Labels: Politically Incorrect
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Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Political Correctness Gone TOO FAR
OK, so I am hearing now that Michael Richards might be SUED for what he said the other night during his not funny racist rant. I am in no way defending what he said...it was disturbing and shocking and horrible. But SUED? Ok, not SUED, exactly, but they are consulting lawyers to see if Richards should appear in front of a retired judge to determine how much he should pay in restitution. Or something like that. I just heard it on the news and it didn't make a lot of sense. Supposedly the guys who he cussed out are claiming damages for pain and suffering. 'the hell? If I had a dime for every time someone said something bad to me or wrote something bad to me or about me or insulted me that caused me to have literal pain and suffering due to stress, I'd be so well off, I wouldn't need to find a very rich has-been comedian with deep pockets to sue. I'd just like to know how these guys can sue, or, whatever it is they're doing, over this. Yes, what he said to them was awful, but, come on, the crowd was behind them, they were the heroes and Richards was the villain. If it were me, I'd be feeling pretty good knowing that everyone was on my side and against the asshole cussing me out.
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posted by Ann at 2:59 PM :::::
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18 Comments:
Clearly Richards went off the deep end and said a lot of racist and bad things. Possibly, and in the views of most people the apology isn't enough, but it is hard to say that a lawsuit from the people he cussed out would be the best balance in the end.
Unfortunately, we live in a culture where it is acceptable for african americans to provoke so called 'white' people, and I doubt if there is any acceptance for it going the other way. I've experienced - game playing - from african americans and I always wonder what they imagine themselves to be accomplishing. The best I can conclude is that they see me as a racist even before they even begin their passive agressive routine, and perhaps they get some thrill out of trying to provoke another person to anger in the name of 'racism'. Personaly I'm tired of the games people play - inside and outside - of the scope of racism. It is always the case that the african americans who have done the game provoking thing to me have been strangers. Every African American I know personally has never tried to tried to agitate me, so it seems that this sort of thing is more something a few people like to do for their own self amusement rather than a social norm.
I really hate it when people automaticly assume I'm a racist - by what ever reason - without actually knowing me in person. Perhaps I am one and need to be enlightened, but at least know me as a person and understand what my beliefs really before accusing me of racism.
I remember over 10 years ago in a conversation with someome who will go unnamed we were talking about racism. I asked this person if they wanted to know my theroy of race and they said, "no". The experssed that they had heard it all before and they didn't want to hear me say it again. I soon realized that what they were expecting me to say was not at all my views, so I forced them to hear me anyway. I told this person that I believed that all people decended from the black race and that the so called white race was a later mutation of the black race. They didn't say a word, because they were expecting me to tell them a theory - which I will fail to mention here - which is sort of the opposit of what I actually believe. I'm really disapointed in this person for both thinking I held an offensive view and because they were willing to assume in advance what I think without actually making any effort to learn the facts.
I really really hate it when people want to put views in my mind that I don't actually hold.
Apparently this wasn't the case for Richards, and as it turns out he's a big big racist with lots of issues hidden away in the dark places of his mind.
I'm unsure if it is the case that the people Richards cussed out were acutally trying to play games with him or were just being themselves. I would like to know if they were trying to push him into anger. or if they were just having fun... I suppose the spineless press will never bother to ask.
Maybe, these guys actually did the world and Richards a favor for bringing the 'hate' to the surface and making it public - after all Richards does have a very public life. He has no business being such a racist, because I imagine his career would not have been as easy for him if his skin were a different color. Maybe, if this had never happened in public forum the man would never really have to deal with the issue on such a direct level. Perhaps these guys in the audience did all of some good by opening up the racism issue and bringing it into the public eye. I never would have guessed that Richards was such a racist if this incident had never happened.
As a society we need to talk more about racism than we do, and I hope this incident can become a place where all of us can begin to speak more openly about the problem of racism. Racism in the United States is bad - it's really bad and it will still take several generations to overcome the problems we have.
I think if I were Richards I would want to try to make up for the incident, and one of my co-workers had a good idea for the man. They said that he might want to donate some time helping students in some inner city schools where the students would be mostly African Americans. I think Richards needs to do more than just appologize because he is a very public place and an appology is just sort of lame under the circumstances. I hope Richards will step up the the plate - as the saying goes - and do something to help defeat racism for all of us.
Wow, that's quite a post!
Now that I've asked you off-blog who the person was that "shall go unnamed", isn't it ironic that his last name is the same as a certain character's that is related to this topic (spelled differently, however)? Ironic? Coincidental? Feel like you're in a petri dish being poked at?
See, this is why I was almost GLEEFUL when I heard he died. Schadenfreude. I have no sorrow or sympathy for that bugger for the CRAP he put you through in GS. What a fucking asshole he was and I hope his death was a fucking painful one because of what he did. Screw him. How dare he have these ideas about who and what you are when he doesn't know his own ass from his face. I don't believe in God, but I believe that sometimes, sometimes there is a certain justice in this world where people get what is coming to them, and in this instance, boy did he ever. First he loses the chip off of his own block, then his own life, all of which probably still didn't have the equivalency of pain that he caused for his underlings during all his years of teaching, but still. There was justice.
Now THAT was justice. No financial restitution needed there, just a satisfaction of knowing some worms and bacteria are having a good meal on his behalf.
Sorry for this rant, Stan, but you touched a nerve in me when you told me that story off-blog.
Your're confressing to Schadenfreude?
I still think the man is a tragic figure and find it difficult of find Schadenfreude in any of the mess.
Thank you for letting me say what I think about Richards on your blog.
You mean you're not just a wee bit happy that he's now wormfood? Not even an eensy bit?
Yes, his life is tragic, but when people cause hell for other people (and I'm not just talking about some racist hipster doofus spouting racial obscenities at a comedy club in LA), then they can expect to eternally lay in that bed of hell they make.
C'mon, Stan, we should have a Schaenfreude party and throw darts at an effigy of Mr. "Name Shall Go Unmentioned".
I'm relieved that I no longer have to worry about running into this person in the grocery store and have to ingage in some uneasy conversations. Schadenfreude, is too far for me, because I actually feel bad that we had such deep misunderstandings. This also marks a change in my life, because in a cosmic way hearing about his passing is a kind of milestone.
It is sort of like having a parent die and then I realize I'm the oldest, and the only living person who has an oral version of our story. If anyone wants to know about our relationship they have to ask me, because I hold the only remaining half of our story, as he was a core person who was accusing me of being some sort of 'nazi', all of those years ago. I find it hard to imagine that he would have ever changed his misguided views about me and probably went the his grave with these beliefs.
Oooooh...I just suddenly had an epiphany watching the news just now where they're talking about Richards (formerly known as ::cough:: Kramer ::cough::)
Maybe Mr. "Name Shall Go Unmentioned" was trying to do some performance art crap with that shit he was pulling on you, but failed miserably causing the death of his Mini Me and ultimately himself. His magick backfired.
I hate to remind you of this awful time, but like you said, you told him not to fuck with you when they yanked your show. They fucked with you, and then he paid. With his life.
Mwahahahahhahahahahahahaha
OK, now Ann has gone off the deep end.
Sorry about that...just needed to vent a bit.
:::doing my little Schadenfreude dance::::
I just can't help that I was just a wee bit responsible for that....heh heh heh heh heh
MWAAAA HAAA HAAAA
MWAAAA HAAA HAAAA!!!!
HA HA HA HA!!!!!!
That'll teach that bugger to fuck with me and the ones I love.
Impressive.
picture of Ann standing victorious over the slain cycloptic ogre
You should worship me for this, Stan.
If the situation traded our places I would feel the same way you do.
I love you - you have all of my devotion and always will.
you guys are cool. and entertaining. i am tired, and you made me smile. i think ann is thinking of karma, and it is a good thing! pagans/wiccans beleive that whatever you do comes back to you times 3- for good or bad. more karma type stuff to digest.
i think people should get over themselves, really. they should be sued for being rude during a show, lol! i had a native try to call me racist once. I chewed his ass good. i was serving and he was a customer. after ripping him a new one, he was very respectful the rest of the meal. ha ha ha! it was just a misunderstanding... the place was packed... i was busy, and he didn't get served right away, therefore I must have done it on purpose because he was a native american. I set him straight on that.
way off topic. sorry. I tend to go on tangents.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Yes, I was thinking of karma, Dawn. I just wanted to use a neutral word like justice as to not make it relate to any one form of ideology or spirituality.
I don't know about the suing for being rude during a show, afterall, the heckler has become a rite of passage for all up and coming comedians...sort of like what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, or in Richards' case, a racist.
Then there's the story of the drunken asshole in Montreal back in 1977 during a Pink Floyd concert who wouldn't let them concentrate during an acoustic section, so Roger Waters spat on him, which in turn, and to make a long story short, turned into The Wall.
Somehow I don't see this as having an outcome like that as Richards isn't a thinking man's comic...his comedy is more physical.
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I guess Fuddy did beat Sasquatch after all. I'd rather deal with Fuddy than Sasquatch. We did have a good time with them the last night we were there watching that silly movie.
Oh, god, speaking of music and that silly movie...I just remember (this is horrible!) I read somewhere that the people who designed Gollum based his movements on this rock star...which is really disturbing to me because it's not someone who you think of in the same breath as "Gollum" (unlike Jimmy Page who I do think of in the same breath as Gollum).
OK, I know you're not going to guess it (because I wouldn't in a thousand years either had I not read it myself) so I'll tell you: Iggy Pop. Yeah. WTF? I guess the creator of the animation was impressed with the way Iggy moved on stage and modelled Gollum's movements on his. I'm still scratching my head over that one. I mean, to me, Gollum is a gross, disgusting scrawny little thing you want to kick, whereas Iggy, even though he is thin, has muscle.
Iggy was hilarious in Dead Man. I wish that whole scene lasted longer. One. Of. The. Best. Scenes. Ever.
"I'm unsure if it is the case that the people Richards cussed out were acutally trying to play games with him or were just being themselves."
They probably weren't playing games, other than just being hecklers because Richards wasn't very funny. And I heard on the news that he was insulting them as they were walking into the audience.
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About the white race being a mutation of the black race: I've heard this too, that white skin is a mutation. What good is it, really? I mean when you think about it, the white skin is prone to all this cancer, and what with the depleting ozone layer, this can't be a good thing. Did it ever serve a purpose? Does white skin and light eyes and light fine hair have some sort of advantage for the conditions in Europe where they originally came from? If so, I'd like to know what it is...not that anthropologists read this blog or anything, because it doesn't seem to evident to me, other than many if not most people of that description prefer those with that description, hence perpetuating these mutants.
I know that I may sound a little anti-white there, but I think Europeans and Euro-Americans do need to consider that they are indeed mutations. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT. It just is.
Read something about it in a norwegian newspaper, but didn't get what he had said or in which context. Guess it also matter if one say something about religion, race and sexuality, whatever, in a lively mood or in anger. Though I can see that joking about things can contribute to making certain bad attitudes more ok - like it's totally accepted to call people homo in the meaning it's a very negative quality. I guess I think it's important to not use so-called freedom of speech to insult others, all though one can say "anything" one don't have to say it, and I guess one can tell jokes without putting someone down.
..and happy thanksgiving :)
The idea the Richards was being heckeled becaues he "wasn't very funny" is actually very funny, and he certainly deserves to be heckeled along with every other stand up in the world. He can't just be a 'well respeceted standup' because of his long career - that would be very absurd in a extremely unfunny way.
If Richards is all washed up in his comedian career, perhaps he should try a new direction that might help other people as well as himself overcome the deep seated feelings of racism. I'm not sure what he should do but because of the outburst he needs to do more than simply say "I'm all broken up about it and I'm sorry".
hey I watched a show on comedy central, it was a ventrioquist act, and a guy got up to go to the bathroom, and the guy and his dummie WAITED. It was awesome. He made it so funny, and then got the guy when he came back. I wasn't serious about sueing the hecklers, but it is ridiculous to get mad, because someone got mad at you, it is a never ending sycle, like how many thank you cards do you send in response to thank you cards?
I didn't know that about The Wall. That is pretty cool.
I don't get the iggy pop movement thing either. That is strange!
That sounds like a really hilarious skit, Dawn!
I'm not one much for Dummies, however one the funniest movies I've seen is called "Dummy." I highly recommend it. Romantic comedy with just the right amount of dark humour.
Yeah, The Wall was about Roger Waters feeling disconnected from the audience and how he felt about wanting to distance, or build a "wall" between themselves and the concertgoers.
oh my, he was really funny. his dolls are custom made, and look like caricatures of real people, except for the purple dude with fuzzy hair. he said once that deaf people came to his show, and he totally messed with their interpreter, who was facing away from the stage. when he figured out what the guy was doing, he would move the dolls mouth but not say anything, or he would speak nonsense, and the deaf people would look confused, like their interpreter was messing up! he couldn't beieive that deaf people would go to a ventriloquist act! isn't that terrible? he was really funny.
i will have to google the movie! ttyl
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