Do social justice warriors — who say they’re trying to reduce racism — actually do more to foster racism than “drunk” comedian Foster Brooks did decades ago using racial stereotypes as punchlines?
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17 replies on “The Good Old Days: Can Racial Comedy Kill Racism Faster than Social Justice Scolding?”
Yeah, Kirk kissed green aliens. He wouldn’t have had a problem kissing a black woman 😀
I was just thinking about the phrase … “genuine tolerance” … it occurred to me that today’s “tolerance” seems to be more about the person putting their “tolerance” on display than it is about actual tolerance and the real, moral reason for it. It’s more about moralizing than it is about being moral.
The example of all the white people wondering if Sammy Davis’ entourage was rifling through their rooms … the thing was that it pointed out that that’s what a lot of white people were doing – that’s NOT complimentary toward white people. So it’s a knife with two edges. Sure … that’s the stereotype of black people, but it’s ALSO a stereotype of white people, and like I said, it’s not flattering. It forces white people to do some inner reflection – which has happened a LOT over the last … 250 years, but especially in the last 150 years, and it accelerated with time. And THAT is how it can heal.
It was doing it 50 years ago.
I just got out of a 4 day hospital stay. Bad reaction to chemotherapy, fever bouncing up and down, blood pressure bouncing up and down, white blood cell count dropping.
No, I’m not angling for sympathy. I came out alive, therefore I’m good to go, just still immune compromised. This is the background to a point that ties into the above.
Nearly all of the hospital staff was black. Very sweet ladies, most of them. Extremely competent, most of them. It would have been a real joy to spend time with them, had I been there for different reasons. In some ways it was anyway.
But I found it sad that something I found ridiculously funny was something I had to keep to myself, I didn’t dare to share it with all of my new friends:
The fever steadied out pretty quickly, the blood pressure not long after. The thing that kept me for four days rather than one was the white blood cell count.
One thing I NEVER had on my Bingo card was having every black woman on the entire floor fuss over me and worry about me because I wasn’t white enough.
I did not see that one coming.
I grew up watching Archie Bunker and the the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. It never occurred to me that any of these shows were racist or meant to inflict pain. I believe Archie’s dislike of anyone not like him was based on fear and ignorance, not on his trying to be hurtful. And George Jefferson didn’t like anyone not like him either. Edith and Weezy were genuine friends because they had to both put up with husbands like Archie and George!
And the roasts were good-natured humor, not meant to cause hurt feelings. It takes a person confident in their value and worth to see through the jokes and feel the love behind it. Would anyone roast someone they didn’t care about? What would be the point of that?
Actualy, my favorite Uhura bit was in Naked Time. Sulu, hopped up on space spores, grabs her and exclaims “I’ll save you, fair maiden”. She wrestles herself free of him while saying, “Sorry, neither.” I would think, for anyone that caught that throwaway line, that would be a rather daring statement about race and sex back in 1967.
I watched all the Dean Martin Roasts on Amazon and while I agree w/ you, the white stars would make watermelon jokes and such. Then the black stars would snap back giving as good as they got.
But, there was this one roast, w/ a larger than average black cast, and I got the impression that the white comedians may have gone a little too far. There seemed to be a palatable tension on the stage.
thanks for an excellent discussion… as a Canadian kid, growing up on American television I adored Archie Bunker and was very conscious of the “teaching moments”… I remember once asking why race was such an issue for Americans when it seemed so much less in Toronto… and never understood it… I think we should start referring to colour as hue… and have a paint sampler to choose from…
This did not go the way I thought it would when it started, and I think due mostly to Zo being the wonderful man that he is.
I won’t list the same virtues as ACTS did earlier, but this was a great conversation between two people trying to hash out a difficult topic; and doing so by listening to each other and not having preconceived notions about what the other should say.
What a treat to still have that in the world of I’m Right/You’re Wrong social media.
BTW – i also enjoy watching those Dean Martin Roasts – if you want an earlier example of how Frank/Dean/Sammy really enjoyed one another, check out this special, from 1964 I think. You can see that they treated each other with respect even when they were joking with each other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nboaNyIaccY
Don Rickles’ humor was often shockingly mean. Part of the reason we laughed was similar to why we responded by laughing when comedians first began using curse words in comedy. Lenny Bruce was mean, cursed, and wasn’t nearly as funny back in the 60’s, but he was a Leftist icon.
Cursing in comedy has evolved. Now it is just a cheap work-around when they can’t come up with humor and they know the audience will laugh in response. We’re no longer laughing.
Regarding Bill’s comment around the 20 minute mark, that there was more racism and sexism in the 60s and 70s…
The fact that we have so little now, and the people that are screeching about it the most and loudest have experienced it so little is telling. There is the joke that the supply of racism isn’t meeting the demand so the hoaxers have to keep making up false allegations and garage door pulls are seen as nooses.
There is a similarity in both type and cause I think, between middle and high schoolers and the harridans and shriekers. Some students have so little meaning in their lives, without jobs or chores or anything to accomplish that the most minor of setbacks induces such stress. The race hoaxers live such a life of ease but have egos that need affirmation that they create a situation where they can be seen as a victim.
I can tell you most sincerely that a real racist LOVES it when black people call each other the “n word”. I know this because unlike the vast majority of Americans I have known real, actual, no shit racists (and was instrumental in putting some of them in prison for real crimes).
They love it because it validates their racism. They say “See! I told you so! I’m right! They know they’re (the “n” word)s and they even call each other that. Not only that, but they won’t let anyone who’s not a (“n” word) call them that! That’s a (the “n” word) thing to do if ever there was one!”
I love Zo Rachel, he’s the kind of man I’d be proud to call my friend and he’d be in some very good company if that were the case. My regard for him is increased by the fact that he refuses to use that word even though due to his skin color he has social license to do so. Zo gets it right.
You can tell this is an uncomfortable topic for Zo. I get that too. Alfonzo Rachel is the kind of man who would just as soon you regard him as Alfonzo Rachel and not make an issue of race. He doesn’t, you shouldn’t either, it’s not fair to him if you do what he will not.
This isn’t being “color blind”, I’m not blind, yet, and I can clearly see he’s of African extraction. I’m fairly certain he knows that too, don’t you think? It is prioritization. Of all the things that someone like Alfonzo Rachel strives to be; a good man, an American Patriot, a Defender of the Faith, etc. — For him the issue of his race is no more a “thing” than mine is to me. I’m proud of my heritage and he should be equally proud of his too. Heritage is not genetic racialism. Heritage is what the people who came before you sent down the centuries to you. Not the genes you inherited from them.
Because being proud of being black, or white, or of indeterminate green polka dots on a blue background, is no more relevant to who you are than would be the case if you were proud of having green eyes instead of blue.
I said earlier this week that the issue is actually one of culture vs. culture, not skin color vs. skin color. Zo has picked his culture and in doing so avoided all the pitfalls of the negative aspects of black culture in America but without ever denying who he is. This is not only a brave thing for him to do and very admirable, the culture he picked and lives by is the same as mine and the chief difference between us is that was harder for him to do than it was for me. But make no mistake, this was not easy for me, or you, either. It means consciously and intentionally choosing what’s really right, then acting on it in opposition to the pull of going along with the herd. There are plenty of aspects of white culture in this nation that are negative and those who choose being white elitist wokinista social justice warriors is a prime example.
In this regard, Zo and people like him are more like me than unlike me (and I more like him than unlike him) and there are plenty of people who have the same pigmentation as I do, or Zo does, that I want nothing to do with. Their racial genetics has nothing to do with that selection process.
My attitude in this regard gives the lie to the claim that Conservatives are automatically racists. I don’t care what race someone is as long as they share my values. If they see things the way I do and vote in a similar manner they’re welcome no matter who or what they are. I suspect that most people who have made an informed, conscious decision on their ideology and aren’t just old curmudgeons feel the same as I do on this subject.
If you haven’t read Bill’s Eject^3 era essay “Tribes” it has concepts similar to what you spelled out.
I haven’t read that, can you give me a pointer to where I can find it? You say “read” and “essay” so I’m assuming it’s not a video so I’m pretty sure I’ve never come across it somehow.
Bill used to post at a site that seems to be gone now, and had a book of his essays published, of which I don’t have a copy.
I think there are copies of the essays around but Dindy Dee linked one in this post:
https://billwhittlecom.wpenginepowered.com/bills-essay-tribes/
https://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/law-enforcement-military-homeland-security-discussion/19268-tribes-bill-whittle.html#/topics/19268
I hope Bill has his original documents and it would be good if we could have a section here with them posted. I don’t remember the names of all of them, but Trinity and Magic come to mind. Magic had an interesting comparison of the engineering involved in making a corner 7-11 work, and how that would appear as magic to anyone from the past.
Thank you very much, I’ll check those links out when I get time.
I wish, even if it had to be nothing but links due to copyright and proprietary issues, we had access to ALL of Bill, Scott and Steve’s work here on BillWhittle.com.
I find often that Bill and Company say/know/believe things that I had already come up with on my own but they, being professional writers, flesh out those things and say them in a way that makes for better arguments against the opposition.
This makes studying their work very useful.
That said, I’m not interested in anything that might be behind the paywall of another site. This is the only such site I subscribe to and while there may be holes and gaps I’m not aware of, like the essay you mentioned, there’s absolutely no danger that I’ll “jump ship” and take my subscription elsewhere.