Posted on 11/23/2006 1:40:47 PM PST by neverdem
When "Seinfeld" comedian Michael Richards lost his cool and began a racist rant at some noisy customers in a Hollywood comedy club, it seemed to surprise a number of people. It shouldn't. What is actually surprising is that it has taken this long for some airhead made famous by a very popular but insipid television series to flip out within the context of today's minstrel entertainments.
Naturally, a lawyer representing the affronted audience members did not feel that it was enough for Richards to apologize on television; he still needs to pay them some money for what they had to suffer at his hands.
The question, however, is what exactly did the patrons suffer?
What they actually suffered, if anything, was an unintended caricature of a redneck in heated rage, expressing conventional disdain for black people. Richards said that 50 years ago, the black members of the noisy group of comedy club customers would have been hanged, and stabbed in the backside with a pitchfork. Before leaving the stage, Richards reminded the assembled that when it was all over, he would still be wealthy and the black people would still be, well, N-words.
The painfully unfunny comedian Paul Rodriguez performed on the same stage that evening and told the press that if one uses the N-word and is not African-American, a lot of explaining will have to be made.
In the interest of equality, no black comedian should get a pass when using insulting and denigrating words in the middle of an act. It all seems very simple to me. We do not need to accept the conventions of insult and denigration that have been established by black comedians and rappers.
And I do not feel that there should be a freedom of speech issue raised either. Nor do I feel that any laws need to be passed.
This was another moment to question what the ongoing vulgarization of our popular culture has actually come to mean. Two groups - women and black people - are disdainfully addressed and demeaned constantly. Only one has made any protest against being the constant butt of overstated vulgarity. White women have stood up against the misogyny in popular entertainment, but black people have not had much to say about the denigration.
Rap producers and others in the business of selling anything that gives a little spice to the minstrel content of our popular culture have been known to claim that the N-word has become a common means of expression and has taken on a universal understanding through rap. We can now be treated to young people of all ethnic groups referring to each other when using the word.
Does that prove anything? I think not. When Richard Pryor first made liberal use of the N-word, he could not have imagined what emerged in the wake of his performances. But when Pryor himself took a position against minstrel updates, no one listened to him. He had passed out the right of irresponsibility and could not take it back.
So what remains before us is the issue of coming to terms with a popular culture in which the N-word, bitches and hos have become no more than condiments in a particularly unappetizing meal. We need not ban their use, but we do need to face the fact that we have been hustled far more often than not.
Love the comments on that video.
"Could we have a little vocabulary over here, please!"
And that, IMHO, can be taced back to the do-you-own-thing mentality that started in the 1960's and snowballed since then. Back in the 1950s (and before), people dressed -- hats, gloves, etc. -- just to go to shopping. Boy, have things changed.
As my mother (RIP) drummed in my head: "Manners are free. Get the best you can."
"denigration"!! Racist!
Yep, I long for those days... Johnny Carson was one of those who never had to 'say' the words.. just a look.. and it was always very funny.
Oh, chill out. Whatta sensitive bunch. In the old vaudeville and burlesque, insults would fly back and forth between the audience and the performers. In strip clubs too. That was a natural part of the scene. The problem is, I'll admit, that burlesque has dissapeared and what used to be low culture has become mainstream culture, and is receiving the kind of attention and scrutiny the old low culture never did. The answer is to segregate the cultures. Again. For now, recognize that we, the mainstream, are in the gutter.
I was damaged by the Billy Crystal blackface act on the Comic Relief for Katrina special last week.
Where is my money?
Just saw on CNN that Richards is calling out to JJ and Sharpton to help him.
Some years back I met my first prospective father-in-law who lived in Milwaukee. I lived in a medium-sized town La Crosse. The first question he asked me was how were the farmers doing on my side of the state. I almost burst out laughing, but that's what people think of when you're not from the big city. It's funny that my prospective f-i-l thought I should know about farming (I know just about zilch). Because as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said in his autobio "the first thing I thought of when I'd heard I'd been drafted by Milwaukee was farmers". Stereotypes are common and held by all sorts of different people.
I always thought Blazing Saddles was funny.
It's only okay for liberals.
There was a time when a person acted like an ass and was written off as a buffoon. Now, the race baiters have to get involved. It is a guarantee that these so called civil rights activists love when this kind of thing happens. It's money in their pocket.
Oh Lawd....that is SO funny, I was laughing out loud!
Thanks very much for posting :-)
Absolutely 100% on the money. Love Chris Rock.
Apparently Richards has had a history of such behavior -- not only toward blacks but toward Jews. He also called a female comedian the C-word.
Richards clearly needs help, and by that I don't mean a lesson in "tolerance" or "sensitivity." He needs medication or psychiatric intervention -- fast.
I don't think he is mentally ill at all. He's just an ass who doesn't seem to have much respect for anyone.
There was no plan to promote the DVD by Richards doing ANYTHING on stage or flipping out on stage. Get real.
Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David are zillionaires, and are among some of the few in Hollywood who have a lot of class, and did not need that kind of absurd promotion to make more money on the DVD. Get real (again).
You must have had too much of that incredibly tasty hot chili at Fuddruckers outside of San Antonio.
;-)
Unfortunately, such people as well as general oafs have been redefined, in our PC age, as being in need of Official intervention of some sort, whether it be medical, sociological or whatever. People no longer have the ability to collectively just shrug their shoulders and say "oh well, he's just an ass" and walk away to busy themselves with something less trivial.. They need to make a point of identifying him as being in need of some sort of Official Program. This allows them to not only feel superior to the Ass but to delude themselves into thinking that they have the Divine ability to diagnose a complex psychiatric condition via news reports and the internet, and to prescribe the Ultimate Solution. This makes (some) people Feel Good about themselves; that they have performed a magical DIAGNOSIS and therefore are on an intellectual par with the greatest minds of Medicine and Psychiatry.
The rest of us just mutter "oh Lawd, what an ass!" under our breath and walk away to do something that actually has some relevance.
I have a hard time understanding what the deal is. Growing up, I was always told "words will never hurt me".
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