Family Guy is so racist, it’s not racist

For those of you who aren't aware, Family Guy is an animated series featuring the Griffins, a very dysfunctional family. It has been going on for a while. Seth MacFarlane has produced 11 seasons so far. This show has attracted the attention of many viewers and also the critics who labeled it as offensive and immoral.

First of all, as a personal fan of this sitcom, I believe that those critics need to get a sense of humor. People should stop ignoring the big elephant in the room and start accepting that blue comedy is becoming a part of our lives. We get it, children get it, and everybody gets it. Honestly, the less taboo these topics become, the less intriguing they become and the more mature and astute kids become.

As for the offensive part, I think MacFarlane was clever by featuring racist and stereotypical representations of all ethnicities and religions on this show. They are so stupid and offensive, they make us reflect upon our own perceptions of other people and help us realize how silly these things look like.

One thing I learned in sociology class that was all too new to me is that the terms race and ethnicity mean different things (shocking, I know). Race is a group of people who share genetically inherited physical features that distinguish them from other people. On the other hand, the ethnicity of a group of people refers to how they identify with one another on the basis of common ancestry, nationality, or cultural heritage. I could look like someone, but identify with the culture of someone else more than the person I look like. Which is cool. But the existence of different ethnicities creates stereotypes, prejudice and descrimination that we socially construct.

Stereotypes are inaccurate generalizations about a group of people. We hate stereotypes when they are about us, yet somehow manage to create dozens when they are about other people. In every culture we have the main group and “the other.” It’s the people of the city and the foreigners who live in it. Here in Qatar, for example, we have Qataris and non Qataris. In the US, you have white people and then the other colored people who tend to have beautiful babies.

Movies and TV shows play a huge role in shaping those stereotypes of “the other.” They subconsciously let us behave towards them in a certain manner and therefore, discriminate them. What people try to do now is create this “new racism.” Basically, “we are colorblind, racism doesn’t and shouldn’t exist, we’re all the same.” Sounds sweet. But the problem with that concept is that it fails to recognize that people are different, that we are not the same, that people were treated differently “back then” and might still be treated in that manner.

Now this is where Family Guy beats the rest (at least in my opinion). The show is a social commentary of how people behave and think about others. In order to show that, through comedy, they employ all sorts of stereotypes. “They make fun of jewish people, dorky white people, hispanic people, arab people, catholic, homosexuals … if you can think of a race or religion it has been made fun of on that show.” My personal favorite is Consuela, the Hispanic maid:

When people see those things, they laugh. Yes, we get offended, but eventually, we realize how stupid it would be if we actually viewed people in that manner. The show also makes fun of racist people by having racist characters. Brian, who is a white dog, doesn’t pick up black guys in his cab. The constant bombardment of those representations remind us of our differences, the racism that we face and the discrimination we have towards others. When we start to see how ridiculous it looks like, we start to change our views but respect and accept differences.

You should definitely check out the show if you haven't. I have personal DVDs of most seasons because I just love this show so much. It's so funny.

The Race Mind at the Races

Image taken by - Jassim Al Rumaihi

For this week I decided to go out for one of the flat races here at the Equestrian and Races Club in Doha. The aim was to look at the whole celebration from a sociological point of view, and how can race and ethnicity be interpreted. I got there and started to observe with all the vocabs we learnt in class in mind.

As I was looking around, I took one of the races booklets that had all the details of the races that were going to take part. I opened the first page and it had a list of names of all the people involved that helped in organizing the event. Some of those were long, with four or five names in one single line. Other was shorter having only the first and second name. In Qatar, not all Qataris are categorized as one ethnic group. Within the Qataris themselves there are many groups that share some ethnic origins in terms of having a shared ancestry. For example, Al Rumaihi’s would be one group, and each individual within that tribe would affiliate to the other as a person with an ethnic bond.

Then there are larger groups that have been tagged by the society. For example you would have Eaal Elgebael which translates to "sons of tribes" and they are groups of people that share Arab roots whether it stems from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or other parts of the Arab world. Another known tag name are the Hollah, and they are Arabs that have immigrated to Persia for a while and returned after that to the Arabian nations in the Gulf. There are also other categorizations such as Hathar and Baddo or Bedouins.

What is interesting though is what I found in the second page of the booklet. When I turned to it it was a list of horses, each with its own number and each with its own record. The top of the page was titled in bold letter “Pure Arabians”, and that made me think. Do horses really care about their origins as humans do? Of course not. Their brains may be considered as less developed than humans by scientists. Yet, their eyes are blind enough to see no color line.

Syriana Indiana

Growing up you meet people from different natures, cultures and ethnicities, people who make you wonder, “What if I grew up with a different background?” Shannon Farhoud is someone I met who definitely strikes many questions. When you first meet Shannon and ask her where she’s from, she can’t provide a one word answer. After it takes her some time to formulate her sentence she usually says, “My dad is Syrian, my mom is Indian Portuguese, and I was born in Canada and grew up in Kuwait.”

Shannon’s parents grew up in very mixed cultures. Her father, who left Syria at the age of 18, to Germany and Austria, eventually moved to Kuwait for work and spoke three different languages, English, Arabic and German. Her mother grew up in India and studied in a British school and later studied in a college in London and finally moved to Kuwait. She spoke English, Hindi and Konkani. Shannon was brought up in a diverse household. This is an obvious form of socialization, which is the process by which people learn the ways of the society in which they live in. As a result of her education, which was mostly in an American school, Shannon can only speak English and Arabic.

Typically, one would identify a Syrian as very pale in complexion, colored eyes with a thick Syrian accent. Shannon has nothing of those attributes. However, Shannon’s natural features indicate that she is more likely to be Indian than Syrian.




Sociologists would definitely look at the religion aspect and see how it affected Shannon’s socialization as she grew up and matured into who she is today. As a baby, Shannon was baptized and lived with a Muslim father and a Christian mother. Growing up, she took Islamic classes in school, but also attended both religious houses. She was taught about both religions and celebrated both. As a child, Shannon was given the choice as to which religion she wanted to affiliate with when she got older. Now, Shannon sees so many similarities between both religions that she doesn’t identify herself as either Muslim or Christian, but practices both religions.

Ten years after Shannon was born her father passed away, which left her living and growing up with the primary agent in Shannon’s nurturing, her mother. Some other primary groups and most important agents that definitely influenced Shannon’s emotions, attitude and behaviors are friends and her school.

Born in 1989, Shannon will be 22 tomorrow and is now a journalism student in Northwestern University in Qatar, who travels the world and is constantly learning about new cultures, religions and backgrounds. Shannon, who could be considered a melting pot of ideas, has a constant shift in culture. We’re living in an increasingly global society; affecting agents are different than the past. Another important agent that plays a big part in Shannon’s life is media. Growing up she watched TV shows in Arabic and English and now, Shannon and her mom share quality time watching Turkish TV shows that are dubbed in Arabic. One of the main reasons why Turkish shows are aired on Arabic TV is because the Turkish and Arabic cultures are very similar and related. From that, one can see how Shannon and her mom not only take in the language, which plays a huge role, but have constant exposure to the Middle Eastern culture.