Month: November 2006

That Michael Richards / Jesse Jackson Thing

Well, file this one under “maybe I shouldn’t be writing about this because I am white,” but I wanted to say something about Reverend Jesse Jackson’s new campaign to pressure the entire entertainment industry to never use “the N word” again.

I understand the impulse, but I think it’s a stupid move. Removing a word from the common vocabulary does nothing to eradicate racism. A large part of the power of words is their context. If anything, censorship adds power to the word in question, and does nothing to keep people from expressing their bigotry.

The word “boy”, for example, is generally neutral and harmless. But when spoken in a certain tone of voice and addressed to an adult black man, it becomes a racist and derogatory word. And on the other hand, Chris Rock made that word which I cannot say into high comedy.

Or to take an example that’s a little closer to my own experience, the word “jew”. Spat out of the mouth of a skinhead in a voice twisted by anger, it sounds and means something completely different than it does if said by someone whose heart is not full of hate. And removing the word won’t make him hate me any less.

All of which is not to say that I think it’s a good word or that it should be used more, of course. This is all about context, and it seems pretty obvious that the context in which that word is acceptable is extremely limited and narrow, as it should be.

Like I said, it is possible that I’m wrong about all this. Maybe the word really is so bad that nobody of any color should ever say it again anywhere or in any context. But even so, for Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson of all people to be telling others what they should and should not say seems a little hypocritical.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Spending all day on his feet Thursday was really pushing it for Scott, so we’re been staying very close to home since then. I’ve been playing with the new coffeemaker I bought off of woot.com, am finally caught up on all my back episodes of Studio 60, and Scott’s been wresting with an installation of Vista on his computer.

I’ve urged him to put up a post here detailing some of the challenges he ran into and how he solved them, so that once Google gets it, other people will be able to find some solutions. Perhaps he will.

We need to venture out at some point for a few supplies, and we might even get to a movie later on. Thrilling, I know. I need to start posting something more interesting here.

Shopaholic?

I don’t hit the malls on the day after Thanksgiving. After having put in a few years in retail during the hoilday season, any small amount of joy I might have taken in the hype, the sales, and the “official” start of the holiday season got ground out of me.

Plus, it’s really getting crazy out there in shopping-land. Last night, as we drove home from dinner, I saw a line of people already waiting outside the CompUSA in San Mateo. There’s something seriously wrong with you if you feel the need to stand outside in the cold all Thanksgiving night just so that you can buy some discounted electronics at a sale the next morning. What’s next, taking the whole family to stand on line all Thanksgiving day and eating your turkey in a pup tent in the parking lot, just so you can be first in line?

Pure insanity, as far as I am concerned.

However, I’m not a hardcore Buy Nothing Day person, either. I did venture out to Trader Joe’s to buy a gallon of milk and some crackers late this afternoon.