Posted on 11/28/2006 3:53:47 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez
I’ve never been a fan of Seinfeld, and I’m not very familiar with the characters. When the show went into syndication a few years ago, I began to come across it whenever I did any channel surfing. I don’t know anything about Michael Richards, the guy who played Kramer on the show.
When I read about his onstage rant at a comedy club in Hollywood last week, I figured the guy has some serious anger management problems. Anyone who has performed in front of a live audience knows of the danger posed by hecklers; it comes with the territory.
Hence, when Mr. Richards was interrupted by a small group at a nearby table, he should have been competent enough to deal with it without engaging in racist invective. Having said that, let’s look at what it means to lose your temper and make a few stupid remarks in the ultra-sensitive country that we’ve become. Since the guy imploded onstage, the video quickly made its way onto the international airwaves, resulting in the type of condemnation that should be reserved for, say, a man who butchered 2 people and got away with it.
When OJ Simpson was acquitted by a predominantly black jury, there were scenes of black people celebrating the gross injustice all across the country. The pain on the faces of the Brown and Goldman families, as they sat in the courtroom watching the murderer being congratulated for beating the system, was heart-wrenching to all decent people. Yet, we didn’t hear from Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, or any other so-called black leaders.
Anyone with an IQ higher than a fire hydrant knew the man was the killer. Imagine if a white man had just slaughtered 2 black people and left that much evidence behind. If a white jury acquitted him, there’d be rioting from coast to coast. Recently, when the obnoxious monster tried to thumb his nose at the public again with his “If I did it” obscenity, where was the denunciation from the black community?
Why didn’t we see Mr. Sharpton on the David Letterman Show castigating those responsible for foisting that pathological display of arrogance on our nation? Are a few forbidden words by a disgruntled, has-been comic worse than a tantalizing tongue-in-cheek “confession” from a murderer who cheated justice? To say our priorities are distorted is a gross understatement.
When someone like Mr. Richards makes a bunch of stupid comments he’s immediately crucified and no one seems to have the courage to point out that it was merely some angry words from an emotionally disturbed man, it wasn’t homicide.
How many people know that the blacks at that table were referring to Richards as a “white cracker”?
Evidently, it’s okay to be pejorative toward whites if you’re black. In fact, it’s acceptable for blacks to use scurrilous language toward other blacks, as is often heard in the lyrics of rap music. Moreover, blacks can use similarly disparaging words toward other ethnic groups and refer to women in the vilest type of street language imaginable.
The question is: do blacks have some special privileges granted to them by the Constitutional description of freedom of speech?
Whites and blacks have fought, and often died, in the struggle for equality. However, it appears that what we have arrived at is a disproportionate equality that gives blacks the exclusive right to be offended by non-blacks. When Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock make racist comments about whites during their standup routines, there’s no hue and cry from the white community. But, let a white comic take similar jabs at blacks and you’d have an earthquake that would shatter the Richter Scale.
Undoubtedly, there are those reading this who will accuse me of racism, but that too, comes with the territory. Someone must point out these things to a public that has become robotically trained to go into knee-jerk mode every time some white fool blows his cool. This marvelous, melting-pot experiment in democracy will never work until we rid ourselves of this one-sided view of race relations. If certain words and phrases are to be prohibited from use by one segment of society, they must be prohibited from use by all. Otherwise, the countless number of lives lost, both black and white, to obtain “equality for all,” has resulted in a most bizarre and incongruous definition of the phrase.
The guy was pissed off and responded rudely. I heard nothing of what was said prior. Chris Rock is probably qualified to comment on the M*****F***** though.
Ice Cube, in his 1994 "Lethal Injection" album, called white women "cave bitches." Imagine if a rock or country star had called black women names that other black hip-hop artists have used.
It's all hypocrisy, wrapped up in a PC environment.
Interesting thought.. Amazing that people with one black parent and one white parent are ALWAYS black people.. and often times militant black people more often than not..
Amazing when you consider black culture really sucks.. in many vectors..
Nope....it's affirmative action in action...../sarcasm
IMHO....I feel that if the people don't like the N word, then they shouldn't be using it AT ALL....
I don't like the word, I think its as dirty as the F word, so therefore I don't use either....but alot of blacks on T.V. and in the MTV channel and in the movies, they all use it like there isn't anything to it, but when a white person uses it, then they start crying foul....
NO ONE should use either word...IMHO.....
ESPN broadcaster Michael Irvin apologized on Monday for comments last week which said that Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo's athletic ability must be the result of an African-American heritage.
I thought that was James Caviezel ;-)
Jesse...is that you?
Many were crucified, not just Jesus. Should the word holocaust be limited to the killing of Jews?
can you say coon?
Wonder what the Congressional White Caucus will have to say about all of the above?
"Somewhere there are some brothers. . . . [Maybe] his great, great, great, great Grandma ran over in the hood or something went down." - Michael Irvin
"No, that's not the only way, but it's certainly one way. Great, great, great, great Grandma pulled one of them studs up outta the barn." - Michael Irvin
Oh puhlease - some like to think my intellectual ability must be the result of my Jewish genetics, but I can't say I've ever been peeved when my boss compliments me on my "high level negotiating skills" (hint - she's an MD). One of my best friends has more than once been chided for the genetic influences on her driving (yeah, she's asian and a disaster on the roads/sarc). Folks, get a life.
Here's what Irving said:
"He doesn't look like he's that type of an athlete," Irvin said of Romo. "But he is. He is, man. I don't know if some brother down in that line somewhere, I don't know who saw what or where, his great-great-great-great-grandma ran over in the 'hood or something went down." ~~snip!~~ "If great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandma pulled one of them studs up out of the barn, 'Come on in here for a second,' you know, and they go out and work in the yard. You know, back in the day."
Now, imagine that a black man had done something such as winning a Chess tournament, and the commentator said something like "Man! He must have some white in him!!!"
Only if you're from Louisiana.
It absolutely is racist. You're right.
susie
If we define "racism" as "making judgments about people based primarily on their race," then it is a patent absurdity to pretend we're not all racist. For example, if I see a person with dark hair and eyes, I'm likely to think he's Italian, Spanish, or Greek. If his name is Falconetti, I'm pretty sure he's Italian. His is the heritage of the Caesars, a proud and ancient race of warriors and engineers, heir to a culture that loves good food, good wine, and a good argument. He didn't create that culture, but he cannot escape its legacy. Whether he himself exhibits any or all of those characteristics, his CULTURE does. If he happens to be a pizza maker or an organ grinder, it lends credence to an occupational stereotype, but even if he is a stockbroker or a certified public accountant, his heritage is the same.
Now, if I see a nappy-haired individual with exremely dark skin, full lips, and a broad nose, I assume he is of the Negro race. If his name is something like Jamal Mustafah or Jesse Jackson, I'm pretty sure his heritage is African. However, American blacks don't have any African cultural values. They have developed their own values, in most cases simply reactions to the dominant white culture.
And it is here that the charge of "racism" falls down. Because whites are naturally -- and justifiably -- suspicious of a culture that defines itself by how strikingly it can reject, ridicule, or offend white culture.
To respond negatively to a culture that has defined itself as your polar opposite is not only not racist, it is the only logical act. It is absurd to expect white people to embrace a culture bent on its destruction. And it is pretentious of black "leaders" to feign surprise that that is exactly what happens.
Many blacks go out of their way to alienate whites. I know all the rhetoric; I've heard the apologists for the last 50 years. But the REASONS aren't important; the EFFECT is.
Whites don't marginalize blacks these days. Blacks marginalize themselves, then blame whites for it.
What is commonly called "racism" just recognizes that.
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