In the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of hearing a wide array of feedback relating to the most recent issue of the Pennsylvania Punch Bowl Humor Magazine.
As a member of Penn's large and diverse Asian American community and as an editor of Punch Bowl, however, I was concerned to hear that some people found the issue racist.
Last week, the chair of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition wrote an editorial suggesting that the latest issue of Punch Bowl perpetuated negative stereotypes about Asians and implying that the staff of the Punch Bowl ought to undergo sensitivity training.
The well-intentioned efforts of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition to defend the interests of Asian American students at Penn deserve more recognition and praise. However, I think that recent hostility towards the Punch Bowl is badly misdirected.
It is my opinion that there is a difference between racial humor and racist humor.
The jokes in the issue function by holding racism up for ridicule. They expose the absurdity of stereotyping and discrimination. They invert and marginalize hurtful prejudices. They do not use those stereotypes to mock Asians or any other group.
By ridiculing and thereby disempowering bigotry, I believe that the Punch Bowl's Diversity Issue advances efforts to end discrimination and prejudice against all minority groups at Penn.
The Punch Bowl is a humor magazine, and entertainment is its most important goal. However, I also acknowledge that writers should be aware of the consequences of their work.
The current staff of the Punch Bowl has demonstrated integrity and accountability before and after publication of the latest issue. Sangam, a discussion society focusing on Asian issues, hosted a recent session to discuss humor and race. A diverse cross-section of Punch Bowl's editorial staff made themselves available to hear concerns, and I felt that the dialogue was rigorous and productive.
While I personally regret that misinterpretations of the magazine have caused offense, I do not believe that the issue was racist in intent or execution, nor do I think that the staff of the Punch Bowl has been dismissive or irresponsible in responding to feedback.
Activism takes many forms. Sensitivity training and discussion groups are important tools for progress, but they are not the only tools.
Historically, arts, athletics and satire have also played important roles in achieving social justice. Humor is subversive; humor is revolutionary. Humor has a long and decorated record of fighting the good fight, from Aristophanes to Jonathan Swift, from pioneering political cartoonist William Hogarth to contemporary television host Stephen Colbert.
Humor is one means of speaking truth to power. It would be narrow and myopic of Penn's Asian community to assume that the reclamation of the Asian American voice is exclusively reserved for those who favor traditional forms of political activism.
It is an honor to write for a publication that serves a community like Penn, which I have found to be populated by intelligent and critical readers. I believe that our University benefits from an atmosphere that supports the freedom of thought and diverse expressions of activism. I doubt Penn students would be much interested in mandated sensitivity workshops. We should be taught how to think, not what to think.
I applaud the vigilance and activism of Penn's Asian American community, but intellectual dogmatism can be every bit as dangerous as racism.
The Asian leadership at Penn must not create an atmosphere in which students must choose between loyalty to their ethnic community and support of intellectual independence.
We Asians are individual thinkers, not a mindless collective. We Asians are activists, not submissive geishas and impotent caricatures.
If we plead for suspension of the marketplace of ideas and beg the University to dictate political correctness to us, we will be guilty of worse than docility or complacency.
We will have become lazy and comfortable in our victimhood. We must embrace diverse forms of activism and speak with our own voices.
The author is a College senior and managing editor of the Pennsylvania Punch Bowl.
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