Clint Eastwood takes on Political Correctness

Kilarney

Is Clint Eastwood correct, or is he a racist? See what he had to say about political correctness.

Kate Monster

I would say that he is partly correct and partly incorrect.
People do tiptoe around race when they should be addressing it. However, part of the reason people aren't identified as "Sam the Jew" anymore is that being a different ethnicity is not really seen as a deviation. People never called him "Clint the White Guy" because being white was considered normal. They pointed out perceived deviations from that norm. What is perceived as "normal" has changed since his youth.
Also, there are a ton of great comedians that address race, but not every joke about race is funny. The jingle about Barack Obama being a "negro" was not funny and offensive. There is a line that is often difficult to discern. Some people stay as far away from the line as possible and become too P.C. and others cross it because they are racist or at least insensitive to an issue that is still very much a problem in the U.S. (and the rest of the world for that matter).

Apreche

This is the same exact discussion we had before when that other guy said people were too timid to discuss racial issues. Being racist is a really terrible thing. Our society has developed such that even if you say things that are not racist at all, you will be labled as a racist, and people will be offended, and you will take a beating in the court of public opinion. I mean, remember the guy who had to apologize for using the word "niggardly"? Most people seem content to sacrifice this sort of humor in order to avoid the aforementioned beating. Clint Eastwood and others are not.

Personally, I don't mind using race or other stereotypes for the sake of humor. I believe that I can tell the difference between someone who is genuinely racist and someone who is not. However, I do mind when someone tries to use racial humor, and it is in very poor taste.

For a good idea of what I'm talking about, think about the plushy twin towers that were a think of the day a few weeks ago. Normally, that kind of joke would be incredibly distasteful and disrespectful. It is plain to see that the plushies were made in good taste, and are made of love and not hate, so they are totally cool. The same goes elsewhere.

gomidog

Personally, I don't mind using race or other stereotypes for the sake of humor. I believe that I can tell the difference between someone who is genuinely racist and someone who is not. However, I do mind when someone tries to use racial humor, and it is in very poor taste.

It's like that coversation we had about Russell Peters. Almost all of his stuff is ethnic jokes, but some of them were evolved from material he experienced and told with a lot of love, whereas some of them (Asian jokes, etc.) were kind of ignorant. My line with ethnic jokes is if the majority of the group being referenced would think the joke was humorous. I've seen Jewish people laugh at and tell slightly inappropriate Jewish jokes, and think about those comedies made by directors like Tyler Perry: They are quite stereotypical in their humor (Old Black Grandma jokes!) but many black people go see them and enjoy them. If Indians call themselves Indians, or refer to themselves by their tribe instead of using "Native American" I think other people should to. And it varies from person to person.

For example, Hetalia's basically all ethnic jokes, when you think about it. However, when I look at the character of America, and see him eating junk food and bossing people around, but also being naive and happy go lucky, I can tell that the author doesn't have ill will toward Americans, and sometimes I even feel like OMG that's so true!

However, with ethnic jokes, I think that often they are told from the position of someone ignorant of the culture, and only funny to those on the outside.

George Patches

Fuck political correctness.

gomidog

Fuck political correctness.

Thank you, that was very enlightening. You have greatly added to the discussion.

Victor Frost

My line with ethnic jokes is if the majority of the group being referenced would think the joke was humorous. I've seen Jewish people laugh at and tell slightly inappropriate Jewish jokes, and think about those comedies like made by directors like Tyler Perry: They are quite stereotypical in their humor (Old Black Grandma jokes!) but many black people go see them and enjoy them.

I think you nailed it right there. A while back when (I think) Rym posted those Harut videos as things of the day, It was portraying many stereotypes about Armenians. But I'm Armenian, and I thought they were funny as hell. Although that's only my opinion, and I'll admit I'm not very Armenian in terms of my behavior, I think most Armenians would find that funny too. I think the line is "would you be embarrassed to find that funny?"

HMTKSteve

The jingle about Barack Obama being a "negro" was not funny and offensive.

That particular jingle was written to poke fun at Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. The voice used to sing the song is meant to be Al Sharpton singing through his megaphone and lamenting the fact that "real" blacks who lived through the struggle are being ignored while a half-white half-African (no slave roots) is being hailed as this great African-American black man.

The song is funny because if you look at the business that Al Sharpton is in (race agitation) Obama is the worst thing that could happen to his business because if a black man is elected as President then how can he continue to play the race card to keep his power base? Even worse is that a black man who owes nothing to the civil rights movement (personally) also owes no debt to Sharpton or Jackson.

Remember too that the title of the song came from the L.A. Times. Also remember that the target of the song is not Obama but Sharpton.

Read the lyrics (or better yet listen to the song) and you will see that what I say is true.

Barack the Magic Negro Lyrics

Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s not authentic like me.
Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper
Said he makes guilty whites feel good
TheyÂ’ll vote for him, and not for me
‘Cause he’s not from the hood.

See, real black men, like Snoop Dog,
Or me, or Farrakhan
Have talked the talk, and walked the walk.
Not come in late and won!

Oh, Barack the Magic Negro, lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s black, but not authentically.
Oh, Barack the Magic Negro, lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s black, but not authentically.

Some say Barack’s “articulate”
And bright and new and “clean.”
The media sure loves this guy,
A white interloperÂ’s dream!
But, when you vote for president,
Watch out, and donÂ’t be fooled!
Don’t vote the Magic Negro in –
‘Cause —

Â’Cause I wonÂ’t have nothing after all these years of sacrifice
And I wonÂ’t get justice. This is about justice. This isnÂ’t about me, itÂ’s about justice.
ItÂ’s about buffet. I donÂ’t have no buffet and there wonÂ’t be any church contributions,
And thereÂ’ll be no cash in the collection plate.
There ainÂ’t gonna be no cash money, no walkinÂ’ around money, no phoning money.
Now, Barack going to come in here and ........

Kate Monster

While that may have been the intended target Sharpton and may have intended to be funny, it was poorly executed, unfunny, and it offended many.
I have seen some great comics rip into Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and laugh, because the jokes were funny, effective, and clear. That parody song simply wasn't. I've heard it and read it before, and it was just gross and dumb.

George Patches

Fuck political correctness.

Thank you, that was very enlightening. You have greatly added to the discussion.

You're welcome, glad to help.

Diagoras

I had a friend in high school who had to attend a sensitivity training course. She told me that it seemed as though they were reinforcing stereotypes, rather than ending them. If this is supposedly needed to end political incorrectness, I think I would rather listen to Imus calling everyone "a nappy-headed ho."

HMTKSteve

When you get right down to it the "Magic Negro" is very much pro-Obama. It casts him in a very positive light when you consider who the target audience is that will hear the song.

Kate Monster

When you get right down to it the "Magic Negro" is very much pro-Obama. It casts him in a very positive light when you consider who the target audience is that will hear the song.

But few take that away from the song, the word "Negro" is offensive to many in the black community (it is akin to n***er), many people -while they may dislike some of Al Sharpton's and Jesse Jackson's behavior/opinions - see them as strong figures of their generation that stood up for the black community on a National level (at a time when black men were being portrayed as shiftless, uneducated, useless, and unmotivated), and the degrading performance of the Al Sharpton voice that sounded nothing like Al Sharpton but rather a highly stereotyped and offensive generic "black voice". It wasn't clear, it wasn't effective, it was in bad taste, and (in addition to all of that) it simply wasn't funny.