isn’t it odd that the last year has seen so many public figures ‘outed’ as racists and anti-semites?
mel gibson, what’s his name from seinfeld, don imus, etc.
here’s my list of what’s surprising about the year of racism:
a-that these people are so comfortable with their racism/anti-semitism that they seemingly have no compunction about spouting racist or anti-semitic invectives in public. that’s just bizarre.
b-that the hundreds of other public figure racists(bill o’reilly, rush limbaugh, etc)haven’t been outed and boycotted yet. they’ve said things about african americans and latinos that make don imus look like a liberal teacher at vassar.
c-that some kinds of hate speech(anti black, anti jew)are deemed unacceptable, but other types of hate speech(anti gay, anti arab, anti latino, etc)don’t seem to upset anyone. that’s a weird double standard, no? shouldn’t all hate speech be deemed equally offensive, regardless of the lobbying power and media-savvy of the demographic being offended?
d-personally i believe in free speech, even if it’s offensive. people should have to live with the consequences of their words and actions, but they should never be prevented from being able to express themselves however they so choose(our happy little constitution kind of guarantees all american’s this right). one of the great things about public figures spouting racist or anti-semitic epithets in public is that it reminds people that racism and anti-semism are still with us. a lot of people in the liberal bubble(like where i live, manhattan)forget that many americans still harbor deep and pernicious prejudices.
e-what’s really odd about hate speech is that it’s usually directed towards people with whom the speaker has had limited or no contact. i remember meeting a friends grandfather who was a virulent anti-semite. the only problem(well, apart from the fact that anti-semitism and all forms of prejudice are absurd and offensive)was that he had never actually met a jew. he had spent his entire life on a farm in kentucky, but yet he was somehow convinced that the jews were responsible for everything wrong with the world. isn’t it odd to have strong emotional opinions about things that you’ve never actually(or rarely) had contact with?
f-ok, i love lists. that’s my list for today. have a good weekend. oh, to sum up, just in case anyone has misinterpreted me:
racism: bad
prejudice: bad
free speech: good
-moby