I'm sure the handful (or maybe finger-ful) of readers of this blog must know that I have an opinion on the whole Michael Richards rant and the media's handling of it and of course, I do. However, I will do something unusual for me in this blog and exercise restraint, which by the way would have been a great tact for Michael Richards to take in his Laugh Factory riff Friday night (link to it here), but he's obviously an angry, incompetent, possibly racist, idiot.
Oh wait, restraint. Sorry. My bad. Let me try again.
It's not a mystery that the United States has a checquered history when it comes to being fair to non-white races. We were a racist country in our founding, with a racist history and we are, as a nation collectively, racist today. The American attitude towards racism is a constant topic of global discussion, viewed around the world with a mixture of fascination, disgust, bemusement and puzzlement. We've given minorities the greatest freedom of any country in the world, especially among nations with large immigrant population, yet we've also arguably exploited minorities, especially black people, more than any other nation in the world.
As everyone from Mark Twain to Chris Rock to "Borat" has pointed out, racism is woven into the national fabric of who we are--we may disdain it, we may try to cover it up, but if you pick at the lint of the American wardrobe long enough, eventually it unravels enough to reveal the ugly racism underneath. Black, white or Asian, we aren't afraid to "go there" when Southern frat boy puts a Confederate flag bumper sticker on his car, when an Asian driver cuts us off in traffic or when a group of black youths congregate on a street corner. (This is part of why I maintain that despite some predictable critical backlash, CRASH really was a very good movie because at least it was honest enough to point out that in our society and especially in Los Angeles, racism and discrimination isn't just between blacks and whites or blacks, whites and Hispanics.)
So the question of this post is: is Michael Richards racist? The answer, of course is that he is, to a point. But is he a bigot? There's a big difference and only Richards and those closest to him know for sure. A three minute rant in a comedy club against some African-American (there's an interesting term, isn't it?) hecklers proves he can be racist but doesn't show that he has engaged a pattern of racial discrimination or racial insults. Richards doesn't get a pass for his comments, his apology is less than half-ass and there are certain things that no one should say in public under any circumstances, freedom of speech be damned (one of our most misunderstood Constitutional protections, I might add) and Richards SAID THEM and he'll have to deal with that for what's left of his career.
By the way, while we're kind of on the subject, Mel Gibson IS an anti-Semite and so's his dad and his apology was kind of half-ass too. But that's a whole other blog now, isn't it?
Enjoy your Turkey Day (or Turducken Day, if that's what floats your boat). The future missus and I will be having Cornish hen, which is a much better, tastier dish if you're not having a big huge family get-together. I'd invite you all over, but the wishbone on those baby chickens is pretty darn small. I'll try to post something before Thanksgiving, but chances are I'll be too busy, so I'll see you on the other side of the holiday, hopefully with some long overdue movie reviews. (By the way the Z-Man out in Corona gives a thumb's up to the new Bond movie, with some minor reservations, so maybe I'll check that one out too).
Enough for now. Stay away from the lynch mob people, they're gaining.
Oh and I just learned that legendary film director Robert Altman has passed away today at the age of 81. May he rest in peace...he could have retired after M*A*S*H, NASHVILLE and THE LONG GOODBYE and been inducted into the movie Hall of Fame on the spot, but thankfully, he gave us three more decades of idiosyncratic, top notch filmmaking. I will miss him.
Peace...
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