Celebrating Public Figures Making Racist Comments and the Subsequent Spin, Part 1

Who DOESN’T take umbrage when a public figure, especially a politician, says something publically that is pretty doggone racist? We all get indignant. And by “we all” I mean: some government democrats, the New York Times, the cast of Saturday Night Live, and people who live on the East coast and/or California and parts of Oregon.

We don’t “do anything about it,” if you want to get technical, but my vote is for moral outrage to replace activism in the 21st century! (That was sarcasm).

Anyway, in light of Joe Biden’s recent comments, I have decided to catalogue of the most fun and famous public declarations of bigotry by (mostly) politicians. I will add more as I have time. Please feel free to hip me to any I have left out.

Macacagate, or Sen. George Allen calls a man of Indian ancestry “macaca”
From Wikipedia:

This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He’s with my opponent……Let’s give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.

S.R. Sidarth, the non-white man in question, was born and raised in Virginia, just FYI. Allen apologized to S.R. Sidarth twelve days later. Some pundits hypothesize that this remark cost Allen the election. But, I don’t know. I think it could have been the revelation that Allen is part Jewish.

The A-Word

We all know that Joe Biden choked on his foot earlier this week when he said that Barack Obama is “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and is a nice-looking guy.”

Of course, this goes back to my contention that white people look at black men and see and hear only Buck Nasty. You remember in Looney Tunes when two characters would be stranded on a desert island and they would look at each other and see drumsticks and whole hams? It’s that kind of thing.

I won’t even touch the “clean” remark. But, why it would be remarkable that a Harvard Law grad is articulate, I don’t know. Clearly it wouldn’t have been observed of a white person of Obama’s background and education. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I will refer you to this article, which says everything I would say, only better.

Thanks Rachel for the link

Wherein White People in Brooklyn Assert Their Preferences for Taproom Clientele in a Most Troubling Manner

The following is what Gawker terms “Casual Indie Racism,” which is pretty perfect. The best comments come from myself (what can I say) and Rachel. She is always way funnier and more on the money than anyone, ever.

!!! Observe white hipsters decry their favorite watering hole due to its recent influx of clientele of color
!!! Be amazed at the conflation of “African-American” and “thug”
!!! Bear witness to the use of the word “ghetto” as every part of speech not to mean a Jewish quarter of a city during WWII, but anything having to do with American blackness
!!! Solve the mindbending puzzle of “How can these hipsters lambaste the influx of a group of people who once inhabited the very neighborhood they gentrified?”

LINK: This place was so much better before it had black people.

Duh/Der/Doi

The following is a list of movies that I do not understand– thematically, plot-wise, neither the meaning nor subtext. Due to their status as critical darlings, products of the cinematic avant garde, or brainchildren of brilliant, artistic weirdos, it increases one’s coolness to have seen them and be able to discuss them beyond “Jake Gyllenhaal is so much cuter than Ryan Gosling” or “OMG how does Keanu still get roles?” Preferably one wants to be able to discuss these movies at bars in NYC while ordering a Yuengling or a Maker’s on the rocks.

1. Donnie Darko Dude, WTF.
2. Lost Highway Thing about this movie is that it scared the SHIT out of me even though I didn’t get any of it.
3. Strange Days I feel asleep during this movie, but I hypothesize that even if I hadn’t, I still wouldn’t understand it. I think my confusion was the impetus for the impromptu nap in the first place.
4. A Scanner Darkly This is a little different than the above because I think I understand what this movie was trying to say/do, but it was not well-executed enough to be totally clear. That said, I don’t think I really understood this movie.

I am sure there are others, so I will add them as they occur to me.

I Love NPR/I Hate NPR

NPR Personalities Whose Voices/Intonations/Verbal Idiosyncrasies Drive Me Up a Wall

By the way, check out their pictures. They look like they sound. I swear.

1. Joanne Silberner, Correspondent, Health Policy, Science Desk
Nasal beyond belief
2. Peter Overby, Correspondent, Power, Money and Influence, Washington Desk
Sounds like he has two sets of braces and a tennis ball in his mouth
3. Bill Henry, Local CT Announcer/Producer
Slick, smarmy tone of voice. Pauses in strange places
4. Ann Taylor, Newscaster
Pronounces “industrial” (as in Dow Jones Industrial Average, something she says EVERY day) strangely. Sounds like “inDUSTrull.”
5. Faith Middleton
Incredibly affected manner of speaking. Says “s” funny. Not a lisp, something completely controlled by her. Other annoying inflections too amorphous to pinpoint.

Winter Beach

We went to Cape Cod at the end of December and beaches are really very cool in wintertime because you get all the waves, sand, rocks and other assorted beauty without having to wear a bathing suit. Click to make way bigger.

Amazingest Ask MetaFilter Question Ever?

What can I do with a dead bird?

Hobbies We Think Our Upstairs Neighbors Have Taken Up

1. Playing pickup sticks with logs
2. Bowling with giant marbles
3. Playing kickball with a grand piano
4. Practicing clog-dancing
5. Playing basketball with anvils
6. Jumping rope while wearing tap shoes
7. High-speed furniture-moving on rollerskates

to be continued

Buh Bye

The New Haven Coliseum was imploded at about 8 this morning. We went and watched it. It. was. awesome. There was a crack and few booms and it collapsed from left to right. I didn’t have the presence of mind to snap a (camera phone) photo until it was already done with. Here is an artist’s rendering:

And, for esses and gees, here are the things I attended at the monolithic deathstar of an eyesore, before it was put out of its (and New Haven’s) misery:

1. a New Haven Nighthawks game circa 1990
2. Family Double Dare (with Marc Summers!) circa 1992
3. Something or another on Ice circa 1995
4. Smashing Pumpkins when they were touring for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness circa 1996

UPDATED AGAIN: The Alter Egos of My Loved Ones

Note: This list is not complete. If you are not on it, it doesn’t mean you are not a loved one.