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Created on Saturday, August 30, 2008

Home -> Blog -> 2008 -> August

Lenny Bruce once said that if we would just say the N word over and over again that it would lose its meaning. After all, words are just sounds and nothing more. It is people that give meaning to words.

Instead of enjoying one of the last beautiful days of the summer I am instead sitting here writing about my thoughts on free speech. The recent movie "Tropic Thunder" has brought out the religious nuts and soccer moms and once again someone is trying to tell us what we should and should not like. I have nothing against either of those groups - they just seem to be the ones that are always in the middle of this stuff. I do have an issue with anyone that tries to push their morality on me.

In case you missed it, here is the scene that is causing so much controversy. Robert Downey Jr's character is counselling Ben Stiller's character on why he didn't win an award for playing a retarded person. He (correctly) notes that all of the Academy Award winners played someone that was mildly retarded and anyone that played someone that was very retarded did not win an award. And this is where the hypocrisy begins.

The political correctness machine went into action without even seeing the movie or understanding the context of the scene. The movie was a spoof of Hollywood, not retarded people. The movie is goofing on the actors that shamelessly take roles portraying handicapped people in an effort to receive accolades and the very people that are crying foul now are the same people that celebrated movies like "Forrest Gump" or "I Am Sam". Do you really think that these actors are taking these roles to celebrate handicapped people? Of course not. The scene was an honest commentary on the kinds of roles that society celebrates.

But that isn't really isn't the point of this blog as it misses the bigger picture. While trying to find a clip of the video I searched the internet only to find that the video had been removed from many sites because of protests by the aforementioned groups that know what is good for us. The phrase is "free speech", not "decent speech". The reason for this is simple: we all have a different line as to what we consider to be decent. I'm tired of people telling me what is offensive. We're all offended at times. You have two options: you can either try to change the world or change the channel. It is that simple. If you go to any number of sites that talk about this stuff (here is one) you will see words like "moral" and "rude" and "disgraceful". So the rest of the world has to fit your views on decency? I wouldn't dare to try to push my views and opinions on you. Quite frankly, I can't think of anything more "offensive" than you trying to do just that to me.

The hypocrisy around this topic is endless. These same groups will laugh loudly at the commercials that mock husbands (have you ever seen a commercial where the woman is the dumber of the two? Of course not). The NAACP has come out agains the movie because Downey Jr plays a black man, even though he is the smartest one in the bunch. Do they criticize the myriad of films where a black person plays a white person? Of course not. I can find something far more "offensive" by turning on BET any night of the week. It isn't offensive to me because it is their art. I recently did some standup comedy and before I went on I was told that I could not make fun of asians or even do an asian accent. But if it is done in a movie we all laugh. After all, isn't just about everything offensive to someone, somewhere? Yet these people are ok with anything that isn't personal to them.

In one sense I understand the pain that some people feel as they have a handicapped person in their lives. You know what? So do I. Even though I love edgy comedy there are times where a bit will be too much for me and I will have to turn away. Do I write letters? No. I respect someone else's right to be an artistist or to enjoy said art. As a consumer I have a right to choose not to pay for something that I do not find to be palatable. There are lots of things that I find unpleasant: guns, the n word, organized religion, etc. Do I try to outlaw those things? No. Those things aren't for me but I will fight for their right to exist. I wish the aformentioned groups would do the same for me and the things that I enjoy.

More in AUGUST

Camera Killer

Comments (3)

Created by muchgooder on Sunday, November 16, 2008 12:12:22 PM

Jack, thank you so much for stopping in. I appreciate and welcome beliefs that are contrary to my own. It is interesting that you say that I am on some kind of moral perch because I thought the same about you. [

] I'm not sure that you really digested what I wrote in my blog. I fully support their right to make a movie and anyone else's right not to see a movie. I don't wish for you or any other moral police to tell me what I can and can't see nor would I ever infringe on your right to do as you wish. Free speech or artistic expression is always going to offend someone, somewhere - are we going to keep trying to sanitize the world or are we going to learn to change the station when we see something that we don't want to see? [

] I also think that you misconstrue some of my other comments. My thoughts on race relations do not come from the perspective of a white male trying to keep his own or pretend that I am some kind of victim (which would be laughable, of course, and I just can't see how you thought I was playing that angle). My point was to point out the hypocrisies that exist in the world and in some ways we're getting further from where we want to be. Your statements reflect that when you say that is "offensive" (god I hate that word) for a white man to play an intelligent black man in a movie. I look forward to the day when we can all get past what kind of group that we fit into and just get on with life. Isn't that what the civil rights movement was about? Not to have special rules, but to have the same rules. Of course it is true that in some areas one kind of people have more opportunity than another but that gap is closing by the day. Barrack Obama would not have won this election without the support of millions of white people. I'm proud of where we've come as a country for all of that. But when can we get past the victim card? Laws were passed to end discrimination and those are what turned things around in this country. The belief that blacks or any other group should have special kinds of privileges just gets us farther than where we need to be and proves that such groups are really out to promote themselves and not the greater good. And just who decides when things are equal? All that we can and should do is to try to eliminate the injustices and I am 100% for that. Some people will always have a better chance at success (a kid from a wealthy family will have a greater chance of success than a kid from a dirt-poor area, regardless of race or gender). The last time I checked a black person has now served in every area of goverment and in the private sector. Where is your concern for Asians? Native Americans? Our goal should be to remove any glass ceilings, not to ensure that each individual group gets "theirs".

Created by Jack on Saturday, November 15, 2008 1:42:10 PM

Robert Downey Jr. doesn't play a black man, he plays a white man playing a black man, which again was a large part of the entire point of the movie. At one point in the movie there is even a discussion between him and Alpa Chino about how Hollywood passed up real black men to give a white man a black man's role, and how in doing so the character was being offensive. Both it, and the "Simple Jack" issue in which Ben Stiller's character is portrayed as having been way out of line, are insightful points which I feel were missed by the majority of people who found them offensive. The problem was that people found them offensive because they were viewed as lampooning the disabled and people of colour, when in reality they were lampooning people who exploit those groups for personal gain. Which brings me to this: You obviously have missed that point as well. A black person playing a white person is NOT the same as a white person playing a black person, and a man being portrayed as the "stupider" one in a commercial is far from being some sign of the oppression of men. You have used these as examples with a sore misunderstanding of the cultural context in which these things take place, which is exactly the same thing as people who are offended by depictions of race and ability in this movie are doing. They have ignored the context within the movie. You have ignored the context withing greater society in which, whether you on your high perch of privilege want to believe it or not, whites still have an upper hand over blacks (which is exactly what the movie portrayed) and men have an upper hand over women.

Created by Gaina on Friday, September 26, 2008 9:07:12 AM

At last! Someone with an ounce of common sense! I am an artist and a disabled woman and I 'got' this movie straight away, and that scene. People are way too over sensitive these days. The thing that gets me is they will grumble about insignificant things like this movie when they'd do better to put reserve their ire for big issues like employment rights and healthcare which are much more of a problem for disabled people than weather someone used a certain word. I actually had a tutor come and apologise to me last week for making a joke about wanting to sit in my chair after she'd just cycled to college. I assured her that I have a very robust sense of humour and her comment had completely gone over my head. It was sweet of her to be sensitive but it worries me that disabled people are getting so hyper sensitive whilst trying encourage equality and understanding that they end up shoot themselves in the foot (I'm probable going to have someone take exception to my turn of phrase on that one! haha).

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