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Michael Richards (Kramer) Racist Tirade

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Messages: 1 - 4 (67 total)

	mananointednow 11/22/2006 5:11 PM	1 out of 67
	You know, after watching the video of Michael Richards at the Laugh Factory and his subsequent apology on Letterman, it struck me. This "rage" is just below the surface for many, isn't it? I mean, listen to the way he says the N-word, comingled with vitriolic cursing and vile debasing scenario's of violence toward black men. How can a seasoned professional, who says he's not a racist, go there so vehemently? Can Jesse Jackson and the other race baiters be right after all? Is this sentiment just below the surface for many whites? Does it stop them, you, from hiring, renting, selling, teaching, et al, blacks? Is it possible? Since Kramer doesn't think he's a racist, yet is filled to the brim with such disdain for Afro-Americans, could there be millions just like him? In public denial, but internally a racist of the worst kind? All of us need to watch this video. It is probably a reflection of most of America. No wonder many blacks don't believe the playing field is level. Imagine a Kramer is the head of HR at the company, or the director of admissions at a majority university, a banker, realtor, car dealer, or worse, a judge or a cop. Really makes you sick doesn't it?

	geosmith 11/22/2006 7:58 PM	2 out of 67
	Comedy clubs are accustomed to obscene humor and racist jokes. They make fun of everyone. It's expected. Kramer wanted to make a joke, and would have pulled it off, but he couldn't think of one. He was angry at some people interrupting his comedy. If they'd been some other race or personal characteristic, he'd have blown up at them and hammered those characteristics. If his ungrateful audience had been two disabled people talking during his comedy, he'd probably have gone into some sick disabled comments. When people get angry, they do low blows, whatever seems to fit the offender. In Kramer's case some black gentlemen were talking during his comedy. He found it distracting and insulting, so he traded some insults. He went too far. Far too far. But it's part of our base instincts. Everyone gets angry. Everyone thinks about saying whatever we know the other person will feel hurt by. You're mad at a fat person, you do fat insults. Kramer is sorry. He's banned from the comedy club. He won't get a lot of comedy appearances as a result of his anger. He'll pay for what he said. he didn't mean it. People say things they don't mean when they're angry. That doesn't justify it, it just explains it. We do have taboos against racism in America, more so than other countries. There may be a pentup anger at being unable to ever cross a taboo. Repressed anger, repressed racism. You may not be prejudiced against overweight people, but you know there's a taboo against saying anything offensive about or to the overweight person. Then one day this overweight person annoys you, does things you don't like, you get angry, and there comes the fat jokes or fat insults. You don't mean them, but you lost control. You may even be a little overweight yourself. Your wife and mother may be overweight. People you love are overweight, but there you are, in a fit of anger, losing control saying things you know you don't mean, because you want to insult someone, and whatever hurts that person is what you use against them. Comedy clubs have much looser standards, they do insult people, they shock people, they do go into the gutter for humor. Kramer just couldn't salvage his insults with humor. His anger got the best of him.

	geosmith 11/22/2006 8:01 PM	3 out of 67
	Kramer was also being Kramer, in his comedy. All he needed was a punch line, a couple really humorous things tied into his insults, and he may have pulled it off. Don Rickles insulted his audiences to their face. Some comics can do that. Others fall flat. Kramer was trying, he might have pulled off even a racist joke, but he didn't have the material.

	SHEMAinCanada 11/22/2006 10:18 PM	4 out of 67
	I don't care what anybody says - if I'm angry at someone, I DON'T think of any bigoted remarks to make to hurt them with. I tell them what I'm angry at. A person who would stoop to a racial, ethic, cultural, disabled, bigoted slur....has bigotry inside of them. It's that simple...it will not pass your lips if it isn't in your heart and brain.

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