![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
♠
People have long talked about the double-standard of the n-word (nigger), how white people get in trouble for using it while blacks throw it around freely as though they own it. Now, comdedy clubs have taken actions to proscribe its use by anyone regardless of race or skin color, fining and banning offenders, and a black comic has now suffered these penalties. This is in the aftermath of that recent cause celebre when the white Michael Richards (a former "Seinfeld" star) used the term in its most vulgar and hostile manner after being heckled by some black audience members.
I am certainly not for promoting racism, but this seems silly, the concern for magic words. And we are talking about comedy clubs! I suppose sexist jokes are next. The hope is that these are just growing pains.
The banning of Michael Richards should have been enough. I think we can distinguish between genuine hate speech and the play of wild spirits. The concern for hard cases perhaps explains the use of a 'magic words' policy, to play it safe and fair, and maybe this will prove to be only a short-term expedient.
(source: TMZ.com)
xXx
People have long talked about the double-standard of the n-word (nigger), how white people get in trouble for using it while blacks throw it around freely as though they own it. Now, comdedy clubs have taken actions to proscribe its use by anyone regardless of race or skin color, fining and banning offenders, and a black comic has now suffered these penalties. This is in the aftermath of that recent cause celebre when the white Michael Richards (a former "Seinfeld" star) used the term in its most vulgar and hostile manner after being heckled by some black audience members.
I am certainly not for promoting racism, but this seems silly, the concern for magic words. And we are talking about comedy clubs! I suppose sexist jokes are next. The hope is that these are just growing pains.
The banning of Michael Richards should have been enough. I think we can distinguish between genuine hate speech and the play of wild spirits. The concern for hard cases perhaps explains the use of a 'magic words' policy, to play it safe and fair, and maybe this will prove to be only a short-term expedient.
(source: TMZ.com)
