Funny White Men

A lot has been on Angry White Men and their predilection for violence and xenophobia. But, today I am going to write about Funny White Men. I have only encountered two but since this is my blog, I can skimp on empirical rigor.

The men I met both happened to be Belgian and both had taken it upon themselves to be the jesters of the group that we were a part of. One of them had it seemed taken an oath that everything that came out of his mouth would be funny. Given this exacting standard, it was only a matter of time before he said something racist or misogynistic or transphobic. He said something which effectively painted Vietnam as a giant brothel-cum-haven for sex reconstructive surgery. I wasn't a part of that particular conversation, but it was almost impossible to have a straight conversation with that guy because he would answer every question with a supposedly funny comment. "How long have you been in  Bristol?". "Oh, 200 years".  

My experience with the other guy was more direct. We were sat around a table in a pub with some other people, including a guy from Cuba. The Funny Belgian remarked that the Cuban was quite fair despite living on a sun-drenched island. "You should look like him", he said, pointing at me, throwing in the "no offence" suffix that all offenders use liberally. Put on the spot, I could only mumble that I wasn't offended. The Cuban guy replied that Cuba had a lot of ethnic diversity and he was fair because he had Spanish roots. "But, its so sunny there. You should look like him" the Funny Belgian said again, pointing at me. At that moment, I felt offended but was unable to articulate why. Even if I had been able to, I doubt he would have understood that he was trivializing race and ethnicity by reducing it to a question of skin tone. As though, race is a neutral construct and doesn't determine how the world perceives you. White people don't face discrimination for being tanned.

So, what's going on here? Is trying to be funny the refuge of the unattractive European male? His way of asserting his worth and desirability to the opposite sex? Whatever it is, there seems to be no getting away from the violence--physical or verbal--of white men. I don't mean to suggest that men are any less violent in India. In fact, maybe more. But that is a topic for another discussion.