character might suggest that visit a Texas Barbecue you might get shot by some revolver-wielding cowboy. I don't think many Americans would take offense.

That’s fair enough, maybe I’m over analyzing. But you probably wouldn’t find that joke on TV in America either.

As an aside, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find a joke like that on an American TV show.

To the point: it definitely would not be removed from Foreign-made media before shown on American services. Especially as a result of some government-driven mandate.

I disagree with your main point -- subjects do not need to be well established before being presented in a college curriculum.

Case in point, there is a class at UCLA titled "Law of Elon Musk". I assume we both agree this class hasn't been polished for decades. And I imagine it's decidedly different than any prior class in related topics.

"I would support the <...> government blocking <...> purely on the grounds that [I believe] it stinks".

This is an unimaginably slippery slope. I think MOST american media these days stinks, but would not support any form of the above sentiment.

FWIW the notion of unscrupulous food vendors serving dog/cat meat is pretty common in other cultures, and it doesn't exclusively apply to Chinese restaurants. I've heard it in just about any context where meat is served.

To give a specific example, there's an old Soviet joke about a guy buying meat pierogi from a street vendor; after closely inspecting them, he asks: "So, did this meat bark or meow?", to which the seller replies, "Neither; it asked too many questions."