Oh, I love good racial humor

Yep, I do. Does that make me a racist? I don't think so.

Lets think about this for a second: what's humor in the first place, what makes something funny? To me the funniest things are usually commentary on blatantly obvious facts or truths, a pleasant deviation from the expected, or just the plain absurd. What's racial humor? It's humor based around the norms and association of race. Sometimes, racial humor manages to do all three things I listed above. Now lets watch this little video I came across.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Commentary? On the perceived and existing stereotypes typically associated with black American males.

Deviation from the expected? Once the stereotype is established, the black men end up going to a farmer's market to spend their day.

Absurdity? The mere fact that black males decide to "just go out and be black guys."

That's all three bases covered. I laughed. Does that make me a racist? I don't think so.

Here's how I feel about racial humor: it's all about context. If I make a joke with the intent to humiliate someone, that's a racist act. If I make a joke to do one of the three things I mentioned above, it's just a joke. What if I offend inadvertently? Well that's a risk I have to take for the sake of humor. In the end, it's best to use what you believe is common sense. I believe most people have that.

Racial humor done right is one way to acknowledge racial differences in a non ignorant manner. Issues involving race in this country (mostly racism, discrimination and stereotyping) is a matter of ignorance. Humor is rarely to be taken seriously. Racial humor is a safe way to educate and discussion issues of race since it's not meant to be inflammatory. You see what that video above did right there? It pretty much showed that even black people realize that there's a perception of what a "black guy" does and the correlation between actual blacks and the "black guy" image is loose. It educates through humor. That's good racial humor in my opinion.

Not a racist,
Greg

In sports news...

The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup!

And who care?

Apathetic to hockey,
Greg

The consequences of the primaries?

Well I've alluded to it and it seems some people have already reinforced what I thought. This long primary election struggle between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton to some degree did create some electoral cleavages in the Democratic voting bloc. Actually, anyone could have told you that based on the candidates' personal demographics. You'd have to be foolishly naive or blissfully ignorant to not know that America is still influenced by race and sex in negative capacities. You know what that makes me think? This: "My god, people are fucking retarded. Passionate, yes. But abso-fuckin'-lutely retarded!"

Watch this, it's one Clinton-supporter/former-Democrat going nuts a couple days ago- it's internet journalism at its best.



Well at least she'll be voting with her demographic bloc: the people who cried "fie!" at the decadence of the radio.

My favorite part of her rant? "It's equality for all of us!" when referring to not being able to call people "black" while she can be referred to as "white." I dunno old lady, I think "black" is a perfectly fine word to use to describe a person- it's more accurate than calling someone "African-American," you should know being from New York with our large Caribbean-American population. I've been corrected a number of times for my 'misspeaking.' Also, I'd like to point out that she's playing the race card as an old white lady. She wants all people to be able to use 'racial slurs' in an equal capacity. My how valiant of her to stand for such a position!

I'd like to point out that not all Hillary Clinton supporters are this retarded or this passionate. The danger was that a Obama nomination would awaken these types of crazies and push them towards McCain. I don't know about you, but any passionate Obama supporter- had Clinton won the nomination- wouldn't jump ship as some of the compliment Clinton supporters may end up doing. Change is only appealing to those who will survive to see the fruits of it.

Last thing: aren't you all amazed at the use of my political jargon? "Crazies," "nuts," "retarded," etc.

Astounded by general stupidity,
Greg

P.S. - One last thing, for real this time: excuse me for my potty mouth (potty fingers?) in this post. Sometimes, when things upset me tremendously, I use this type of language to convey disbelief, anger, or both.

Haiku- 17

Counting syllables
Significance in few words
To write a haiku

Barak Obama '08

Seems like the long and arduous Democratic Party primary process is finally over. Barak Obama will more than likely be the Democrat's presidential candidate. His rallying cry for change won out at the end, and hopefully it'll win out nationally.

I think I put it best when Obama announced his candidacy on Feb. 10, 2007:

Today Barack Obama officially announced his candidacy for the Presidential election of 2008. Senator Obama is something this country can lean on. He's charismatic, relatively new to the [national] political scene, enthusiastic and optimistic about politics rather than cynical,has strong ideologies, and intelligent. All of these things are rare together in a individual politician.

It wouldn't be too big of a stretch to liken Sen. Obama to an Andrew Jackson, a Abraham Lincoln, a Teddy Roosevelt, a Franklin Roosevelt, a John F. Kennedy, or a Ronald Reagan.These are all presidents that have revitalized the office after uncertain times before. Specifically, Lincoln and Jackson were both young and in a similar predisposition to the presidency as Sen. Obama is right now.

It'll be an interesting election at the very least, a well-experienced, aged, moderate Republican in John McCain competing against the young, dynamic, idealistic Democrat in Barak Obama. This will be a historical election because at this point, the United States are at a crossroads. Between the military campaigns in the Middle East, creeping threats of inflation and monetary devaluation, the implosion of the housing market, an impending overhaul of the American health care system, political and disaster crises in other regions of the world (Burma and China/Tibet for example), and the issue of terrorism in general, the next 4 to 8 years will be critical. Whoever wins in November will shape the United States' place in the world and in history.

In other news, Hillary Clinton said she'd accept a VP bid if the party feels it'll help them. Good for her, glad she's not going to retire like a couple of rumors suggested. This entire process was a long and arduous one, lets hope it didn't create any rifts within the party to slow it down. First congress in '06, now the executive in '08! Here's for Obama and change!

Uncharacteristically Optimistic,
Greg

P.S.- If you're a Yankee fan, please catch the game tonight, it starts at 7 and will probably be on YES. Tonight will be Joba Chamberlin's first start of his career at the big show. He's been absolutely lights-out as a reliever for the last half year (counting the last quarter of last year and the first third of this one). Hopefully, Joba can replicate some of that success at the very least. Don't expect too much today, he's limited to 70 pitches- that'll probably take him into the 4th or 5th innings, maybe the 6th if he's drawing a lot of contact. Once Phil Huges and Ian Kennedy are right again, we'll be set for the next 10 years. Here's to that as well!

P.P.S.- [edited at 11 PM] Here's a transcript from Obama's victory speech.

RIP Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley died this morning at the age of 79 after suffering a stroke and a heart attack in the last six months.

Bo Diddley was an early pioneer of rock 'n roll. He had hits including "Mona," "Bo Diddley," and "Who do You Love?" He inspired a generation of musicians that followed him afterwards.

Song of the Week - 5/31/08

It's a day late- I know. But here it is, the song of the week. This week I present to you all a classic. It's called "Bring it on Home to Me" originally done by Sam Cooke.

I've been singing this song to myself all week. What sets this song from other 60s motown? Honestly, not too much but I'm still in love with the song. The version I first heard is a cover done by Spoon. Here's a link to that version. It's a really simple song for what it is- it's verse-chorus-verse, there's no real bridge, it uses a really simple I-IV-V chord progression but there are all these hooks regardless. It's something you can improvise with and jam with and it's full of hooks. My favorite is the echoing "yeahs" between the two singers that really hooks you in.

To me, this is a summer song. It's a song I can hear as I see a familiar face of a friend I haven't seen in months. It's a song I can hear while waiting to get into Yankee Stadium for a day game. It's a song I can hear playing while I watch the heat waves emanate from the asphalt. It's a song I can hear while I'm enjoying a cold bottle of Coke while the sun beats down on my brow. It's a song I can hear as me and my friends are piling into a couple of cars after spending the day a the beach. It's a song I can hear playing as the skies darken and pours torrents of rain to cool the earth after a long heatwave. It's a song I can hear playing while I watch my hometown get smaller in the rearview mirror as I make my drive back to Baltimore at the end of the Summer. Just bring it to me, bring it on home to me- yea.

Wishing you all a happy June,
Greg