Discriminate and Switch: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A form of [[Bait and Switch]] comedy that teases with prejudice and discrimination, where one party looks like they're about to discriminate (or are) against someone for some politically incorrect reason, but in reality [[Dramatic Pause|...]] it's because they like avocado ice cream. (What? Don't judge it 'till you try it!)

 

 

The subversion is that while they aren't being discriminated against for being X minority, they ''are'' being discriminated for being Z equally bad and un-PC-to-discriminate-against minority.

 

{{examples}}

* In the ADV Films [[Gag Dub]] of ''[[Ghost Stories]]'', while the protagonists are defeating the [[Monster of the Week]], a pet bunny rabbit which has brought back to life, turned into a giant rabbit monster, and is chasing after its former caretaker, the caretaker says to her former pet

{{quote|"Shirotabi, please forgive me for bringing you back to life! I know now that it could never work between us. As much as we want it to, it could never be! Not because you're a rabbit, but because you're '''''BLACK!'''''"}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* In ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|Astonishing X-Men]]'':

'''The Thing:''' I meant Canadians. }}

* In an ''[[Archie Comics]]'' story from [[The Sixties]], Veronica, seeing Chuck and Jughead some distance away, tells Archie she doesn't want "his kind" at her upcoming party. Archie assumes she's prejudiced against blacks and launches into a tirade, saying if Chuck isn't welcome there, "you can take your party and [[Totally Radical|go plumb to blazes. Dig?]]" Veronica explains that Chuck is most welcome at the party, and that by "his kind" she meant Jughead, who's a "slob." Somehow this mollifies Archie, [[Fridge Logic|despite Jughead being his best friend]].

* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', white elf chief Cutter is lifemate to black elf Leetah. The series' [[Big Bad]], Winnowill, likes to call Leetah her "dark sister" and at one point starts a discussion with her about race. It turns out all elves consider skin color to be purely aesthetic - the discussion is actually about Cutter's animal heritage, which Winnowill considers ''vile''.

 

== Film ==

* In a variant, [[Rodney Dangerfield]] in ''[[Caddyshack]]'' brings his friend Mr. Wang to the country club. He warns the Asian not to admit to being Jewish, because the club is restricted.

* In the American remake of ''[[Death at a Funeral]]'' Elaine, a black woman is going to her uncle's funeral accompanied by her white fiance Oscar who is ''extremely'' aware that his prospective father in law hates him, the implication being that it is because he doesn't want a white man marrying his daughter. Actually it turns out Elaine's father just hates Oscar because he thinks Oscar is an idiot and he wanted Elaine to marry her ex, Derek, who is ''also'' white.

 

== Literature ==

* Vlad Taltos, of the ''[[Dragaera]]'' novels, is occasionally shocked when a Dragaeran despises him for being a Jhereg, as opposed to being an Easterner.

* In the ''[[Dalziel and Pascoe]]'' novels, DC Shirley Novello discovers that when the CID team go to the pub, she is always expected to fetch the drinks no matter whose round it was and assumes this is because she is a woman. She later discovers that it is simply a custom that the lowest ranking officer present has to get the drinks in.

* In the [[Mercedes Lackey]] ''The Last Herald-Mage'' trilogy, the eponymous herald-mage Vanyel is gay and extremely sensitive about it. When he discovers that people are trying to keep him at a distance, he assumes it's because he's gay. One of the other heralds sets him straight and explains that it isn't the fact that he's gay that scares everyone, but the fact that he's an uber-powerful mage with a less than warm and friendly personality, and under a lot of stress to boot - people are worried that he might freak out and level half the city.

 

* Diane on ''[[Cheers]]'' claims to have integrated her sorority. Turns out the oppressed masses for whom she secured membership were... girls with poorly publicized coming-out parties.

* In ''[[Gimme A Break]]'' a black female character was rejected for a job, and she thought it was because she was black. So while she was bringing discrimination charges, several black (male) employees seemed to gratuitously walk by. The character asserted they were just hired to refute the charges, causing the suspected racist to say, "And people wonder why I don't hire women!"

** Blanche dared to attend her prom with Benjamin, despite the scorn of others. Dorothy assumes Benjamin was black. Nope. He was a Yankee from New Jersey.

* ''[[The Kids in The Hall]]'' spoofed this. A white gay man is being bashed by his cab driver, but it turns out the cabbie thought he was Chinese.

* In ''[[Goodness Gracious Me]]'', one scene has one sketch where an Indian man comes out to his parents with his partner. The scene ends with him getting slapped and told he should have found a nice Indian Boy instead.

* In an episode of ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'', Hal thought that Abe and his friends picked on him at poker night. He spent a big chunk of the episode complaining about how you think such things don't matter any more until they come up and bite you in the arse, all the while the subtext is that it's for him being white and them being black. Eventually, he confronts Abe and, after some baiting, exclaims "You and your friends ganged up on me because ''I'm not a professional''", the others being lawyers, dentists and so on.

* ''[[7th Heaven|Seventh Heaven]]'': Reverend Camden overheard an argument between Matt's Jewish father-in-law and Ruthie's Muslim friend that sounded like they were attacking each other's religions. When he came into the hall to break it up, he realized they were arguing about their favorite baseball teams.

** In another episode the Camdens are hosting a party with that same Muslim family, only to find nobody wants to attend. He eventually finds out that people assume the family is French because of their last name. (The episode was made around the time the Iraq War started. Subverted somewhat because people are ''still'' nervous about attending when the truth is found out.)

* ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', when Emerson is refused service in a bar not because he's black but because he's tall.

* Used on ''[[Blue Collar TV]]'' in the "Fat Family" sketch, when the daughter brings home her boyfriend: "It's not that we don't like you because you're ''Jewish''...it's because you're-" * look of disgust* "-''skinny''."

* Done beautifully right as ''[[The Daily Show]]'' was getting ready to announce [[Barack Obama]]'s Presidential win. [[Stephen Colbert]] has been sulking through the entire show because McCain is losing.

{{quote|'''[[Stephen Colbert]]:''' Now, I'm no supporter of Obama. But if he does win... Anyone would have to admit, this is a night long overdue. We, as a nation, have reached that mountaintop because at long last, the United States have fulfilled the greatest part of freedom. We have a President... who is Hawaiian.}}

** Of course, she confidently replies that she logged time over Iraq in the Gulf War (it was 1997, [[War On Terror|the other one]] hadn't happened yet).

** There's also a notable inversion of this trope in an episode where the SG-1 team meets with some aliens who are understandably somewhat uncomfortable with the team's resident Jaffa, Teal'c. {{spoiler|Turns out it's because they're racists (in the non-Fantastical sense).}}

* The unfortunately short-lived ''[[Andy Richter Controls the Universe]]'' contained an amusing variation. In one episode Andy delivers an offensive tirade against the Irish, not realizing that his new coworker is Irish. The new coworker is also black, so when the incident is reported to Andy's superiors, they assume he was insulting black people. When he corrects them that he was insulting the Irish they reply, "Oh... well then what's the problem?". The scene then smash cuts to another scene of said superiors being chewed out by ''their'' superiors, and the cycle repeats.

* In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', a Cardassian scientist tells O'Brien that she's 'not used to your kind being good engineers'. 'You mean humans?' 'I mean males.'

'''Ted''': ''(to Barney and Marshall)'' How do you not like ''[[Field of Dreams]]''?! }}

* Played totally straight in an episode of ''[[The Father Dowling Mysteries]]'' in which the crime involves an African-American family. Father Dowling's housekeeper gets on well with the wise old grandfather, but when he suggests taking their relationship further she explains she can't do that, they're too different. Because he's ''Episcopalian''. And [["Everybody Laughs" Ending|everyone shares a good laugh]] about religious intolerance.

{{quote|'''Martha:''' He's just kind to me, that's all. And not everyone's that considerate, what with me being... [points at her face]

'''Jenny:''' ...a Londoner? }}

** In an edition of Weekend Update, [[Tina Fey]] accused Jimmy Fallon of being a "specist" after reporting a story about a man being attacked by two black bears, asking "if it was polar bears would you have said 'two white bears'?" Jimmy responds by revealing that he is married to a black bear, shows the audience the wedding photo, and then asks Tina "Who's the idiot now-- you, or me, the guy who married a black bear?" making this [[Inception|a subversion of an already subversive trope]].

* [[Tosh.0|Daniel Tosh]] does this a lot, by saying something that sounds racist then clarifying it, [[Hypocritical Humor|usually followed by admonishing the audience for laughing when they thought he was being racist]].

* In ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', Lucille complains about having been woken by a "colored man." The color in question being ''blue''; her son-in-law was trying out for the Blue Man Group and didn't warn her before coming over.

* Played with on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', when a couple of African-American hunters are accosted in a bar by a hostile white skinhead. His taunts seem like the standard "Your kind don't belong in here" schtick ... until his eyes are revealed. In this case, "your kind" means ''monster-hunters'', because the skinhead {{spoiler|and everyone else in the bar}} is possessed.

* Used in a frequently quoted bit from ''[[Seinfeld]]''. Jerry's dentist tells him a mildly offensive Jewish joke, then explains that it's OK, because the dentist just converted to Judaism. Jerry later complains that he thinks the dentist merely converted for the jokes. When someone says, "And that offends you, as a Jew?" Jerry says, "No, it offends me as a comedian!"

** And in the same episode, Jerry tells a joke about dentists and gets accused of being an "anti-dentite". When a Jewish dentist talks about how his people have been persecuted, Jerry asks "The Jews?", to which he responds, "No, dentists!".

* In ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', Moseby tells his midget older brother that he was given special treatment from his mother. Why? Because he was ''lactose intolerant''! This turns out to be the older brother's [[Berserk Button]].

 

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

 

{{quote|There's someone using a cell phone in here. [Pause] Black. [Pause] No, the cell's black, dude's white.}}

* Tim Minchin would like to share some thoughts on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw prejudice.]

* In a standup routine, [[Dave Chappelle]] was talking about an incident where he was confronted by the KKK. "I mean, I was shocked. It's the 21st century." ([[Beat]]) "Are there people still afraid of ghosts?"

 

== Video Games ==

** So... Isn't that more like "[[Crosses the Line Twice|Discriminate And Discriminate]]"?

** It still fits, because he attacked them for a different reason than Kendl (and the audience) would have assumed.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Appeared in ''[[Dork Tower]]'' when [[Perky Goth]] Gilly goes to London, [http://www.dorktower.com/2006/10/06/comics-archive-841/ shown here].

* Played with in ''[[The Pig's Ear]]''. When Barkeep is looking for some hired help, a couple of the rejected applicants assume they didn't get the job because of their race, even though poor Barkeep was thinking of something completely different (like the black guy with a pair of hooks instead of hands).

* In ''[[NSFW Comix]]'', Becky thinks Grant, Psymantha and Spatula have been driven to see a psychiatrist because they found out {{spoiler|she has a penis.}} Later on they assure her that {{spoiler|her penis}} wasn't the cause of their distress: It was walking in on her {{spoiler|masturbating to a picture of their [[Gonk]] roommate, Cuthwald.}}

* In the [[Mega Crossover]] [[Fanfic]][[Web Comic|comic]] ''[[Roommates 2007]]'' after Mrs. Norrington and Sarah find [[Ho Yay|Valjean resting an unconscious Javert's head in his lap]], the former comments that the two of them seemed "so... you know... the f-word..." She means "[[Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey|French]]," of course.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

== Western Animation ==

** [[Don't Explain the Joke|So, that's why he never suspected Redcorn of sleeping with his wife?]]

** Another episode had Hank acting very angry and being off-put to a black man who'd arrived to fix his water heater, and Ladybird, picking up his hostility toward the stranger, attacked him. Everyone assumed Hank was racist, performing church songs in front of his house to "cure his intolerance," and Peggy got him to do some humiliating things to "learn to overcome." Eventually, when a new, white repairman came, Hank and Ladybird acted the same way- Hank just hates repairmen.

{{quote|'''Malory''': I am not [a bitch]! Why, because I don't want Sterling to end up with a woman like Lana Kane? My God...a black...ops field agent?!?

'''Pam''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Thought she was going in a]] ''[[Lampshade Hanging|whoooole]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|other direction with that]]. }}

* ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'': In the episode where Filbert (a turtle) and Hutch (a cat) get married, Hutch's mom repeatedly lectures her how cats and turtles are natural enemies and can never get along. In the end, it turns out she only thinks so because {{spoiler|she's always angry with Hutch's dad (who's ''a turtle''). But she still loves him}}.

* In one episode of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'', [[Corey Feldman]] and [[Corey Haim]] [[It Makes Sense in Context|travel to Brazil to save the Bush twins]]. They go into a bar and order a cola with two straws. The bartender tells them he doesn't serve their kind. They think he means Americans. [[Double Subversion|He actually means anybody who's been on the cover of teen magazines.]]

 

== Real Life ==

* Inverted in Northern Ireland, where the people on the two ends of the religious and national conflict also support different football teams. Just stating that you support one of those teams will turn half the population hostile in your immediate vicinity.

* One particular news story has someone's quote as the title of the article preview, which said "I won't photograph ugly people." Only when you actually click the link to read the whole article that the person who said the quote means that [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/19/jennifer-mckendrick-penns_n_931324.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl10%7Csec1_lnk1%7C87871 she won't take pictures of bullies for the high school yearbook] since she considers bullies as ugly people.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Prejudice Tropes]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Just for Pun]]