Finally, It Becomes Clear: The Point Isn't Whether Somebody's Actually Racist
Ellen DeGeneres was the subject of a recent social media witch hunt after she posted a Photoshopped picture of herself riding Usain Bolt.
Supposedly, it was racist because she's a white woman riding a black man. Well, if you had been kidnapped by space aliens 25 years ago, and you were only dropped off on your parents' front lawn a few mornings ago, that would have been a plausible belief.
There is nothing, however -- nothing -- to support the notion of Ellen as racist and quite a lot that argues against that. Strongly.
As I tweeted then:
John McWhorter gets it right in TIME:
Um, OK. I guess the photo isn't the very best of ideas in the grand scheme of things. If I had been watching over Degeneres' shoulder as she composed the photo, I myself would frankly have understood it as coming from her studiously daffy sense of humor combined with an open admiration for Bolt's ability. But in view of that grander scheme of things always out there, I would have told her that there are people who will interpret the photo as racist.Interpret, that is, as opposed to actually thinking it's racist. There's a difference, and I wonder how many people out there really think Ellen DeGeneres thinks black people are lesser beings than white ones in any sense worthy of public debate. For example, here's a thought experiment--if the runner of the moment happened to be white, who among us thinks DeGeneres would not have composed the exact same picture?
Yet we might say that DeGeneres forgot that the image of a white woman on a black man's back is less than optimal given certain realities of American history.
Clearly, clearly, that is the case.
Welcome to outrage culture.
I think a big part of this -- but not the entire explanation -- is people who feel a need to be "content" producers on social media and really don't have much that's original or interesting bouncing around in their heads.
Beyond that, I think it's a way to say, "Hey, I'm one of you."
The sad thing is, this is supposedly about improving our culture. What it's actually doing is putting a chill on free speech -- which is not something that results in making the world a better place; just a less free one and an uglier one.
Free speech tends to be a right that supports other rights.
And ugliness doesn't disappear because it's unspoken; in fact, unspoken ugliness is the ugliness that sticks around.
Ordinarily, I'd say this was overblown.
Ellen is one of the SJWs, so, let them eat each other. Same with Seth Rogen and Sausage Party.
No, not seeing Sausage Party even if it is disliked by the Usual Suspects, because Rogen is one of the Usual Suspects.
I R A Darth Aggie at August 19, 2016 7:43 AM
Joe Hildebrand: "I am no zoologist but if Usain Bolt is a mule, he is the worst mule in history. While I would never denigrate mules — that would be speciesist (and yes, that’s an actual thing) — they are not generally known for running the 100-metre dash in 9.81 seconds."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/joe-hildebrand-it-seems-im-a-racist-but-at-least-usain-bolt-is-too/news-story/122954854d7458d95a780b74a9dbb906
Usain Bolt retweeted it.
Insufficient Poison at August 19, 2016 8:10 AM
Rogen has spoken out numerous times against the PC Mob. Degeneres is left leaning, but I wouldn't call her a SJW.
The PC mob is self-cannibalizing, though. Amy Schumer is a better example of someone who became their poster girl and now has to watch every thing that comes out of her mouth. Which makes her way less funny.
Insufficient Poison at August 19, 2016 8:20 AM
Same thing, in a more extreme form, happened to Sara Silverman. There was a time when she was funny (very, very bawdy, but funny). But now all that's left for her to do is to insult disfavored groups and try to be sexually shocking, because she closed herself off from all other available paths. Last time I caught part of her stand-up act, it came across like a 5-year-old trying to get attention with potty jokes. Boring and vaguely annoying.
Cousin Dave at August 19, 2016 8:44 AM
"speech tends to be a right that supports other rights.
And ugliness doesn't disappear because it's unspoken; in fact, unspoken ugliness is the ugliness that sticks around."
Which is why the democratic party's full out war on the First Amendment and the Second Amendment should concern you more than Donald Trump's gafs.
Isab at August 19, 2016 8:48 AM
Last time we saw her live, she was awful and kept interrupting her routine to chat (non-comedically) with audience members. A few years before that, she was amazing.
It's true. Once you're in bed with the PC police, you may have to apologize at any time for your once-classic jokes, and your pool of source material gets much smaller.
Eventually she's going to get called out on that SPECTACULAR "raped by a doctor" joke.
Insufficient Poison at August 19, 2016 8:49 AM
I wish Joan Rivers were alive.
She would have had a field day pissing off these people
Sixclaws at August 19, 2016 9:07 AM
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a29878/joan-rivers-power-of-not-apologizing/
She and Anthony Jeselnik are heroic to me.
Insufficient Poison at August 19, 2016 9:32 AM
Racist? Well, let's see. She appears to be holding him affectionately, not contemptuously.
If anything, it's sexist. The feminists should be saying, "Ellen shouldn't need a man to carry her around."
Patrick at August 19, 2016 8:28 PM
People with too much time on their hands indulge in this kind of silly business. Only if you're sitting around broke in your parent's basement is this a big issue.
Ian Callum at August 20, 2016 5:11 AM
Liberals use "race" as a proxy for ideology. But the rest of us are catching on and the edge on this trusty battle-axe is not as sharp as it used to be.
Increasing numbers of people are done playing this game by liberal rules.
The end result is that a liberal white woman, who in other contexts would apologize for her race, uses an exemplary black person as a means to carry her to her ideological goal. When she gets there she will get off. The black man is no longer needed.
With liberals, every issue is far more about how it helps them move their agenda of imposing the Secular Utopia than it is about this issue of the moment.
Buck Wheaton at August 20, 2016 5:30 AM
Degeneres deserves everything she gets and much, much more. She is the high Priestess of political correctness and a prime instigator of the outrage culture that is now at her heels. May they drive her from her position as they have so many before her. I will cheer when this happens.
john at August 20, 2016 8:15 AM
Finally? Most people have known this for years.
Tex DeCommentariat at August 20, 2016 8:17 AM
All Ellen DeGeneres was doing was making a joke about the only man to ever win the 100 meters in three Olympics. If the man had been white, she would have made the same joke. It was designed to be both funny and to honor Bolt. Turning into some racial issue is more about the people complaining than about Ellen DeGeneres.
Rick Caird at August 20, 2016 8:42 AM
Ellen Degeneris is white, and therefore racist. Everything she says, does, or thinks is, by definition, inherently racist. White people are born racist, they are incapable of not being racist, and to suggest otherwise is racist.
Michael at August 20, 2016 11:43 AM
Well, the outraged do believe that the culture would be improved if free speech was eradicated.
A. C. at August 20, 2016 8:13 PM
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