What do you all think of Kramer now?

[finn's mom]

I just want to say something in regards to the couple comments about why it's ok for a black person to say the "n" word, but, not a white person. I think it's not even that separated. I think it's among friends, if that makes sense. I think if a black man said it to another black man that he doesn't know or if he said it in a negative way, it would be offensive. I also think that if a white man who is friends with a black man says it to their black friend, it's usually ok, too. I know that's the experiences I've had when I've heard that word. But, I also will say this...it's ok if I give my brothers and friends crap, but, I'll be damned if I'm going to sit back and watch anyone else give them crap, even if it's the same type of crap. I hope that makes sense. I think it's more of a comradery thing. I dunno if I'm getting my point across at all.

[moosmom]

I never watched Seinfeld so my opinion really doesn't matter. Although I have to say this guy needs therapy. Holding in all that anger isn't good.

[RICHARD]

Who are the people who don't like Seinfeld?

I don't either.

I don't condone what Richards saod.
What I question is the reason that drove him to do it.

--------------------------

A heckler is a fact of life in comedy.

Just like the cop vs. suspect beating videos-we didn't see what happened before the tape started.

I have been many places where people do not know how to act.

If it's a cell phone in a banking line, someone complaing about service in a eatery or some drunk AH at a party...

People do not know how to act in public and when they are confronted about their behavior they scream "CIVIL RIGHTS"..Listen jerk,.....IF YOU WERE CIVIL in the frist place, this would not have happened.

Now that didn't give MR the right to yell what he did, but he didn't wake up in the morning expecting to insult anyone.

Someone pushed a button. and the button pushed back.

Everyone has some kind of bias towards their fellow man. We all hide it better than others.


These to AH's were embarrased, and rightly so, about being called the 'n' word. Why? Because they they were in public and not adhereing to the basic
unwritten code of being in an audience.

Pay your money, sit down and shut up.
If you don't like ehat you are seeing, leave and stop by the tix office for a refund.

Don't disrupt the show for everyone else by making your self an obvious troublemaker.

--------------

By the way...Gloria Allred is a stupid jerk.

If the Laugh Factory has the standard ticket format you can just flip it over and see the FINE PRINT..


It absolves the venue for almost everything. Pucks, bats, balls and maybe insults?

So why is she harping about these idiots getting hurt?

[mugsy]

I'm with Johanna. He apologized. What he said was dead wrong, but, what else is he supposed to do? Climb on the cross? And I'm sure that Sinbad was angry and rightfully so, what he said was horribly offensive and in the poorest of taste, however, I know that there have been African Americans who have spewed their hate to whites as well and nothing was said. I honestly don't care if you are white, black, or pink with green stripes, if you say something wrong, apologize and move on. You can't take it back, so what can you do? Never do it again...only time will tell if he was sincere in the apology. As the old saying goes....Actions speak louder than words.

And, he was being accosted verbally as well by being called a "cracker", so why are the morons that were doing the heckling not being raked over the coals as well (they certainly deserve to be).

And I agree...racism is racism...no matter the color. It's not just a white on black thing. Trust me...I know this...my principal is about as racist as they come. Even the students notice it. If the teachers don't have enough posters up touting African Americans, then she makes a big deal about it. However, she has never once said anything to me about the poster I have up with kids from all races and cultures holding hands in a long line. OY!

If people would just shut up about it and treat every living thing with equal respect, this world would be a much happier place.

[Catty1]

Found this on CBC today....couldn't resist...

[signorelli21]

awesome, i always liked kramer the best.

basically what i gathered from watching the video, he was pointing out that if you say something bad to a person of minority, its a grand offense. whereas if a person of minority insults a white person, thats fine.

like if i was in the audience and arrived with 20 friends and intterupt his show, then he says something about stupid white people or mexicans are always late or something, i would have just called him a stupid cracker and to shut the **** up and laughed, lol. and i would have expected a battery of insults from him in return.

you can't judge someone by a film like that, mainly because all you see is him just screeming at the people, you have no idea what was said prior to him going off, and noone mentions anything about the other people calling him names as well. sure he over reacted but maybe its about time to get rid of the racial double standard.

[Lady's Human]

What he said was stupid. Regardless of what was said prior to his tirade, there is no excuse for it. When you're up on stage, and under the microscope that is the modern press, you HAVE to know when it's time to just walk off the stage, collect yourself, and either call it a night or go back out after asking club security to remove the people who upset you.

[lizbud]

Is there anyone in the civilized world that Richards hasn't apologized
to? Geeze. Shut up allready.

[mugsy]

Yep, he apologized on Jesse Jackson's radio show (OMG that frightens me) and now the morons that were heckling are demanding an apology in person and financial restituion. Yep, just as I figured, all they wanted was the almighty dollar. This world is screwed up.

I think it's time we let him down from the cross and move on already.

[cali]

when I first heard about this I figered epople were just overreacting, though after watching the video, that is definatly REALLY bad! HOWEVER the belive the hecklers are just as bad.

[Catsnclay]

Yep, he apologized on Jesse Jackson's radio show (OMG that frightens me) and now the morons that were heckling are demanding an apology in person and financial restituion. Yep, just as I figured, all they wanted was the almighty dollar. This world is screwed up.

I think it's time we let him down from the cross and move on already.

The Hecklers are demanding an apology and $$$$$. ??????? Huh?! What's wrong with this picture?!


Hmmmm..........me thinks they did this in the first place to get the $$$$$. (just like the muslims that were not allowed on the flight to Phoenix - pretty much the same thing. Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame )


We are NBA fans, and one thing I always notice: the person who starts the "fight" never gets caught, it is always the one who retaliates that gets caught.

Michael Richards reactaced and got caught. He apoligized for it, no harm - no foul. Lets move on. Please!

And to those of you out there looking for a quick buck: Jeez, go to work and earn your money the way we all do!!!

[lizbud]

I saw an interesting news article on the subject of apologies.


Hurt feelings won't be soothed
Apologies not enough for wronged parties

Published November 29, 2006


The republic would seem to be in good health, if not sound mind, when hurt feelings and public embarrassment are the picadors of public passion.

The past few weeks have provided a surfeit of sensitivity challenges:

- A group of "lactivists" staged a nurse-in to protest an airline's insensitivity to a breast-feeding mom.

- Two African-American men hired a lawyer to sweeten an apology they're demanding from a racial-epithet hurling comedian.

- Six Muslim imams, in an impressive demonstration of cultural assimilation, cried racism when airline officials removed them from a flight for mimicking the behavior of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists.

The common thread throughout these events is hurt feelings and humiliation. Kill somebody in America and you might get a stint in the brig. But make a person feel bad, and watch your head as the gates of purgatory fly open.

The offended African-American men were in a Hollywood comedy club when "Seinfeld" co-star Michael Richards suffered a nuclear meltdown and launched into a racist rant. He later said the men and others in their group interrupted his monologue.

Meanwhile, attorney Gloria Allred has entered the fray. She is seeking an in-person apology from Richards before a mediator who, she and her clients hope, might order some monetary compensation for their suffering. Not that this is about money, of course.

Nevertheless, if we start attaching monetary reparations to insults, the country will soon be bankrupt.

On the other hand, columnists will become billionaires. My feelings are hurt not just daily, but by the minute, so perhaps I speak too soon.

The imams, likewise, are demanding an apology from US Airways, and staged a protest Monday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The Muslims claim they were merely praying in advance of their flight, though we can bet they weren't praying as much as their fellow travelers were.

While we can all feel their embarrassment upon being escorted from the plane in handcuffs, can't they also appreciate others' discomfort under the circumstances? Once on the plane, the imams reportedly took seats to which they were not assigned, pairing off to sit near the exits. The two seated in first class requested seat-belt extensions, which they placed on the cabin floor. One needn't be Islamophobic to go, "Hmmmmmm."

Finally, the erstwhile gentler sex of the lactating variety suffered grievous insult when another airline asked a nursing mother to exit a plane for "indiscreet nursing."

Emily Gillette was sitting by a window in the next-to-last row, with her husband planted between her and the aisle, when the attendant proffered a blanket. When Gillette declined to cover herself--and her 22-month-old child--a gate agent asked the family to deplane.

Gillette has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission against both Delta Air Lines and Freedom Airlines, which was operating the Delta flight from Burlington to New York City.

Insult one lactating mom and you insult all breast-feeders, apparently. Some 30 parents and their children demonstrated their solidarity with Gillette by staging a "nurse-in" at the Burlington airport.

To all, of course, apologies are due--and have been delivered. But shouldn't they also be accepted without our having to clutter courtrooms with weeping couches?

----------

[Pam]

Liz that is a mouthful and I couldn't agree more. In fact I am sure we could fill volumes with stories of how people have been insulted and just have had to take it and move on. When did society decide that insults need to wind up in a courtroom? Personally I blame the attorneys (sorry Johanna ) who take on every case that comes down the pike. Also people need to grow up and just deal with things.

[lizbud]

Liz that is a mouthful and I couldn't agree more. In fact I am sure we could fill volumes with stories of how people have been insulted and just have had to take it and move on. When did society decide that insults need to wind up in a courtroom? Personally I blame the attorneys (sorry Johanna ) who take on every case that comes down the pike. Also people need to grow up and just deal with things.

Isn't it nice to see some common sense every once in awhile

I did have to snicker a bit at this part of the story.......


"The imams, likewise, are demanding an apology from US Airways, and staged a protest Monday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The Muslims claim they were merely praying in advance of their flight, though we can bet they weren't praying as much as their fellow travelers were."

[lizbud]

Some posters in this thread wondered why blacks can & do use the
dreaded N word but object to it's use by whites. I saw this article by a
black columnist on this very subject. It's interesting to see his opinion.
You just might be surprised.


Richards' rant might merit a thank-you
--------------------

Leonard Pitts, a syndicated columnist based in Washington:
McClatchy/Tribune Newspapers

December 5, 2006

The N-word has had few friends better than comedian Paul Mooney.

Put aside that the word was long a staple of his act. Put aside the
promotional pamphlet he once sent out that screamed the word in big, fat
type. Consider instead what he told anyone who argued that blacks should
stop using the word. He replied that he said it a hundred times every
morning: "It keeps my teeth white."

The selfsame Paul Mooney joined Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine
Waters (D-Calif.) in a recent news conference asking black folks to stop
using the N-Word. In other news, there are unconfirmed reports of pigs
flying above Times Square.

Mooney says he was "cured" of his N-word addiction by Michael Richards'
infamous meltdown last month at the Laugh Factory. I tend to think he's
not the only one. From strangers online to my neighbor down the street,
everywhere I turn lately, I find black folks debating the stubborn
insistence some of us have on using this word.

Which leaves me as much vexed as pleased. More power to them for
belatedly getting religion. Still, are you telling me that nearly 20 years
after hip-hop made that word unavoidable, it takes some white TV actor
losing his mind to make black folks see what should have been obvious all
along?

I mean, what do we learn from Richards' rant that we should not have
already known from Snoop Dogg or Ice Cube? That the word is ugly? That is
it hateful? That it demeans, denigrates, diminishes and denies? So
where was black outrage when black rappers began putting that word into the
minds and mouths of black children? When we--African-Americans--began
hating ourselves to a beat?

And if I hear one more Negro offer one more pseudo-intellectual
justification for that self-loathing, I will not be responsible for my actions
afterward. Don't give me the it-means-something-different-because-we-
spell-it-with-an-"a"-on-the-end speech.And for mercy sake, don't subject
me to the addled argument proffered by John Ridley in December's
Esquire. He says that, as whites feel no particular solidarity with their
impoverished racial brethren in Appalachia, it is time for "ascended
blacks" to bid farewell to, as he puts it, "niggers."

Don't tell me any of that because it quails in the face of historical
fact. We are talking about the word that was used as Gus Clarke's back
was split open with a whip and salt was rubbed into the wounds. The word
that was used when Mary Turner's baby was cut from her womb with a
knife and stomped to death in its birth cries. The word that was used when
James Byrd was tied to the back of a pickup truck and dragged until his
body was torn to pieces.

To the people who did these things, it did not matter how it was
spelled. They knew precisely what race they were referring to. And they saw
no difference between "ascended blacks" and any other kind.

Nor should that last surprise us. In the calculus of race, I am not my
brother's keeper. I am my brother. Individuality is the first casualty
of bigotry.

Black people, like other Americans, tend to flee from the burdens and
demands of history. History, ours especially, hurts too much.

But what Michael Richards taught and what blacks may belatedly be
learning is that history doesn't care. Not about your feelings, not about
your rationalizations, not about your subtleties of spelling.

Because they don't realize that some blacks, Paul Mooney prominent
among them, seem surprised to learn that this word still hates us. That it
always has and always will.

And if Richards is the catalyst that finally forces them to understand
this, there's only one thing I can say to him:

Thank you.