Double Standards

I came across two interesting things within about five minutes on my nightly check-the-news-before-I-go-to-bed ritual. First, I had a bulletin posted on myspace that was supposedly attributed to Andy Rooney. I happen to like Andy Rooney, I think he's one of the few people that have the guts and the stature to say exactly what they think, and there really aren't all that many people like that today, everyone seems to be worried about being PC or something. Anyway, the bulletin was partly like something Rooney would say, but not really, because Andy Rooney is funny and fair in a way this bulletin never could be, in its attempt to legitimize inappropriate attitudes and ideas about current issues in the US. These included, but are not limited to, immigration, the use of English, homophobia, public support of minority oriented things (such as Black Miss America), and so on.

The second issue that came up was this thing with Michael Richards, the guy who played Kramer on Seinfeld. I really have a problem with the hullabaloo this caused for two reasons: a) if this had been a minority of any variety complaining about whites, it would have been ignored entirely, even though it would be just as racist. Just because someone is victimized, they do not automatically have the right to be as big of jerks as those who damaged them. b) As the article rightly pointed out, Fox news was shamelessly pulling the race card with its O.J. Simpson special (which it ended up not showing), and yet public outrage is still high over Richards and not about this network that was blatantly trying to make money off of a double homicide.

I find comments criticizing the African-American community's attempts to build social cohesion and identity to be short-sighted and irritating, because let's face it: if any group in the US today needs more social stability and a positive sense of identity, it's the African-American community. But I also find this double standard of racism offensive in that minorities can get away with saying things and doing things about/against themselves or whites that would never fly coming from the mouth of a white person, such as Richards. For example, AAs* using the n-word. I find this word so offensive that I will say it only in the case of explaining it to non-English speakers who have never heard it. I don't care who says it, it is completely and utterly offensive, and no matter how many times I'm told that it's okay if an AA uses such a derogatory term amongst their AA friends, I do not agree. It has always been, and always will be a term that represents everything wrong with race relations in the US, and a refusal to admit this and leave this word where it belongs - in the past - is simply serving to perpetuate a bad example within the AA community.

*much easier than typing them all out.