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mortaleye
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Name: Joseph
Country: Mexico
Birthday: 5/17/1983
Interests: www.maketradefair.com
Expertise: Writing/Literature/Poetry, Listening to Music, Traveling, Meeting people (is easy), fading out...
Occupation: Artist
Industry: Art
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
9/6/2003
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| Kramer goes KrazySo, there's gonna be about a million people commenting on this, and I'm
just one of those pointless voices, but I'm gonna try to add some
reason to this.
First off, exhibit A: The Tirade
If you haven't heard, the comedian best known as Kramer from Seinfeld
(Michael Richards, as if anyone will care what his real name is; we'll
settle on Kramer from here on) went on a 2 and a half minute racist
tirade against some black hecklers at a show at the Laugh Factory in
LA. That's pretty much all the background you need, plus if you
want to actually have intelligent input, you should watch the clip (be
forewarned, it's very R rated with a lot of racist material).
So, here's the thing, do not believe anyone (including Kramer's
publicist) that this was just a routine, that it was all a joke meant
to play on other people's racism (like, say, Borat or, a a more fitting
example, Sarah Silverman). This was angry racism. For the
first minute of the clip, I was holding out judgment that it might have
been a routine, but it's clear by the end that this is no calculated
rant. It's an emotional and on the spot tirade.
I'm not a Kramer hater. Hell, how could you be? The dude
was one of the most consistently funny aspects of Seinfeld, a pretty
consistently funny show on its own. I hate to see this end his
career (it was already on life support), and it's likely he'll bounce
back (as will Mel Gibson). But, one must look at this objectively.
I already know the defense on this one. "Chris Rock says
'Cracker' and no one calls him racist." Well, putting aside the
fact that some people do call Chris Rock racist, let's be clear
here. I think that the word 'Nigger' being off limits while
'cracker', 'honkie', 'spic' and other racist slurs being open game is
definitely a double standard, and I think the only way you take the
negative power away from a word is to make it a joke. I'm not
getting into the whole, Black people call each other 'Nigga'
thing. That's a tangent that bares no weight on this issue.
What matters here, though, is not that Kramer said 'Nigger', but that
he meant it as an attack and the rest of his tirade supports
this. He talks about hanging 'them' upside down with forks in
their ass. And that gets a nervous laugh from people.
Because, here's the thing, comedians like Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman
(who I adore) and Sacha Baron Cohen have conditioned people to racist
comedy. The difference between their work and Kramer's tirade,
though, is that those comedians reveal more about racism and its ills
through their comedy than the most scholarly academic paper ever could.
That's the power of comedy, to take taboo subjects and force audiences
to face them head on. And when you can laugh about it, suddenly
the rug is swept out from under the subject (oh, if only people had
laughed at more Hitler jokes back in the day), and the power is
gone. That's what the film "The Aristocrats" is talking about (I
find it hilarious when people talk about how that movie is just
offensive for the sake of offense, completely missing the point that
the nature of comedy is to offend our sensibilities to the point that
we have to step back from our preconceived notions and rethink everything).
And you can see Kramer in the clip trying to cover his own ass (about
halfway through his tirade, I think even he realizes he's fucked
up). He makes some asides about how "there's still those words"
as if all along he's been trying to show how certain 'words' can still
offend. Except, clearly that was not the point, because if that
were the case, he would have stuck with just saying Nigger and not gone
on about how 'that's what happens when you interrupte a White man' or
about sticking forks up people's asses. Neither one of those
statements has anything to do with the power of 'those words'.
(And the fact that he called a specific person a Nigger and wasn't just
making a blanket commentary is also damning for him.)
So why can Sarah Silverman say 'kike' or even 'chink' and get away with
it (to be fair, she doesn't always get away with it, and one of her
funniest bits, which uses the word 'chink', got her into big
trouble)? Why do I think Kramer was racist and Sarah Silverman is
a genius (along with incredibly hot)? First off, Sarah Silverman
(and the other comedians) tend to aim most of their racist comments at
their own race (Sacha Cohen is Jewish, and his character Borat is an
anti-semite). This is especially true of Jewish comedians (Jon
Stewart, another genius, makes jokes about Jews a lot, as well as tons
of self-effacing jokes). There has been a lot of academic talk
about why Jewish humor tends to lean towards self mockery, but what it
basically comes down to is, when you're part of a culture that has been
shat on for so many years, the only way you survive is by finding humor
in something, anything, even if it is yourself (modern Black and
Mexican comedians tend to have similar styles of comedy, though it'll
never quite match the Jewish comedians).
So, am I saying it's okay to be racist if you're a minority? No,
what I'm saying is, it isn't racist to say 'nigger' or 'spic' or
'cracker' (some people are going to disagree with that point, and
that's fine, but that's not the crux of my argument). Racism
isn't in the word, it's in the intent. Some people say you
shouldn't say 'nigger' because of the negative connotations, but that
doesn't stop them from saying 'faggot' or even 'gay' in a derogatory
way. Talk about double standard. We, as a civilization,
will never be able to rid ourselves completely of taboo words, because
as long as there is conflict, there will be words used to represent
that conflict, and those words will be 'bad'. Our best way of
fighting such misuse of language is not to hide from those words, but
to ridicule them. To put them in the spotlight and point out what
every child learns at a very young age: "Sticks and stones may break my
bones, but words will never hurt me."
Kramer's words were just words. And a smart comedian uses even
the most taboo words to great comedic effect and never loses sight of
the roundabout positive effect of his or her material.
But Kramer's fork comment (among others) was clearly more of a cry for sticks and stones than just mere words.
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| Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?A collaboration with a brilliant poet.
I'm gasping on a goose down cough
as his fingers twist and tangle in my hair
"I could never love you"
he whispers
breath heavy in my ear
and there's a scratching underneath my skin
weaving my ribs
and up to my throat
There are such pretty ways to die-
all moused and tinted
they'll call it a lipstick tragedy
and write my eulogy in eyeliner
He plucks away my indulgences
voiding them in red
And I plead to the weight above me
Empty me- the sand from my head
the flashing sign-posts
leave me bare
"I'm not your savior
I could never save you from yourself."
But I'll still think of him every time I pray...
I adore Thee as my first beginning.
I aspire after Thee as my last end.
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I’m last rites for an evening’s breeze
caught between her lips
“You don’t say sweet things anymore”
she sighs
in the colors of an ending dream
with her hair tied to my fingers
I pull away and she reels me back
with the silence of her eyes
Every angel has a brother in hell
lost on the wrong side of war
they say I’ve a lover’s dignity
but my brother wears the wings
She tears away from my laugh
cleaning me with salt
And I need to feel this weight beneath me
Hate me so I remember
the forgotten words I used to breathe
“Love me, dear.”
“I’m not her
I’m not the one you need to harm”
But she’ll lose her virgin conception
You have known me always
Forever and ever, a man of fears.
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