Okay... so I think my St Patty's day edition is one of my favorites. But, it's not like I set the bar real high ya know ?
However, as I said in the cast... I need responses. I need your feedback. I need to know you care. Maybe a hug or something ? ;-)
Seriously. This podcast took me to an edge that I wasn't very comfortable with,
Why? Well, I temper my conversation of uncomfortable subjects with people by their reactions. If I am meeting someone for the first time, I am very cautious of my words, my humor, my approach.. etc. I do tend to observe and analyze a bit too much. BUT, when one is ranting on a podcast.. and essentially pushing buttons, I don't know how far to push. Had this been a national broadcast, I would have been getting calls on the switchboard and tried to figureo ut which way to go. As it was/is... I basically am myself and being a bit aggressive I guess...
that's how I roll baby...lol
Thanks for listening..
david
lowdowndavid@gmail.com
Another great show David! Whoever said "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me," might have been deaf. Words can hurt. Relentless teasing/verbal abuse can be devastating. But we must learn to move past it and thrive despite such hurtful experiences. I'm looking forward to next month's show...
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the podcast very much, and I hope people do want to hear the song. It’s got MY vote.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to your thesis, I think that it's a bit misguided. On one hand you are rooting for NOSSA to chastise Michael Steele for his asinine comment (which he should be), and on the other you are saying that people should “own up” to their personal singularities. While there is much to be said on the advantages of finding self-actualization, the point of the matter is that people use “snark” in order to belittle viewpoints, demoralize citizenry and pigeonhole whole sections of the populace (not just make them “feel bad”).
“Snark” can best be described as double-speak that uses irony and coded language in order to mask itself. The chimpanzee cartoon is a perfect example of such. As everyone knows, the cartoon depicts a dead chimp on a sidewalk with three bullet holes in its chest. Two police officers stand (one holding a smoking gun) to the side of the frame. One says to the other, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”
Now, I am going to try to cover all bases here. If the police officer is saying, “They’ll have to find someone else,” then that MUST mean that the chimp was the author of the first stimulus bill, right? Now, let’s turn on our history hats for one second. For four hundred years American culture has kept its black citizens at (the very least) arm’s length from their basic civil rights. They were deemed subhuman, simian and worse. Recently this study reports that still “many Americans subconsciously associate blacks with apes” (http://news-service.stanford.edu/pr/2008/pr-eber-021308.html). So let’s fast forward to the Stimulus Bill once again. The bill is unarguably the first big legislative success of the Obama Administration. It was quickly passed through Congress (at least more quickly than usual), in fact, in lieu of all this AIG mess, Republicans in Congress are claiming that they didn’t have time to read it. Well, if Congress didn’t get to READ the bill, they surely didn’t WRITE it. The Obama administration wrote it, and President Obama championed it. The bill was his baby. Also, just in case anyone didn’t know, Barack Obama is our first African American President.
Of all of the leaders of the Civil Rights’ Movement of which I can think (Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton) HALF OF THEM WERE SHOT DEAD. And even if you discount the connection of the historic association of blacks with apes, the history of political assassination in this country is abominable. Four Presidents were assassinated while in office, as well as others who survived attempted assassinations. Violence in the political world is a reality, and for someone to bandy about such an idea that it is okay to kill anyone for writing bad legislation is a cheap and dangerous attempt to rally one’s supporters. Since the cartoon never explicitly mentions any of this, it is SNARK: slippery, clandestine and always hiding behind the defense “It was just a joke.”
Granted, David, the idea of verbal castration is as terrifying to me as to anyone else, but we AREN’T talking about a bunch of people who need to quit being namby-pamby about being called names. It’s about a REAL history of violence against minorities in our culture, and if we can slowly begin to eradicate these prejudices and hatreds through something as small as a word, then I am all for it.
I think that’s all I’ve got right now. It’s pretty late.
Good luck, and I’ll try to get many people to listen to the podcast!
Your friend,
Paul
I disagree whole heartedly with your interp of the editorial cartoon however.
ReplyDeleteI saw the strip and at no time did " OH, that's obama" cross my mind. In the same sense... " hey, this might offend a jewish person" never crossed my mind when I referred to a plant. So, I think we see what we look for and I believe psychology would back that up. So basically, if you want to believe a slight exists, you will see ALL potential slights. Doesn't mean the slight exists. Sure, I suppose you could say he meant the monkey to mean Obama... and maybe he did, I will never know, but I can honestly say I am glad that a racist thought didnt cross my mind, but the fact that a monkey.. which had been in the news...and the stimulus... which had been in the news... were tied together... in the same sense of who else could have written such a bad piece of work. Perhaps he was saying there is NO WAY OBAMA could have written it..he is too bright, he must have hired a monkey and given him a typewriter...
We see the world thru the filters of our own glasses.
Matthew
ReplyDeleteYou know... I guess I do need to think about it. Words can hurt. But I do know that we allow that pain to affect us. If someone called us something ridiculous it would make us laugh... its the fact we let what is said get to us... so.. we need to come up with ways to strengthen our self-esteem... especially when it comes to bullying. All the shooters at schools proves that bullying does cause harm. Thanks for the reminder of how bullying does hurt... and the comment.
David...
ReplyDeleteI did send an email to Mr Steele (well his staffers) and expressed my discontent with his terminology.
I think what bothers me most is the double standard. Society thinks it is okay to offend short people, while offending other groups is detestable. It's dehumanizing. It's saying "Who cares about your rights and your self esteem. If you dare speak up, we will label you as having a complex. Know your role."
The word midget, for me personally anyway, always has a bad association. It has always been meant as a put down, as oppressive, as I am some sort of leper. Midgets were used as circus freaks, mocked and ridiculed. This is why I am in favor of it not being used; it really is a word of contempt for a shorter individual.
Maybe, at times, a friend can use it in a light-hearted situation and then go on to say.. "I meant nothing by it." I think most of the time, I, as well as others, know when the word is being used mailiciously and when it isn't.
Perhaps Mr Steele didn't mean it maliciously either but it sends the message that it is okay to use it, regardless of the intent or context.
Look forward to your next podcast-
Chris Hamre
NOSSA VP
I agree that the double standard is unfortunate. Any double standard is wrong. I dont feel as though he meant anything malicious but it is unfortunate that he feels no qualms in possibly offending a section of people. Especially himself being in a minority.
ReplyDeleteI am actually torn. I remember when the movie " Shakes- the clown" opened and it was boycotted by "clowns" It made news and yet didnt help the case at all, due to the fact, they were clowns.
Maybe a better way would be to release a comment to the press... in the specific case of Steele.. that we "midgets" look forward to being placated by old, black, stupid, republicans.
Then again, I have never been accused of doing the right thing all the time.