On Tuesday a few of the girls and I decided to meet at a Japanese restaurant. We were watching the chef cook in front of us and putting the food on our plates. As we were eating and enjoying our meals one of the guys try to make a joke about the chef and started acting like he was speaking Japanese but was not and that joke caused of the girls who were mixed with Chinese feel offended. The girl who felt offended told him that making jokes like that are not funny and just are ignorant. She proceeds to tell him there is a difference between Chinese,Korean,Japanese and that if you do not know what one culture does you say Asian so you do not offend another race/culture. He proceeds to tell her to just relax and take a joke. She proceeds to tell him that he is not understanding that making a stereotype and putting it along all Asian cultures is very offensive and stereotyping. He tells her he was not trying to offend her and was trying to make a joke. She lastly tells him that he would not like her going saying that Africans,Jamaican, Haitians are the same when they are not. I told my friends we should not cultural jokes at all because it is very ignorant and do not want to label someone and wrong with that label.
So during this lunch I learned that even when trying to make a joke you have to be careful you are not stereotyping and not going to offend anyone off your joke. In the Reflect And Relate textbook talks about high and low context cultures meaning not to presume what is in everyone’s culture ( Chapter 6 Cultural Differences, high and low context, page 134). When you are talking about a culture do not just assume it is everyone’s culture and to not put assumptions or stereotypes into some culture because you do not who you are offending.
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