Is the line hard to draw? At times yes. But intent is the basis of the determination, as is the response. A comedian making a comment that is off-color or based on a tragic event is not necessarily the same thing as say the writing of kenneth eng.
“To call eng insane is to belittle his hate and absurdity. I will not dismiss him as those that could agree with him would find that a rallying call to defend him. I will rather address the issue at hand. Racism. It’s blatant and in this case seemingly universal. When I hear, or read, such ravings I am sorry that such small minds cannot comprehend the obvious attributes and abilities of people in front of them. It is even worse when such an individual has had the opportunity to educate themselves and failed to take the fruit of the tree.”
I also agree with Mr. Hughley in the thought that there must be better things for most people to do. Chasing comedians in their professional duties is reminicent of the persecution Mr. Lenny Bruce encountered.
If people want to get change made, why not address the music industry that promotes almost single mindedly gansta rap music that advocates drugs, child abandonment, degredation of women and criminal pursuits. Why attack 1 man, doing his job with the intent to entertain and arguably does so, when there is an institution making tens of millions while influencing our youth in the most base and morally questionable barrage of content daily.Lastly, if ANY of the women of the Rutger’s Basketball team are offended then Mr. Hughley owes them an apology. I don’t need it nor do the protesters. Funny or not, if they ask for it they deserve it. That is a private matter between him and them. No different than the apology Mr. Imus made after his bile laced commentary. I didn’t need to hear Imus apologize to them, nor would I need to hear Mr. Hughley. As such no one else can ask him to make an apology, let alone make it a national event. To think that such a demand could be made and seriously considered is either an attempt at sensationalism or arrogance.
This is what I think, what do you think?
*<Why protest D L Hughley Part 1...
**Why protest D L Hughley Part 2...
3 comments:
Isn't this just typical. Black women can be maligned and criticized and NO ONE absolutely NO ONE stands up and says NO. We can be treated like animals and thrown all over Music videos and NO ONE says a thing about it. We can be video taped at 14 being allegedly urinated on by a grown man, and NO ONE does a thing and FIVE years later there is still no trial. We can be USED by a D-LIST comedian whose last show BOMBED as a quick laugh from a mostly WHITE audience and not a peep not a sigh. Afterall, we're just Black women and who cares about us anyway.
So you have the LUXURY of discarding efforts to merely cry FOUL! Flag on the PLay, when a comedian gets a cheap laugh at OUR expense and it's a " private matter" I guess thats what the rest of the world said about Germany in WWII, how the Germans deal with ethnic minorities is JUST A PRIVATE MATTER!
So don't bother defending Black women's right to exist in peace without being everyone's idea of cheap entertainment. We'll fight our own battles. But it's so nice of you to be so forgiving on OUR behalf.
Typical!
What About Our Daughters
First I would like to thank you, g-e-m2001, for responding. I take it that you are a first time visitor to my site so I’m glad, in a way, that you felt strongly enough to comment.
But it would seem that you both missed the intent of my post and didn’t bother to read any other posts I have on this blog. I will accept that I may have not made my position clear in my posts about Mr. Hughley, which I will rectify shortly, but I advise that you read my blog a bit before you make the accusation that I forgive the depiction of women in music videos or would ever justify the actions of a child molester.
To clarify, I was speaking about the right to free speech. That never implies that I agree with the speech that is made. I stated that I disagreed with Mr. Hughley’s comments. Obviously not harshly enough for some. To be exact, I did not find his comments funny. I thought it was in bad taste, and thoughtless. He has the right to those comments, but I don’t think his attempt at humor worked.
Given that I have heard women comedians say far worse things about other women. Bad taste is not a male only event. Listen to BET comedy skits and you will see exactly that. Color is also not a factor in the quality of the humor. This does not excuse Mr. Hughley but it does highlight a point that if done right many off color jokes can be humorous.
I’m reminded of the various “yo mama” jokes that many have heard during their childhood. Were they serious there would be fights, and occasionally there were, but more often they were humorous.
Going on, your personal attacks at Mr. Hughley may be motivated by your passion on the subject, but they weaken your argument. The failure of his television shows are proof that his humor is not universal, but his career and the fact he got the shows proves some do agree with it. I would argue that his audience is not confined to only men no matter the format, so shouting that he is sexist doesn’t make you right. He may be, but the shouting just drowns out that argument.
My luxury is that I can comment on this blog about the issues I wish to. In this case it was the degree of freedom of speech we have, and the poor use of resources applied in this case. Your luxury is that you could have formulated a full and point driven comment to identify the other factors you felt needed to be addressed. Implying accusations of sexism and my preferences do not forward those arguments.
And yes I do feel that if the women of Rutgers are insulted they can demand an apology, which even Mr. Hughley stated he would do. While not stating he went to far he did imply it. That’s not a defense, just what I thought was obvious and part of why I included it as part of the post. I think I clearly stated why an apology would be a private matter. I think I also stated clearly why individuals that are not involved in this case have no right to a national public apology.
Now let me deal with your accusations. If you bothered to look at the posts on the site you would quickly find that I often comment when I think women/men/groups have been wronged. I have consistently argued against gansta rap and hip hop due to the depiction of women as objects, language, drug use, and criminal behavior that it directly promotes. I have commented on the actions of celebrities and entertainers, in support of those that improve the quality of life, and against those that do not. Neither color nor sex influences my commentary. I am a staunch voice for the importance of education and proper raising of the youth.
To be specific I have commented about the R. Kelly case you implicitly mentioned, various rappers actions including Puff Daddy, Snoop Dogg, and DMX. I have no less than 10 posts discussing my thoughts about the total events in the Don Imus event. I have spoken about politicians and their failures, religion and the right to believe what we wish, and the media with its apparent bias on numerous issues that affect ALL Americans, with a special preference to African Americans and Hispanics. I have also championed several aspects of health and public safety.
In closing, if I was not clear on my feelings about Mr. Hughley’s comments I will say again, I don’t like what he said, he was wrong. I will also say again that the effort used against Mr. Hughley would have been better spent,
“to get change made, why not address the music industry that promotes almost single mindedly gansta rap music that advocates drugs, child abandonment, degredation of women and criminal pursuits. Why attack 1 man, doing his job with the intent to entertain and arguably does so, when there is an institution making tens of millions while influencing our youth in the most base and morally questionable barrage of content daily.”
M. Vass, The protest was not about so-called freedom of speech. It was about some black men defending the honor of women.
I ought to know. I was the protester ejected from Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas. As for as I was concerned, it was a man-on-man thing. I purchased a ticket for the right to be a boo-bird, Apollo-style- one boo-bird against a bad comedian and the crowd inside.
What people accept in California, Chicago, New York, or wherever- may be okay, according to their standards of behavior and speech. But we want to make it known to black kids in this part of Texas that calling women "bitches" and "whores" is totally unacceptable language and treating them with disrespect is unacceptable behavior. We do not want our kids emulating Hughley or shock jocks like Imus or rap artists like Snoop Doog.
Make note that the flyers handed out by protesters were more readily accepted by men than women. Yes, it's a man thing, for all men with enough backbone to stand up and defend our women's honor.
It's not about a man with a delutional psychosis trying to pawn off his sick humor under the protection of free speech. This was not a morale judgment, but a man made a target in order to put all other artists and entertainers on notice that free speech is not free. There is a cost. And, Hughley paid it. The Bass Hall performance was a financial loss (less than a half full auditorium).
Not just anybody can come into our house and disrespect our women, our religious leaders, and anybody who criticize them. As for other pressing problems, you might note also that we are deeply involved in ALL aspects of our community problems- from childhood development, high infant mortality, education, discipline, crime, incarceration, and reintegration. We leave no stone unturned here in Fort Worth.
We found Mr. Hughley to be part of the problem as a bad role model for our kids- kids who seem to idealize him for his vulgar slurs. Then they go to school and use the same language on their female school teachers.
Unlike this website writer, we (black men of Fort Worth) do not flip-flop on this issue.
Don't Mess with Texas.
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