Archive for February, 2007
Given the numerous media scandals of those who felt the need to spew hate and racism, and the ensuing backlash, you’d think people would’ve learned that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Especially not in public or in the media.
Apparently Tim Hardaway didn’t get the memo and felt it necessary to rant on a Miami radio show about how much he hates gay people upon being asked what he thought about last week’s announcement that retired NBA center John Amaechi is gay. Hardaway responded, “You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people.” He later apologized, but man, you can’t take that back. A little too late buddy.
After watching Crash the other night, the general reaction was that the portrayal of racism in our society was far too contrived and forced. Despite it’s accolades, the movie just seemed so out of touch with reality. Sure, it was pretty extreme and the racism rather concentrated, but maybe the point is to make people uncomfortable about the bleeding edge of racism. That these scenes do indeed exist in reality. That there is still much hate and racism in our culture. And it’s not just poor rednecks. That we all have prejudices on some level (see previous redneck comment for an example). How often do we hear people refer to latinos as “Mexicans”. Or people call someone, something, or a situation “gay”.
So while we tend to think about racism in terms of blatant acts, it’s the subtle, subversive, covert racism and hate that’s of greater concern today and maybe even more dangerous because we tend to brush it off. We tend to not even realize it of ourselves until it’s too late and it’s broadcast all over YouTube.