Posted on 11/20/2006 7:03:27 AM PST by torchthemummy
Michael Richards exploded in anger as he performed at a famous L.A. comedy club last Friday, hurling racial epithets that left the crowd gasping, and TMZ has obtained exclusive video of the ugly incident.
(Excerpt) Read more at tmz.com ...
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While both are shocking, the video with the children is far worse, imnho. Not just the language, but far worse is the behaviour that is being encouraged.
"Remind me of someone severely off their meds or mentally unstable."
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By the way, it's SEINFELD, not STEINFELD.
Yes, perhaps, and NO.
Blacks using the words towards each other in a low class way is one thing. Whites using it towards blacks in a manner to demean and dehumanize a black, or to delegitimize their right to speak out at a comedy club, is a totally different thing. If you don't get that, I can't help you.
The "c" word directed to women evokes a similar response. A Mexican using the word "gringo" to refer to whites, is meant by the Mexican to dehumanize, but most whites don't let it because they could give a rat's ass what Mexican's think. I got called a "wog" on a train by a British secretary type in Europe one time because I have dark skin,and I thought it was hysterical. Someday, blacks may have the same attitude towards use of the N word, but that day is not now. So trying to make it ok by pointing out examples of those who do use it does not work. Two different contexts, two different meanings. Richards' meaning was "know your place in this country, boy".
Certainly different meanings. But, that doesn't mean using it in the non-racist context isn't bad.
Either way it should not be okay.
Later Read
What would be the non-racist context that a white person could use the word? "Well, these two Ns walk into a bar...."
Maybe if the word came back into everyday usage as a synonym for "black", which is how it started off. It was just the southern pronounciation of the word "negro", which is Spanish for black. However, I don't think that development is likely.
Perhaps you could use the word in an academic context, discussing its etymology, or its effect on discourse. Or you could use it in a novel if the characters use the word in a realistic way--the "Webb defense". We're not talking about that here, though.
This audience did not think it was funny. And even if some did, so what? Shouldn't we strive to be better than that? His tone was one of pure anger and vile hatred. I am bothered by some Freepers not being able to recognize true racism and hatred when they observe it. Is your view so skewed that you are unable to watch this video and condemn this person for being completely out of line and adding to the courseness of our society? Just because others do it and aren't condemned, does that mean we stop condemning?
In any event the perpetuation of the word would not have continued without a more common understanding of it's usage.
It also says Redneck means Presbyterian dissenter.
The real meaning of Redneck is a dirt poor farmer that is out in the fields all the livelong day until his neck is burned so red that Angels cry and the Devil takes credit.
I agree with you, blacks should work to eliminate it from their language if they want to stamp out the word. I think most middle class blacks would if they could. Unfortunately, no one has control over language, and good luck dictating the usage of slang in urban neighborhoods, especially where you have MTV and hip-hop to encourage the worst in people.
The double standard is nothing new. When I was a kid in the 60s, I played football with black kids who called each other N 10 times an hour. God forbid if I or any other white kid called any one of them that, though. As I said above, it meant something else TO THEM if I used it, even if I said it innocently, using it the same way they did. Once a person realizes that, understanding what to do is easy.
What I find interesting is that you cannot bring yourself to condemn a clearly hate-filled rant in a specific situation. Whether or not black comedians drop the n-bomb is completely irrelevant to what is on this video. If you are unable to recognize the vile hatred in this man's demeanor and his intent with the use of that word, then, I guess you are beyond hope and I feel quite sorry for you. Hopefully, someday, God will come into your heart and remove the biases that you carry with you and then you will be able to see hate when it is present and stand up against it, unconditionally, in all it's forms
So the hecklers were saying that Michael Richards was from Georgia or Florida?
You mean blacks have turned the term into a negative racial stereotype.
What I find interesting is that you cannot bring yourself to condemn a clearly hate-filled rant in a specific situation. Whether or not black comedians drop the n-bomb is completely irrelevant to what is on this video. If you are unable to recognize the vile hatred in this man's demeanor and his intent with the use of that word, then, I guess you are beyond hope and I feel quite sorry for you. Hopefully, someday, God will come into your heart and remove the biases that you carry with you and then you will be able to see hate when it is present and stand up against it, unconditionally, in all it's forms
Will he blame his awful behavior on alcoholism or homosexuality?
MTV and BET are both owned by Viacom (same as CBS and Infinity Broadcasting). The corporation persists in negative depictions of black America and encourages socially caustic behavior. "The man" is playing them.
If there is a double standard in word usage, then there is a separation in the way they look at other people. How are we supposed to move beyond skin color if they look at the color of the skin of someone talking as much or more than what he is saying? It leads some black people to reject or shun the successful for "acting white".
You don't HONESTLY believe that the paying audience has the "right" to heckle the performer who the audience has paid to hear, do you?
It throws off the timing, the mood, and derails the performance so that the performer can talk one on one in front of everyone who paid with some loudmouth.
Throw the bum out for disrupting the show. Again, I blame the club for letting the ordeal go on way too long.
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