Racial Jokes Make ‘News’ in America
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AFP, Oct. 30, 2008
As Barack Obama closes in on his bid to become the first African-American US president, racial politics have burst into mainstream media with the release this month of two “news” shows anchored by black comedians.
But while some applaud the emergence of minority viewpoints in prime time, others worry that even in jest, the negative stereotypes show just how little has changed when it comes to racism in America.
On the debut of “Chocolate News,” a half-hour sketch show on the Comedy Central cable channel, comedian David Alan Grier wasted no time joking about Obama’s mixed race heritage.
{snip}
Grier, 53, came up with the idea for the show more than a year ago, after seeing Jon Stewart, the host of the Daily Show, get an uncomfortable response when he tried to make a joke about Obama.
“David heard that and thought ‘Wait a minute, I am the person who can absolutely make jokes about Barack Obama,’“ said Lauren Corrao, president of programming at Comedy Central.
In contrast to the brash, curseword-laden skits on “Chocolate News,” comedian D.L. Hughley’s weekly show on CNN aims to meld a comedian’s viewpoint with a mainstream news channel.
The first episode of “D.L. Hughley Breaks the News” featured the 45-year-old reviewing popular Hollywood images of black men as president, interviewing white supporters of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and enticing former White House press secretary Scott McClellan to announce his endorsement of Obama.
But not everyone was a fan.
A writer on the blog blackpoliticalthought.com called it “an offensive show that perpetuates the negative stereotypes that have dogged blacks in this country for too long.”
The blogger criticized Hughley’s comments that an Obama health care plan would provide “grills,” or metal teeth caps for all, and the appearance of a guest dressed as a pimp who said “politicians are pimps and the electorate are their ho’s (whores).”
A CNN spokeswoman referred AFP to a statement that said: “This is a comedy show and there is no expectation that people will agree with D.L. all the time.”
{snip}
While the emergence of racial comedy on mainstream news is uncharted territory, controversial jokes about race and prejudice have long been fodder for comedians including the late Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock.
Comedians can use humor to raise discussions rarely heard elsewhere in society, according to Gary Weaver, a professor of cross-cultural studies at American University.
{snip}
(Posted on October 30, 2008)
Comments
“Comedians can use humor to raise discussions rarely heard elsewhere in society, according to Gary Weaver, a professor of cross-cultural studies at American University.” Wrong….Blacks can,whites lose their careers Andrew Dice Clay learned the hard way.
Posted by axwhy at 5:17 PM on October 30
In response to the question “is America ready for a black president?” I ask this question: “Is America ready for a president that cannot be mocked, lampooned or criticized?” The answer to that question is a resounding no.
Posted by at 5:56 PM on October 30
Question: How many Barack Obama’s does it take to change a light bulb?
Answer: Just one. He holds the bulb, thinks the world revolves around him, and calls it change you can believe in.
Posted by at 6:14 PM on October 30
Actually Mike Judge of King of the Hill fame made the first Joke about Barack Obama long before anyone even heard of Barack Obama. He made a movie titled Idiocracy.It is about the what would happen in the future if only stupid people had children. What he prophesied was that in the future the president would be a black professional wrestler.The movie is funny as heck.
Posted by Tony Soprano. at 6:50 PM on October 30
When Obama is finally not elected, blacks will fill the air with cries of, “We were robbed, we were robbed!”
I think that is a good thing, as blacks will finally have an inkling of what it is like to be white.
Posted by Nobama at 7:47 PM on October 30
I have always been confused by the fact that blacks don’t respect each other, but demand that other races never say anything that negative about blacks as a whole.
Popular black comedians, rap “musicians”, athletes, and the common black citizen don’t respect their race. How come everyone else is held to a higher standard?
Posted by at 7:59 PM on October 30
I’ve seen big posters for Chocolate News posted all over NYC subway cars with the caption “Can We Put Black People on TV” or something similar. I have never watched the show. I did somewhat appreciate Grier’s work years ago on In Living Color. Of note to AMREN readers might be the fact that Grier’s Psycholgist father co-wrote Black Rage http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rage-William-H-Grier/dp/1579103499.
In regard to putting blacks on TV-Give Me a Break. They are all over. There may possibly be more black doctors and scientists on TV than in reality.
I should probably hold onto this thought until next week but what the heck. Blacks complain about the lack ofrole models. The new Obamalama regime will present white youth with very poor political role models-just think about it. It does matter. There will be no strong role models…Barney Franks? Spineless Joe Biden? Meanwhile white girls/women will see powerful black role models.
This is definetly not a boring time to live but…
Posted by S & GS at 8:28 PM on October 30
But while some applaud the emergence of minority viewpoints in prime time, others worry that even in jest, the negative stereotypes show just how little has changed when it comes to racism in America.
Of course. If there are not enough blacks represented in any aspect of American culture, it’s a sure sign of racism. If there are plenty of blacks represented, that’s also a sign of racism. If blacks aren’t making racial jokes, it’s a sign that blacks are “afraid to talk honestly” about race. If blacks are making racial jokes, “the negative stereotypes show just how little has changed.” The MSM can find racism everywhere if it looks hard enough—and it always does.
Posted by Tim in Indiana at 8:29 PM on October 30
S & GS wrote:
In regard to putting blacks on TV-Give Me a Break.
Don’t you mean “Gimme a Break!” starring Nell Carter? The TV show which, in its later years, launched the stardom of noted dufus Rosie O’Hypocrite?
Posted by Question Diversity at 9:50 PM on October 30
Chocolate News is extremely racist and offensive against whites. I think the show will fail because of that. I know I turned it right the hell off, after watching a couple minutes of it (as it is after the coveted timeslot after South Park).
Posted by at 10:37 PM on October 30
I’ve had a few “Awakenings” when it comes to the PC Multi-Culti Nightmare. One of them was in 1991. I was with a beautiful Japenese woman at the time; She was polite, had self-respect, thought feminists were stupid, uncivil, obnoxious and full of themselves, in short, a joke. And above all else, she despised Blacks. I know not all Japanese do, but most, deep down, don’t take them seriously at all.
Anyway, one day, while on our way to the movies (this was in NYC) we turned the corner of 86th and 3rd Avenue and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Squalor. It was almost all Puerto Rican and Black and there was trash everywhere and it was loud, crowded, and depressing.
I just said “Geezus, look at this.”
And her response, not just what she said, but the way she said it - so matter of fact; that kind of Zen Buddhist acceptance of even the ugliest of facts - cut right through me and has never gone away.
She simply said, “Oh yes, we are going back to the Monkies. It will last about 300 years.”
I don’t know if she’s right or not. But there is no denying that the Inverted World we live in now makes it possible to confuse a massive Regression with a major “Progression.”
All of the articles posted here serve to illustrate this obvious fact. I can’t wait until, say, this time next week.
Posted by Dedalus at 11:41 PM on October 30
It will be next to impossible to criticize Obama, even for Blacks as this article points out. That will definitely work in our favor. This off-limits approach the media has taken with Obama will backfire on them. People are all caught up in the moment right now, but eventually the new is going to wear off of Obama. People are going to start looking at him like they have at past presidents, and they’re going to expect the media to question him, but to no avail. A year from now people will be watching the news wondering why nobody is questioning Obama. The few people who do raise questions will be silenced by cries of racism from the Black Community. Blacks are putting themselves in a very bad situation. Their overwhelming racist support of Obama will force them to own whatever policies he implements. They will have to be very defensive of him even if they disagree with his policies, because they fought so hard to put him there, and admitting that he’s doing a poor job would suggest that electing a Black man was a bad idea. Whites will sour on Obama, and when the media refuses to vent those frustrations, Whites will become very angry. Ad this to a laundry list of problems that we’ll be facing, and the outlook isn’t good for Pax-Americana. This election promises to split our empire even further apart.
Posted by Winston Smith at 12:43 AM on October 31
If Obama is elected, and there is in fact only 10-15% blacks in the U.S. population (I personally think 40% is closer) he could go ahead and give all of them government jobs. Most government facilities in any area of state or fed gov is mostly black anyway, and it is usually difficult to get anything done. We could then establish a parallel govt. to get things done and in the meantime we keep the idiots busy! Whadya think? He will appoint blacks to anyplace he can in any case I think and I am interested in seeing who gets what position. I voted for McCain/Palin while in the states but still believe Obama may very well win, legally OR illegally!!!
Posted by Skip at 4:16 AM on October 31
Blacks are all over tv, marketing firms continue to bombard us with their presence, ESPN has a rule that makes it mandatory to have blacks on all their shows, but the most lifelike is the crime reality shows where the majority of the perps are black.
Posted by abc at 5:54 AM on October 31
Anything that a White says or does, or doesn’t say or do is subject to being called racist.
Posted by at 6:39 AM on October 31
“The first episode of ‘D.L. Hughley Breaks the News’ featured the 45-year-old reviewing popular Hollywood images of black men as president, interviewing white supporters of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin…”
Well, that would make for an interesting combination if you put the two together and interviewed white supporters of Comrade BO and asked:
“Are you voting for Obama because you know that he can save the world, just like Morgan Freeman has in so many Sci-Fi films as president?”
I am sure their answers would be quite instructive!
On another note, here is a link to some taped interviews with Obama’s black supporters in Harlem from the Howard Stern Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhbH9IYirD0
Enjoy!
*KRONOS*
Posted by John PM at 9:48 AM on October 31
“She simply said, ‘Oh yes, we are going back to the Monkies. It will last about 300 years.’ “
The Great War begat the Great Depression, which begat Pearl Harbor, which peaked at Empire, which begat the Second Pearl Harbor, which will beget the Second Great Depression, which will beget the Second Great War.
(WW I and WW II were the same war, with a half-time.)
As Kondratieff demonstrated, societies ride large waves. What we’re seeing now is the U.S. riding a large societal wave back down through “history.”
Posted by ol'Sparky at 12:57 PM on October 31
I was under the impression that any job that could be given to a black african (qualified or not) had already been handed out. However, Maraca Kabob may be placed in the unenviable position of squeezing even more employment for the unwilling, unqualified and otherwise unemployable at the expense of the employable, willing and experienced of a much lighter colour. Is this a case for change, or spare any loose change? In the present economic uncertainty, surely it makes sense to make the best of the best we have rather than introducing even more uncertainty. A little bit like selling houses only to those can afford them.
Posted by Yorkshireman at 1:25 PM on October 31
It’s amazing how black comedians can make fun of white people in skits and jokes, where if it were the other way around, the white comedian’s career would suddenly be over. And havn’t you ever noticed these home security commercials, where the perps trying to break into the house are always WHITE!. And what about in the movies, where you can always tell who’s going to be the bad guy from the good guy based solely on their race. If the black guy is bad, it’s for a very good reason, like white racism, or if he’s really bad in the beginning of the movie, he see’s the moral right in the end and suddenly becomes a good guy. Or what about all those black scientist, Brain surgeons and computer geeks on TV that has little to do with reality.
It’s know wonder these young white educated idiots thinks there’s no such thing as racial differences.
Posted by James at 2:09 AM on November 1
November 5th is the end of logic and common sense in the United States. The borders will NOT be closed. Illegals will NOT be deported. Minorities will get endless loans for starting their own businesses, and college loans, that will be forgiven. Welfare Rats who have made a comfortable living on gub’mint handouts and freebies, will get more handouts. Prisons will become more racially balanced, as black judges and gub’mint encouraged judges drop the charges against more and more minorities normally on their way to prison for Assault, robbery, rape, child molestation, home invasions, and homicide, to balance the racial makeup in prisons and jails. Crime will escalate as it has in central Florida. Criminals will get bolder and bolder, as laws against minorities get laxer and laxer. Middle class working Americans will pay for more police, more handouts to have-nots, and the wages of middle-class, and pensions will be tapped to help foot the bill. The internet will be “Monitored” and a fee will be assessed to access it. Everyone’s online activity will be monitored to determine if you are a hidden Conservative trying to overthrow the Socialist Agenda of Obama. Your Bank Accounts and assets will be measured when Retirement time comes, to determine how much income you NEED to get by. The rest will be taxed. Socialism destroyed Mexico’s economy, NOW that same Socialism (voted in, by ignorant Bush haters, homosexuals, Illegals and Limo Liberals) will destroy the American economy first, then the Americans who supported it. The silent (lazy) majority, who did not vote, will live to see the day they regret it. Their children will live it. Their grandchildren will live to see the gradual White Genocide. America will be one big Mexico, with human rodents trying to survive the dictatorship of drug cartels. Like Mexico NOW.
Posted by Oscar at 10:28 PM on November 1
It is important that we get our voice back. And the best way to do that is verbally tear down Obama every chance we get. It is pretty clear that Obama will have a core group around him that will treat him like a Saint, including many in the press. It is critical that we associate Obama with the worst sort of racial politics on the left. By the time his 4 years are up the left will be begging for him to go. The defensive posture of calling everyone who disagrees with him a racist will wear pretty thin quickly. After that it will be a whole new ballgame.
Posted by hugo at 7:07 PM on November 3