Seinfeld's Kramer is a Racist
Michael Richards who is best known as Jerry Seinfeld's wacky neighbor Kramer was at the Laugh Factory doing a stand up routine when he was being heckled by a black man. He retaliated by calling that man the n word. You can see the video of the incident at TMZ.com.I guess it's better that racists come out in the open, on the one hand. But I also think that conservatives have cultivated a society where racism and bigotry are acceptable, especially during the last decade or so. They kept it mostly underground and in code words in the past, now more and more people are having public outbursts like this. I'm not saying that Richards is a Republican, what I am saying is that those in power do affect the rest of society and what is and is not acceptable. Conservatives in general and Republicans specifically have made hate of many groups not only acceptable but almost mandatory...Muslims and Arabs; immigrants, especially Mexicans; gay people; blacks; Europeans; the poor including the working poor; hell, just about anyone who isn't rich, white, and American.
See Pam's take on this over at Pam's House Blend: I never watched Seinfeld anyway.
Oh and much thanks also to our allies who deride PC in the name of freedom of speech, you idiots. In case you can't figure it out, here is how freedom of speech works, some moron spews racial epithets (his free speech), and I can tell him he's a fucking racist pig (my free speech). Feel free to add your opinion to the mix (free speech for everyone!). No one is censoring anyone. Free speech allows us to shout down racist idiots, it's not censorship, since there is no state involvement.
Read Kai's excellent essay on political correctness for some history and reasons why the politically incorrect crowd are misguided and just plain wrong.
Update: Kai has more, White Supremacy By Any Other Name. Oooooooh it's a good one.
posted by Donna at
12:26 PM
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3 comment(s):
Hi Donna,
Glad to hear that your personal drama is settling down a bit. Sometimes life's trials come at such a pace, you can't get your footing between bouts. I know what it's like.
Anyway, thanks for linking my PC post. Turns out it must've struck a chord because traffic to that essay hasn't died down after a couple of weeks. I think it's something that lots of progressives felt needed to be said, but I guess nobody had quite taken the time yet to really go for it.
As for that Kramer clown, he's a raging racist and his career's all done. I was never a "Seinfeld" fan (I'm sorry, as a proud New Yorker I just can't watch a show about NYC in which the residents of Harlem and Chinatown don't exist; same goes for "Friends") and I'm glad now because I don't have to feel torn about this. What's more disturbing about this whole thing (as we've learned to expect) is the sheer numbers of white liberals who think this is no big deal, just another case of bowing to PC. Or even among his critics, the problem is his insensitivity and/or comedic failure. I mean, did anyone notice that he spoke approvingly and threateningly of white supremacist murder? That's not just insensitive, that's talk that has in the past led to very real atrocities. The fact that so many liberals have so disconnected language and reality -- the strangely privileged-class incomprehension that words and ideas have real consequences -- is disturbing and revealing.
I agree with you that the propaganda about PC has created a climate where outbursts like this are more acceptable. I better sharpen my pencils for the next round.
Take care.
By
Anonymous, at
11/21/2006 1:28 PM
That video literally made me feel ill. Have you seen his apology? (CBS keeps having it taken down from YouTube and people keep putting it up; good on them, I say, because that's something that people *should* see.)
Basically the only time he uses "racism" in the whole thing is to proclaim, "I'm not a racist!" Really? Then why can't call your racist diatribe racist?
I think you're spot on with your assessment, although I personally would put more emphasis on the so-called "liberals" who think that saying hateful and bigoted things are all good because it's "free speech"/"satire"/"just a joke" or whatever.
Ugh.
By
Anonymous, at
11/22/2006 6:35 AM
The link of Kai's views on political correctness deserves only the following response:
Ah yes, the Left waxes indignant about being painted with the Politically Correct brush.
What they fail to admit is that the ideologies that pursue 'PC' policies are merely advocating the silencing and censoring of the thoughts and actions of others. The little totalitarian reservations we refer to as college campuses reek of speech codes and censorship as the fascists of the Left seek to mold us into their Orwellian servants in preparation for the coming utopia. They are all about free speech and tolerance and diversity and sensitivity and multiculturalism until one dares to openly admit to being pro-life, or a believer in traditional morality, or that a family should consist of a man and a woman and any offspring they may have, or to being a born again Christian, or that Israel has the right to exist, or that private gun ownership is commendable, or that maybe we should not allow in millions of illegal aliens every year..... Suddenly all that great liberal love and tenderness is thrown out the window and all that is left is the naked viciousness and intolerance of Political Correctness.
I've seen it, I've experienced it, and I spent my college years fighting and exposing it. It's not about calling Asian Americans 'Chinks' or women 'bitches' (red herring arguments at best), but about having the right to debate the issues of the day with full intellectual honesty. When debate is stifled and speech curtailed because of everyone being petrified of causing 'perpetual outrage' due to an innocent comment or label that wasn't quite phrased right or may have 'offended' someone, then we have lost a valuable part of what made us a great nation. Those who would perform a collective intellectual lobotomy, and their goose stepping cadres shouting bumper sticker slogans, are the enemy and we've labeled their speech codes 'Political Correctness'.
It deserves every mockery and word of derision it has ever received.
By
The Infidel Sage, at
3/07/2007 12:40 AM
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