I don't approve of this, at all (who hits a guy that just lost his job?) but, as a vision of the zeitgeist, this photo strikes me as funny while making me wonder, "Who's helping us navigate this nonsense?"
"An unidentified man was hospitalized with a massive head injury Friday following an apparent bias-fueled attack in the West Village, witnesses and officials said.
Witnesses on Greenwich Ave. near W. 12th St. said the white man — who cops said is in his 30s — was belting back beers outside Benny’s Burritos about 5:30 p.m. when he began mouthing off to a black customer in the outdoor seating area.
“You n-----s are why I lost my job,” witnesses overheard the man say.
Outraged, the black man punched the bigoted boozer, sending him reeling backward onto the rain-slick sidewalk."
Does anybody care that we should be far past this type of juvenile behavior by now? Two Americans, who would probably be friends under normal circumstances, tripping on what they both know is the most superficial aspect of our heritage? And then there's these words that have become red flags, giving the recipient license to kill? Come on. Instead of trying to eliminate "bitch" and "nigger" - an impossible task in a country with our history - we should be trying to teach ourselves some self-control, how about that? Anybody down with that? Or will it stay this happy-happy joy-joy lie with outstanding outbursts?
“Delusion is always dangerous,” said Barbara Ehrenreich at a speech in 2009 about how this mandatory optimism may have crashed the economy. Ehrenreich is the author of Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America. Mandatory optimism, she says, “is just plain cruel.”
She spoke of how this cult-like mentality, where no negativity is allowed, affects victims of cancer, natural disasters, those living in poverty and the unemployed. On top of everything else, there is societal pressure on victims to stay positive, too.
“In addition to your disease,” Ehrenreich says, “you’ve got this thing wrong in your head which you’ve got to work on, too.”
Ehrenreich warned that negative thinking could be just as delusional, however. Her solution is not either of those, but in realism; “trying to see the world not colored by either our wishes or our fears.”
I think so highly of Americans it's sometimes hard for me to grasp why such pleas are necessary,...
You make an interesting point. Still, the guy had to know, drunk or not, that he was inviting trouble. It was his intention to be offensive. He made his offensive remark to a person most likely to be expected to take offense.
ReplyDeleteBy contrast, Trooper York just made a racist joke about you over at Lem's that I presume was not intended in the least to be offensive. And I am juvenile enough to have found it funny.
So perhaps it's a reasonable expectation that we not be so freakin' touchy, but, at the same time, we should expect a poke in the beezer if offense is clearly intended.
- Krumhorn
Krumhorn,
ReplyDeleteSure, the guy's an idiot, but he's drunk, lost his job - that shit matters in black neighborhoods, too. I know, I wasn't there, but why cold cock an obnoxious guy at such a disadvantage in 2013? Because you can? What kind of shit is that?
I think it's time Americans looked at each other and saw Americans. Overseas, we can pick each other out of a crowd - and they most certainly can - I don't care what your race. We're only hurting ourselves. This sleeping tiger needs to wake up.
As far as Troop's concerned, he and I became fast friends a long time ago. He cracks me up, too. Because he understands what we're ALL living with. That acknowledgement tickles me as much as the jokes. Good brother, good heart. Outstanding sense of humor.
I'ma go see what he wrote,...
See.
ReplyDeleteI keep telling them you are very nice for a colored fella.
But Meade just doesn't like you.