I am often amazed at liberals. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Liberals are awash in racist impulses. They see the world defined by race and they clearly view minorities as inferior. No? Then what else are we to make of (1) their films using the Magic Negro trope over and over or the White Man's Burden trope? Apparently, black and brown people can't learn unless some honkey teaches them, (2) Them making minorities into cute little castrated mascots who dance in the streets for their entertainment, (3) The "intellectual" idea behind desegregation, which is basically that black kids can't learn unless they are surrounded by whites, or (4) the way they are unwilling to speak truth to minorities for fear the little dears can't handle the truth. And yet, they call everyone else a racist.
They see women the same way. While they pay lip service to women being "strong," their policy statements tell us they see women as infinitely delicate little creatures that need to be protected from criticism, sexual situations, and the hardships of the real world. They even worry about the language itself oppressing these delicate flowers. And yet, the accuse everyone else of sexism.
How about the harsh way they suppress speech they don't like in the name of free speech? The way everything must be defined by and counted by race to create a color blind society? The way they bully bullies? How their principles apply according to whom they like and whom they don't. And so on.
But now we see a whoooooole 'nother level to this.
Now we have seen an army of liberal/progressive sexual predators who've spent the past decade whaling about protecting women from people they arbitrarily label as predators because they disagree with them ideologically. Think about this. As every one of these bastards screamed and pointed fingers at innocent conservatives, they were hiding rapes, druggings, threats, unwanted touching, unwanted kissing, and God knows what else.
What's more, all these strong liberal women and the good liberal friends of these bastards knew all about it and said nothing even as they too smeared conservatives with false allegations of the very things their own friends and allies were doing. This is beyond perverse. It is beyond despicable.
The more I think about it, the more shocked I become honestly. This isn't like someone holding other people to a slightly higher standard than they manage to achieve themselves. This isn't even standard hypocrisy. This is a gaggle of predators hiding their own crimes while falsely accusing the world of their own conduct. This is villainy. Even worse, it's a conspiracy of silence where the predators, the victims and the friends and partners of the predators all stayed silent so they could smear people they disagree with. This is evil.
Thoughts?
Liberals are awash in racist impulses. They see the world defined by race and they clearly view minorities as inferior. No? Then what else are we to make of (1) their films using the Magic Negro trope over and over or the White Man's Burden trope? Apparently, black and brown people can't learn unless some honkey teaches them, (2) Them making minorities into cute little castrated mascots who dance in the streets for their entertainment, (3) The "intellectual" idea behind desegregation, which is basically that black kids can't learn unless they are surrounded by whites, or (4) the way they are unwilling to speak truth to minorities for fear the little dears can't handle the truth. And yet, they call everyone else a racist.
They see women the same way. While they pay lip service to women being "strong," their policy statements tell us they see women as infinitely delicate little creatures that need to be protected from criticism, sexual situations, and the hardships of the real world. They even worry about the language itself oppressing these delicate flowers. And yet, the accuse everyone else of sexism.
How about the harsh way they suppress speech they don't like in the name of free speech? The way everything must be defined by and counted by race to create a color blind society? The way they bully bullies? How their principles apply according to whom they like and whom they don't. And so on.
But now we see a whoooooole 'nother level to this.
Now we have seen an army of liberal/progressive sexual predators who've spent the past decade whaling about protecting women from people they arbitrarily label as predators because they disagree with them ideologically. Think about this. As every one of these bastards screamed and pointed fingers at innocent conservatives, they were hiding rapes, druggings, threats, unwanted touching, unwanted kissing, and God knows what else.
What's more, all these strong liberal women and the good liberal friends of these bastards knew all about it and said nothing even as they too smeared conservatives with false allegations of the very things their own friends and allies were doing. This is beyond perverse. It is beyond despicable.
The more I think about it, the more shocked I become honestly. This isn't like someone holding other people to a slightly higher standard than they manage to achieve themselves. This isn't even standard hypocrisy. This is a gaggle of predators hiding their own crimes while falsely accusing the world of their own conduct. This is villainy. Even worse, it's a conspiracy of silence where the predators, the victims and the friends and partners of the predators all stayed silent so they could smear people they disagree with. This is evil.
Thoughts?
1) I never realized you were such a big Spike Lee fan.
ReplyDeleteMagical negro is a real trope but like any trope its not bad in and of itself. 'Ohmigod the mentor is black! Magical Negro! The mentor is white! White savior! If a movie is entertaining fringes whine about the politics, ordinary people just watch it.
2) Huh?
3) Separate but equal was BS. Blacks had fewer rights and inferior facilities. In much of the South blacks couldn't testify against whites, which allowed all sorts of indignities and horrors to be perpetrated against them.
4) I agree with this point but both parties coddle their supporters. Trump's populist, resentment fired spiel sounds quite a bit like that of then DC mayor Marion Barry and other black populist Democrats.
Next, while liberals are most of the high profile predators, plenty of conservatives have been nabbed as well, so from where I stand its a bipartisan problem.
Last of all I agree the hypocrisy revealed is disgusting.
Anthony,
ReplyDelete1. The trope existed long before Spike Lee and it involves more than simply the race of the character. It requires certain other traits that either make the characters harmless, if black, or messianic, if white.
2. Look at how often blacks and hispanics break into song and dance to entertain the white protagonists in commercials. Watch for it and you will see a real "they are here to entertain you" theme in commercials.
3. Of course separate but equal was BS, but liberal whites reduce it to "blacks need us" to ___.
where I stand its a bipartisan problem. Not really. There are a handful of conservatives who have been brought into this and dozens upon dozens of liberals. 50 to 1 is not bipartisan.
More chuckles... apparently, actresses are planning to wear black to the Golden Globes in solidarity with the metoo "movement."
ReplyDeleteUh. Most already were black because it is slimming, hides the ravages of age and mis-diet, and is striking visually. Maybe they should agree to wear makeup to hide their wrinkles too? Seriously, is this about vanity or criminal conduct? Maybe they should wear ridiculous hats shaped like their genitalia... of wait, they already did that.
If you want to be taken seriously, stop the gimmicks, stop playing into the stereotypes, stop patting yourself on the back when all you've done is be complicit, start naming names, present a genuine agenda, and stop acting like pointless gestures have meaning. #wastingmytime
1. The phenomena has existed for a long time but Spike Lee coined the term magical negro. Like I said it's a valid point but one irrelevant to most normal people (I see it is applied to Morgan Freeman in The Dark Knight).
ReplyDelete2. You and I are clearly watching different channels. Song and dance isn't something I see in commercials.
3. What leads you to that conclusion?
Anthony,
ReplyDelete1. Like I said it's a valid point but one irrelevant to most normal people... not sure what this means as I wasn't talking about this being "relevant". I made the point that (1) this is racist, yet (2) it is a common portrayal by liberals.
2. Rather than post dozens of videos showing black people dancing at the drop of a hat, how about this: an article complaining about black people constantly being portrayed as dancing in ads. LINK
3. Two decades of working with liberals on civil rights legal issues.
1. Movies which use the magical negro trope or any other trope shouldn't be viewed as racist, sexist or anything else 'ist'. Either they entertain or they do not.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong I don't object to the existence of critiques which use yardsticks besides how interesting a movie is (are any animals harmed, do people smoke, how violent is it, etc).
I just think that unless those single issue critics credibly tie their concerns into the interests of ordinary moviegoers creators who listen to them are doing themselves a disservice.
On a related note Spike Lee has gone from a popular, respected (but controversial) filmmaker whose movies did well at the box office and drove water cooler chatter to a guy who makes art house type films and spends a lot of time critiquing/whining about people whose movies get watched and whose utterances are of no importance to ordinary people.
Looking at a list of movies identified as magical negro movies, I enjoyed some, was bored by others but never looked at them and thought 'racist'.
2. Your link doesn't support your claim, it is about blacks singing and dancing in ads targeted at blacks. Also, it is talking about advertising in Africa, which isn't necessarily the same as advertising in the US. As an American I've never heard of the product in the highlighted ad (a drink named Joko) and doubt it's a even a thing here.
3. Interesting. *Shrugs* I confess I've never worked on civil rights legal issues.
Somehow I missed this article.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I see the general pattern of racism masquerading as diversity that you're describing. For example, the idea that minorities can't relate to a text unless it features, or better yet, stars a member of their particular group. That said text should be authored by a minority of the same persuasion goes almost without saying. Akin to that is the trend of "un-whitening" established fictional characters, again, to make them more relatable, rather than creating a compelling new character. The implicit message is that minority characters need to siphon popularity off of a white character in order to make it.
I tend to agree with Anthony that the Magic Negro trope is a bit oversold. It's become something of a punchline that Morgan Freeman is an actual Magic Negro. That said there are legit examples. Take, for instance, pretty much every black character written by Stephen King. (Incidentally, Freeman's role in The Shawshank Redemption is one of King's least Magical Negroes.) That said, the very notion that blacks need to be defended against the Magic Negro trope has reached racist levels. For example, (and I keep going back to the same actor) Freeman's role as God in the Almighty films has been so characterized, which is basically saying that God can't be black!
I don't know how prevalent stereotypes in ads are anymore. Every now and again, I see something that makes me cringe. There's a really low-budget ad I see on the auxiliary network that only runs shows from the 60s-80s. It's for a digital antennae branded "Clear TV." At the end, there's a black guy who mugs for the camera, saying "Clear TV is for real!" in a way that makes you wonder just who let that slip through. On the other side, there was that tempest in a teapot over a Dove .gif that showed a black woman turn into a white woman turn into a woman of ambiguous ethnicity. Race hustlers edited out the final transition--cutting a 3 second .gif down to 1.5 seconds--for the sole purpose of comparing it to unabashedly racist soap ads from the 19th century.
I don't really have any words for what's come out of Hollywood regarding #metoo. It is truly despicable.