[tigerthelion]

Sure, there is still racism but for the most part African Americans are given every chance to succeed in this day and age, even more chance in some cases what with Affirmative Action and all.

You are pretty naive if you honestly believe this. I mean you can't seriously believe that the average black kid has the same chance to succeed as the average white kid.

If you really do believe this, I recommend you read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. It's a football book with a lot of different themes, but one of the overriding themes is the pure luck that is required for a typical black athlete to make it as a professional athlete. And I'm not talking about luck in terms of being noticed by scouts.....I'm talking about luck in terms of having parents who encourage you to do your best, rather than parents who are crack addicts.

Furthermore, my 5 year old niece has a black father and a white mother, and without getting into too much detail, I've seen first hand the kind of racism that still exists today.

With regards to athletics, don't you think it is more irresponsible for parents, white, black or purple, to encourage their kids to try and become professional athletes? In my opinion, alot of the effort made to make into the professional leagues is based on blind chance that a scout will notice the hard work and dedication of the athlete. And that's just to get in the door; there are no guarantees that the athlete will be successful. The problem from my point of view is black kids from the urban community seem to think that their best shot of making money is becoming a professional football or basketball player and don't pay enough attention to academics. When I was in college in Wisconsin, I did tutoring for the nearby high school in history and english and I was constantly amazed how dismissive the black males were of education. They didnt think they needed too much education, just enough to get by because they had basketball as their breadwinning option.

Well, that's the kid's fault then. You can't blame the parents for their kid thinking that Lebron James is cooler than cool. Bill Cosby had some VERY legitimate comments about the lack of education in the black community and the black community turned on him and called him an Uncle Tom or whatever it was.

[Spycouple]

i think we should all be able to say any ignorant ass thing we want...

But does that mean we should say ignorant things, even if you're able to? What about saying something more thoughtful instead about the issue, such as...

Race is like...for this country [the United States]... the thing in the story - the mythology - that you have to do for the kingdom to be well. And it's always something you don't want to do. And it's always that thing that is so much about you confronting yourself that is tailor made for you to fail dealing with it.

And the question of your heroism, and of your courage, and of your success in dealing with this trial, is can you confront it with honesty? And do you confront it and do you have the energy to sustain an attack on it? And since Jazz music is at the center of the American mythology, it necessarily deals with race.

The more we run from it, the more we run into it. It's an age old story. If it's not race it's something else. But in this particular instance - in this nation - it is race.

-Winton Marsalis, from Ken Burns' Jazz (Part 1 of 9)

If you think race is no longer an issue in the United States, go have a look at New Orleans and what has transpired there since Katrina, blind eyes notwithstanding.

[skippy the wonder dog]

Before we decide that Richards deserves everything he gets, let's review what he actually did: he repeatedly used the word "nigger" to insult two black men, in a club containing a few hundred people.

This is not the sort of thing one ordinarily goes on national television to apologize for, because ordinarily, the nation doesn't know about it.

Indeed, in this case, the incident occurred on the Friday and received no news coverage until the following Monday. What pushed this into the news was that someone published video of the incident on a website, so that a wider audience could see it.

Why would someone do that? Most likely, to cause Richards to be dragged over the coals. Mission accomplished.

(There's an entire discussion to be had there re the responsibility for publishing hateful slurs, in which we might refer to libel law for a principle, but this probably isn't the place to have that discussion....)

People use racial slurs every day. What makes Richards' rant newsworthy (aside from the fact that it's on video) is that he was on Seinfeld. Otherwise, it would be a non-story. Racism is sufficiently widespread in our society that it isn't news.

It is easy to castigate Richards, because he used the most offensive word in America. None of us is actually inside his head, and we have no idea whether he has racist attitudes or simply picked the most offensive insult he could come up with in the heat of the moment. Words in themselves are not attitudes.

Racism is far more widespread than we would like to admit. Many people -- perhaps a majority -- would never use an overt racial slur, yet still harbour deep prejudices regarding blacks, Chinese, natives, Jews, and so on. And these same people join the crowd castigating Richards.

In a way, Richards is being made a scapegoat in the original sense: the community casts its sins upon him and drives him through the streets. And after our racial catharsis is done, we'll go back to shaking our heads over the drunken fucking Indians, and crossing the street when we see the black gang-banger coming towards us, and thinking that little Vietnamese guy at the corner store is probably ripping us off.

Because you know what those people are like, right?

This is not to suggest that society at large is responsible for Richards' racial slurs, or that Richards' behavior is not reprehensible, or that he should not apologize for his actions. Responses to this effect will be met with a hail of derision. You have been warned.

[cferneyh]

Sure, there is still racism but for the most part African Americans are given every chance to succeed in this day and age, even more chance in some cases what with Affirmative Action and all.

You are pretty naive if you honestly believe this. I mean you can't seriously believe that the average black kid has the same chance to succeed as the average white kid.

If you really do believe this, I recommend you read The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. It's a football book with a lot of different themes, but one of the overriding themes is the pure luck that is required for a typical black athlete to make it as a professional athlete. And I'm not talking about luck in terms of being noticed by scouts.....I'm talking about luck in terms of having parents who encourage you to do your best, rather than parents who are crack addicts.

Furthermore, my 5 year old niece has a black father and a white mother, and without getting into too much detail, I've seen first hand the kind of racism that still exists today.

With regards to athletics, don't you think it is more irresponsible for parents, white, black or purple, to encourage their kids to try and become professional athletes? In my opinion, alot of the effort made to make into the professional leagues is based on blind chance that a scout will notice the hard work and dedication of the athlete. And that's just to get in the door; there are no guarantees that the athlete will be successful. The problem from my point of view is black kids from the urban community seem to think that their best shot of making money is becoming a professional football or basketball player and don't pay enough attention to academics. When I was in college in Wisconsin, I did tutoring for the nearby high school in history and english and I was constantly amazed how dismissive the black males were of education. They didnt think they needed too much education, just enough to get by because they had basketball as their breadwinning option.

Do I think it is more irresponsible for parents to encourage their kids to try and become professional athletes, or more irresponsible to be crack-heads? Is that your question? If not, I'm not sure what your question is.

The kid who is the focus of the book (Michael Oher) primarily lived on the streets and had to fend for himself for food and shelter at the age of 13 because his mom was a crack-head with 12 other kids. So if the choice was that, or overbearing parents who provide food and shelter but are foolish enough to convince their kids that they have a realistic chance at making the NFL or NBA, I'll take the overbearing parents. But ultimately neither is ideal.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go teach my two year old how to skate. :lol:

[NMAS]

(Indeed, in this case, the incident occurred on the Friday and received no news coverage until the following Monday. What pushed this into the news was that someone published video of the incident on a website, so that a wider audience could see it.

Why would someone do that? Most likely, to cause Richards to be dragged over the coals. Mission accomplished.) (Quote)

More likely that someone thought it was relevent that this guy did something sooo wrong that other's should know about it. I do not believe that there would be any intent to rake him over the coals. This could have been any Comic, not just Richards, and it would have been all over the news if it was cought on tape. What he did was dispicable and he is deserving of what he is getting. Bye bye career.

[skippy the wonder dog]

More likely that someone thought it was relevent that this guy did something sooo wrong that other's should know about it.

Uh-huh. Others should know about it to what end, precisely?

I do not believe that there would be any intent to rake him over the coals.

Oh, no. Of course not. They wanted others to know about it just so that we could be well-informed.

Next.

[VioletlightHeron]

Words in themselves are not attitudes.

Racism is far more widespread than we would like to admit. Many people -- perhaps a majority -- would never use an overt racial slur, yet still harbour deep prejudices regarding blacks, Chinese, natives, Jews, and so on. And these same people join the crowd castigating Richards.

In a way, Richards is being made a scapegoat in the original sense: the community casts its sins upon him and drives him through the streets. And after our racial catharsis is done, we'll go back to shaking our heads over the drunken fucking Indians, and crossing the street when we see the black gang-banger coming towards us, and thinking that little Vietnamese guy at the corner store is probably ripping us off.

Because you know what those people are like, right?

I agree and disagree with you on this statement, Skippy. I think it's true that whites as a society feel ashamed about the things our ancestors did in our name and the fuckups who continue to act like we are the fucking master race, but I also feel that the stereotype sword swings both ways. There are blacks, asians, hispanics out there who treat people of all colors and races different according to their own personal attitudes and biases. It's not just the white person crossing the street to avoid a supposed gang-banger; I was accused of "profiling" by an elderly black lady who came in to shop at the Home Depot where I work and my supposed "profiling" consisted of saying hello to her and asking her if there was anything she was looking for, all part of my job as a front end cashier. Now maybe this lady had experienced rude treatment in the past while shopping, I don't know, but this incident just reinforced in my mind the fact that all races and colors have members who let their personal biases get in the way of logic and reason.

[skippy the wonder dog]

It's true that racism isn't the exclusive property of whites, VLH, but that's not really relevant here.

Richards remains the poster-boy for an idea of what constitutes racism, an idea that doesn't actually reflect the reality of racial discrimination.

Racial discrimination doesn't go around calling people niggers; it simply punishes blacks and natives more severely than whites for the same crimes, or conversely, assumes that white people are racist. But we all, black, white, or indifferent, get to pretend that isn't so as long as we can criticize someone for yelling "nigger."

[tigerthelion]

(Indeed, in this case, the incident occurred on the Friday and received no news coverage until the following Monday. What pushed this into the news was that someone published video of the incident on a website, so that a wider audience could see it.

Why would someone do that? Most likely, to cause Richards to be dragged over the coals. Mission accomplished.) (Quote)

More likely that someone thought it was relevent that this guy did something sooo wrong that other's should know about it. I do not believe that there would be any intent to rake him over the coals. This could have been any Comic, not just Richards, and it would have been all over the news if it was cought on tape. What he did was dispicable and he is deserving of what he is getting. Bye bye career.

So if this happened in Omaha, Nebraska by some comic named Peter Smith, it would be all over the news?

[NMAS]

(Indeed, in this case, the incident occurred on the Friday and received no news coverage until the following Monday. What pushed this into the news was that someone published video of the incident on a website, so that a wider audience could see it.

Why would someone do that? Most likely, to cause Richards to be dragged over the coals. Mission accomplished.) (Quote)

More likely that someone thought it was relevent that this guy did something sooo wrong that other's should know about it. I do not believe that there would be any intent to rake him over the coals. This could have been any Comic, not just Richards, and it would have been all over the news if it was cought on tape. What he did was dispicable and he is deserving of what he is getting. Bye bye career.

So if this happened in Omaha, Nebraska by some comic named Peter Smith, it would be all over the news?

If it was caught on tape. yes it would be.

[NMAS]

More likely that someone thought it was relevent that this guy did something sooo wrong that other's should know about it.

Uh-huh. Others should know about it to what end, precisely?

I do not believe that there would be any intent to rake him over the coals.

Oh, no. Of course not. They wanted others to know about it just so that we could be well-informed.

Next.

You are saying someone was waiting in the audience waiting for him to do this.

[skippy the wonder dog]

You are saying someone was waiting in the audience waiting for him to do this.

Uh, no.

[d_alex_d]

This is pretty funny...

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/11/seinfeld-recut.html

[direwolf74]

This is pretty funny...

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/11/seinfeld-recut.html

Haha, that's genius.

:thumb:

[farmerdan]

I wonder if their is video of this??

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