In this solo episode, Trisha unpacks what happens in the split second after a racist joke lands — and what Cultural Intelligence (CQ) has to do with it.
What does it mean when your gut reacts before your thinking can catch up? How do biased jokes connect to something far more serious — and what does it take to decide, in real time, who you want to be? This episode explores the ADL Pyramid of Hate and where so-called "harmless" humour sits within it, alongside the very human challenge of maintaining CQ Drive when the world is contracting with fear and uncertainty.
Trisha also invites you to join a free virtual gathering for anyone using, learning, or simply curious about cultural intelligence.
Register for Trisha's free virtual CQ gathering (Friday 20 March, 10:00 AM Sydney time): Register here
Referenced: Episode 53 — The PAUSE Framework
Join Trisha in this journey of growth and discovery throughout the year via Substack or LinkedIn.
Transcripts
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[00:01:08] Cultural intelligence helps us to reach those moments of awareness we will talk about some aspects of cultural intelligence as we go today. But first, back to that joke,
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[00:01:49] My immediate response was shock. I felt it in my gut. There's a split second of processing. And I said, that's not funny. That's awful. I think he could see my upset and he said, I'm sorry. Perhaps I shouldn't have made it about Pakistani people. I should have made it about another group. And I said, no, no, not about any people, any human being.
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[00:02:48] This was the moment where you don't even have time to think about your thinking.
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[00:03:23] She has done significant work on hate crime legislation in South Africa. She brings a depth to this area that I have very limited knowledge of and I deeply respect. So we were presenting together a couple of days before I was told the joke for the Australian Psychological Society's Psychology and Cultures Interest Group, and it was a session of cultural intelligence and its role in fostering workplace inclusion and community cohesion.
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[00:04:35] It's also cultural appropriation, social avoidance, and or exclusion. Name calling, ridicule, bullying slurs and epithets dehumanization. Because that's what it is when you talk about other people in a way that makes them less than human in a way that you wouldn't care if this horrible thing that the joke mentioned happened to them.
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[00:05:34] Now, that might seem a big stretch. From attitudes and jokes right up there to genocide. But jokes aren't harmless. They are the base of something. And when we let them pass, when we don't say, that's not funny, that's awful. We leave the foundation unchallenged. It's not what's always said. Just a bit of fun. It's not just a bit of fun when your punchline is about people being mocked, harmed, injured, that is dehumanization and here's what made that joke land even harder for me personally, the convener of that very cultures and psychology interest group, the person who helps create the space where Hanlie and I got to do that work.
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[00:07:02] Sometimes we may not know anyone representing that group, and it may make it easier to snicker a bit and just let it go, but someone knows those people and someone represents that group and is proud to be from that group, whoever they are in the world. So it helps if we can make a decision. Of who we want to be in the moment.
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[00:07:36] Right now, we are living through a time of real fear and grief and jokes don't happen in a vacuum. They happen within the context of what's going on in society right now. The war in the Middle East continues. People in the region are living with bombing with terror and with loss that most of us cannot fully comprehend.
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[00:08:30] And the uncertainty around supply chains, around fuel, around global stability. I want to acknowledge that without making it the point, because the point isn't petrol prices. The point is that when we're afraid or when we are uncertain, we contract, we pull inward, we become less open and curious, less generous towards others who we may not know.
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[00:09:27] When the world feels like it might be pulling apart, and this my friends, dear listeners, is why we do what we do. This work, this process, this community, it matters more than ever, which is exactly why I'm looking forward to us getting together next Friday, the 20th of March. At 10:00 AM Sydney time, I'm hosting a virtual gathering.
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[00:10:27] We try and highlight some of the key people in the region who hopefully will be able to make it because some of the best things that come out of this work happen in the conversations between people who care about the same things. The link to register is in the show notes. Please share it with someone you think belongs in the room.
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[00:11:03] Thank you for listening today, and I look forward to you joining us again for the next episode of, the Shift.
