Many years ago, I swore to myself that in the unlikely event I ever become an entertainer in the public spotlight, I will keep my political views at a lull and my political attacks completely off of the table. But since I am an amateur political blogger, all bets are off until further notice.
There are two reasons for this. The first is clearly selfish. To me, entertainers are meant to be an escape of sorts for the rest of us. If you are singer, sing to me. If you are a comedian, tell me some jokes and make me laugh. I may have just spent my entire day surrounded by jerks and I'd like to put a smile back on my face. The second reason is also selfish but it comes from the philosophy of "be careful of how you treat people on the way up because you will need them on the way back down". Say for example if 100,000 people are gracious enough to refer to themselves as my "fans", what kind of person would I be to tell half of them to "f**k off" because they don't agree with my political leanings? In other words, why should I tell half of my financial backers to go away and never give me money again? Many artists and entertainers seem to think that their support is a source of entitlement and not something they should have to work to earn and to maintain. Instead they feel it is perfectly acceptable to insult half of the people that chose to spend their own money on tickets to hear them speak.
I'm disappointed in comedians like Joel McHale. I enjoy Joel and think he is a talented comedian. My wife and I frequently catch his show "The Soup" on "E". But I am not sure how to take it when he says at the recent appearance at the Correspondents Association Dinner, (a.k.a. "Nerd Prom") that "Republicans are always trying to screw Black people."
I know, I know... "He was kidding, Jeff".
I'm sorry, but there are certain insults, at least when being used in the public forum, that have been tagged as "Politically incorrect no-no's" and thus stricken from the accepted "just kidding" list. "Rapist" and "Racist" are two examples. I don't make these rules, I just accept them. It was even less appropriate this time for having been used to address the President of the United States; a president that visibly laughed on camera at the comment, perhaps with a degree of discomfort. I'll give him benefit of the doubt on this one. That may be nothing more than a case of "being polite to one of your guests", which is an attribute that many entertainers seem to lack.
For a quick review on Black History and the Republicans who apparently like to screw them, allow me to review some noteworthy mentions...
The Republican Party was formed in the mid 19th century with one of its key platforms being the abolition of slavery.
Our first Republican President, Abe Lincoln passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery entirely while the Democrats in the South lobbied for Jim Crow laws and built up the Ku Klux Klan.
Just a half century later, FDR had former Klansmen in his administration including his successor, Harry Truman.
The Republican party supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by margins in the eighty percentile range while Democrats were down in the sixties and actually attempted to filibuster.
Ronald Reagan signed Martin Luther King Day into law and promoted our friend "Eugene Allen", a.k.a. "The Butler" at the same time former Klansman, Robert Byrd was Democratic Senate Minority leader.
And lastly, George W. Bush had more Black Americans on his staff than any prior administration.
A list of notable Democrats from the past 2 centuries that were either segregationists, pro-slavery advocates or Klansmen available upon request.
Now, in regards to one of Joel's numerous incorrect references on which he chose to base his entire speech (I'd recommend a new fact-checker, Joel), please count the number of occurrences of the word "black" in the following quote from the March 12th Paul Ryan interview with Bill Bennett, from which Joel was referencing...
"We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with…you need to get involved, you need to get involved yourself, whether through a good mentor program or some religious charity, whatever it is to make a difference. And that’s how we resuscitate our culture.”
Someone with a sense of realism may hear some truth in that statement. An ignorant person may hear nothing. However, unless severely delusional or perhaps not taking your medicine today, you did not see the word "black". The conclusion was pounced on by his political detractors who assumed "You meant black, didn't you?"
No, he meant "Inner City Culture" just as he said. Contrary to popular opinion, there is a difference. If he meant "black", he would have said "race", not "culture".
Paul Ryan (and this is why I would never vote for him) found himself backed into a corner and discovered his fight-or-flight mechanism is faulty and would never allow him to be fit for the presidency. This is an example of a Republican watching a softball glide across the middle of the plate while the bat never leaves his shoulder. A home run would have been if he'd made the correct scathing counterpunch, not an apology. In politics, an apology is admission of guilt. His response should have been "I never said "black", although I noticed you certainly did in a hurry."
Bill Maher, whom I can say I am NOT an avid fan, does on occasion suffer from spontaneous bouts of common sense. A couple weeks after this interview he cited the following...
"Here’s something else Paul Ryan said, ‘when it comes to getting an education too many of our young people just can’t be bothered, they’re sitting on couches for hours, playing video games, watching TV, instead of dreaming about being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper,’” Maher said. “Oh wait, that wasn’t him that was Michelle Obama.”
To be blunt, if you are one of those people with your head stuck in the sand and think that we don't have higher rates of high school dropouts, teen pregnancies, violent crimes, substance abuses, and unemployment in the inner city, then I invite you to please come visit my ocean-front vista in Nebraska.
This has nothing to do with race. Inner-city in this country is a highly diverse culture that sees no racial boundary. And for those that refuse to accept it, you are contributors to the increasing crisis and a hindrance to any solutions. Now please step aside.
