Just watched Bill Maher. I admit I'm a fan. Along with his sensible take on the politics of the country, he calls out racism on the tea party, Rush Limbaugh and Carl Paladino which I appreciate. He says there is major racism against President Obama in this country but then he dresses up like a pimped out Obama named Barry White House and does a routine. Granted it is funny. Like really funny but it's dripping in stereotype. Should something be racist ONLY if it is negative? I don't know. I felt a twinge of "wow, should I be laughing?" But watching Cornel West laugh at all the "black jokes" about Obama and respond every time Mahar defers to him when talking about any black people, as brilliant as he is, made West seem so much like... someone's uncle named Tom. Whatever, I don't know.
I have a lot of non black friends that straddle that line when joking. I let a lot of things go, even when the jokes get real close to the line, mostly because I know their hearts and know that their friendship is real. They feel comfortable to be able to say certain things around me that they would never say around black people they don't know. Mostly because they know that it doesn't bother me and I can give as much as I can take. But watching Bill Maher tonight straddle that line even standing in defense of President Obama and the racism against him, just felt kinda uncomfortable.
-goRealer
muMs-ography
- muMs
- muMs is an award-winning New York City based Poet and a member of the Labyrinth Theater Company.
muMs
muMs the Schemer ===> Schemer: fiend, foe, friend, fear, /swallower of your fear, /blasphemer, /dreamer…. /to hold, to have, to be in a condition akin to, to victory he prevails! /A mathematical or philosophical diagram representing the astrological aspects of the planets, emotions and intellect on scales, /teller of your tale /in a letha-phorical outline, /a concise examination crafty and secretive in sign, /a systematic and organized chaotic plot. /I am muMs the schemer and you, are not. ===> The first ‘m’ is lower-cased /concerned with race /and small manipulative matters of that sort: /the things in our face /that bleed into our heart. /The ‘u’- also small- leads me to look to the sky, walk there the edge of a shore equating to particles of sand, stars, the moon. To be under all that which is bigger than me lead’s to the second ‘M’ capitalized for the manipulation /of that that from which all shall begin /and again /from when /we least expect. /The ‘S’ is the trick: the hush of it all. /The control over what we discuss, beckon or call /or plural to represent the many that know /or just that the path is a windy road? /No matter, it also is small. ===> muMs, the schemer and echo-er of it all.
