First off, this isn’t funny, and not because it’s lowbrow or juvenile or crass. I like lowbrow and juvenile and crass. It’s just not funny. Reading through the comment sections of various UFC 127 related posts, I’m alarmed that many people, especially those who read this glorious bastion of MMA goodness, find this humorous at all. It’s akin to laughing at those Miller Lite commercials with the rude bartenders, which is only OK if you’re over 50 years old and have given up on all of your dreams.
I do want to thank Mr. Jorge Rivera for providing me with a barometer of good taste, however.
There is something about this video that I find interesting: the stereotypes Jorge and company use when they “travel around the world.” Because, you know, Chinese people make “ding ding” sounds! Haha! And people from islands go “ooga booga”! Haha! And Irish people drink a lot! Wahoo! Why not throw in some Germans wearing lederhosen being all efficient? And some whiny French people in striped shirts and berets? And might as well throw in a professional fighter wearing a bad designer t-shirt and acting like a meathead!
I’m not offended by Jorge playing on racial stereotypes. (I’m more offended that he made a mockery of Monty Python.) I am curious why – in a world where people live in tall towers of political correctness – no one else has made a stink about it. Is it because people Michael Bisping is kind of cocky and rubs people the wrong way? Is it because Jorge Rivera is of Puerto Rican descent? Does Jorge’s personal tragedy give him leeway? Because if the roles were reversed, if Michael Bisping called out Jorge Rivera in a grass skirt and coconut bikini (those crazy Island People!), we wouldn’t hear the end of it.
Why is Chael Sonnen the devil when he insinuates that Ed Soares belongs to a tribe of piglets, but Jorge Rivera gets a pass for stereotyping not one, not two, but three cultures in less than a minute? Is there an important distinction between these two things that I’m missing?
Because the only distinction I see is that people generally like Jorge Rivera and generally dislike Michael Bisping and Chael Sonnen. That and a lot of misplaced indignation.
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