On Michael Richards...
Ok, here is the deal...I have searched the internet high and lo for a "complete" version of the Michael Richards debacle that is going on right now...And what is available? Nothing. Anything that shows the impetus for Richards tantrum the other night is nowhere to be found. All you hear is "Richards, apparently heckled by an african american audience member goes off on a racist rant". Well guess what? Not good enough. IF I am to make any sort of a judgement call on his use of the dreaded "N" word, if any of us are, shouldn't we get the whole story?
Ok...here is the clip that i chose to use...one reason being the lovely msnbc intro that tells us before we even watch the clip how we are supposed to feel. Don't you just love the media? Wait? You mean I can't make an informed opinion on my own? You have to tell me before I even see it how to feel? Offended? Says who?
And on top of that...anyone in the audience of a comic, with half a brain should go in knowing that they are nothing but the bait for said comic. How funny is a politically correct comic? NOT!
Let's do a little defining of the word first. From Dictionary.com
nig‧ger /ˈnɪgər/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[nig-er] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
—Usage note The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War. Definitions 1a, 1b, and 2 represent meanings that are deeply disparaging and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense. Definition 1a, however, is sometimes used among African-Americans in a neutral or familiar way. Definition 3 is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle's The Commitments—but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile.
–noun
1. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.
a. a black person.
b. a member of any dark-skinned people.
2. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.
3. a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.
I remember when the only definition in the dictionary was: an ignorant person
Let's go back a few decades...
Take Lenny Bruce, arrested one night at a club for using the word c#$t on stage...a few nights later he is up and using the word nigger openly with no backlash. Oh, I get it...not ok to use a word at the time aimed towards a white woman but fine to use a racist term and you have the audience in tears laughing.
I wasn't able to find an original of this piece, but here is Dustin Hoffman from the movie Lenny
Or jump forwards a couple of decades and we have Richard Pryor. Pryor went off on everyone. There was no on air apology required for his comedy.
10 years later and we have Eddie Murphy...
15 years later...
Chris Rock
OK...to sum it all up.
MY own opinions... Can I make an opinion with the evidence presented to the media? NOPE!
Do I find it funny? NOPE! But for reasons that have nothing to do with the words that he used. I just don't find the man funny (execpt in UHF and he was hysterical)
But I also realize that if I had been in the audience that night it was to see Michael Richards, NOT Kramer. Is that ultimately what this is all about? That he didn't live up to being Kramer? Did he sully the all holy name of Jerry Sienfeld in the country?
Get a grip people! Words only have the power that you give them! If you don't like what someone is saying...guess what? Last I knew this country had supposed "Free Speech"! And if by being a listener you are uncomfortable, not happy, offended by what someone is saying...for God's sake get up and leave! Because along with "Free Speech" You also have "Free Will".
