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.
No, they are from East Africa.
Who cares? This P.C. crap is far more dangerous than anything a comedian might say to a bunch of rude idiots who decide to heckle him.
I dare say most people harbor some attitudes that the hypersensitive would consider "racist." I say "F" 'em if they can't take a joke.
Should be said again.. So true in many many cases..
See; Homey the Clown.. <<- pure genius in it's honesty..
Thank you!! The first well-thought-out article I've read about this.
"Shouldn't use the word "crucifixion" then."
Jesus wasn't the only person crucified. It was a common punishment in those days. It's generic; lighten up.
Surely, I don't remember everything they've ever said, but I don't consider the things that Murphy or Rock say to be racist.
So because you are a Jew, you have superior negotiating skills? And you are OK with people thinking/saying that about you? I doubt it...how would you react if a person told you, "You really 'Jewed' them down on the price"?
"Is there anyone here that thinks Mr. Richards meant his rant, and that he is a bona-fide racist? I do. "
He has a 'right' to be a racist and espouse those views. I don't agree with it but I can't see a way to stop it that doesn't increase it. Also, 'racism' is one way. It seems blacks cannot be racist.
I'm well aware that Jesus was not the only one crucified, but I don't think the author was alluding to Sparticus, or any other person who was crucified. It's an allusion to Christ.
Right on the money. Wether Kramer is a racist or not, or what was in his mind when he went off, is beside the larger idea that we have just lost our way on these things.
I wasn't suggesting that he should be prevented from espousing his views. I'm just saying I wouldn't buy him a drink.
I'm not sure that's always the case. A-A's I know & certainly Chris Rock all seem to use the term as a pejorative somewhat akin to 'black-trash' or the black equivalent of "cracker". It might be used jokingly to needle one's friends, or as a drive-by put-down in a rap but usually the implication is 'lower-class'. At least that's what I always thought - I could be wrong or it could be different in other parts of the country.
Regardless, the MSM & Jesse Jackson may regard african-americans as a monolithic group which thinks & behaves in lockstep, but like every other racial or ethnic group, there definitely do exist divisions along the old-fashioned lines of class, which I think is what you & IronJack were really talking about.You either have it or you don't & the particular percentage of melanin in your epidermal layer doesn't have a blessed thing to do with it. Whatever, I think we can all agree that Michael Richards and Jesse Jackson both seem to suffer from major deficits of it!
Sure the guy is a racist. He's also a typical liberal in that his "apology" blamed his outburst on the unsettled state of society (subtitle: Bush's fault and the Iraqi war's fault) and then there was the "that's not me" statement. A pox on him and his kind!
Me either.
"Race" 100 years ago was used differently from today--more like "ethnic group." I've seen immigration records where they have categories like "Hungarian" or "Northern Italian" as "races." No doubt Sherlock Holmes could tell the difference between a Latvian skull and a Lithuanian skull at forty paces in the dark.
Kramer needs to 'run for the border.' (meaning Florida)
In Florida he'll be $afe from the civil law$uit that Gloria and the poor victim$ of this heinou$ hate crime de$perately need compen$ation for.
Maybe he can get a house next to OJ.
Oh my. I didn't realize what he said. The reports I read made it sound so much less disgusting. Then again, he's black. I feel bad for Kramer. In addition to his rant, he now is doing the Million Apology March. I don't know what his problem is, but he made a terrible mistake. I have even wondered if he was trying to be funny, and misfired big time. Now, Jesse is saying he needs psychiatric help. WHY can't people be allowed to hate if they so choose? Minorities hate the majority plenty. NO one is suggesting they go get reeducated.
Anyone talking about lynching with the victim having a fork stuck in their buttocks isn't joking. Richards has more than a few screws loose, including at least all of his treat-your-neighbor-as-your-brother ones.
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