Mary Sisney's Blog - Posts Tagged "paula-deen"
Send Out the Clown: Why Donald Trump Is Dangerous
Watching media coverage of the Charleston church shootings by a racist 21-year-old man, I saw only one person make a connection to the speech made by billionaire, hustler, and media clown Donald Trump just one day before the massacre of nine black people in a Bible Study class. On Bill Maher's HBO show Friday, Representative Luiz Gutierrez made the point that both the killer and the clown had discussed rape. Bill, a Trump enemy, and the other panelists didn't seem particularly interested in connecting Trump's racist rants about Mexicans and the killer's racism toward blacks. But I believe the connection should be made. Even if this killer didn't hear Trump's speech and had planned the massacre months or even years earlier, we need to acknowledge that Trump represents the so-called respectable people who incite and give cover to these racist killers.
I admit that when I first heard that Donald Trump was actually running for President, I was delighted. I watched more MSNBC shows on the day of his announcement than I had since 2012, and I planned to watch the Republican debates for the first time ever because I wanted to see how the "real" candidates would respond to Trump's shenanigans. Because I'm a liberal, I thought it would be fun to see "the Donald" calling Jeb, Marco, Ted, Rand, and the rest of the more serious candidates nasty names.
My reaction to his racist, egotistical speech was similar to the responses of the commentators on MSNBC. Trump was just being Trump; he was obnoxious and ridiculous but also kind of funny. When I learned that he had paid actors to show up and cheer so that he could talk about how big and enthusiastic his crowd was, I laughed and looked forward to more fun with Donald and his funny-colored cotton candy hair. Even when the massacre happened, I initially saw Donald's presence in the presidential race as comic relief from another sad story. I said that the one silver lining in the loss of nine black souls was it bumped Trump off television. I knew Donald was steaming because he first had to share air time with the white woman who passed for black and now he had nine dead black people taking attention away from him. I even took advantage of my position as an elderly black woman to post a politically incorrect joke on Jon Stewart's Google+ site. After describing what happened as karma for Donald's playing the race card during the 2012 election, I said, "Spades trumped the Joker."
But then I started thinking about how Donald behaved in 2011-12 and about his racist comments during his presidential announcement speech, and I became angry. I realized that Trump was more dangerous than funny. People like Trump are, in fact, one of the primary causes of the increased racism in our country right now. They are the ones who are feeding the working-class white people's belief that they are victims and that nonwhite people are taking over this country, which belongs to whites. Educated people of all races know that Mexico is not sending people to our country; some of us even know that the immigration from Mexico has slowed since our recession and that Obama has deported more illegal immigrants than other Presidents. But the less educated whites believe the myth of blacks, browns, and yellows taking over our country, led by an illegal President.
The question I have now is why wasn't Donald Trump treated like Paula Deen and Donald Sterling. Deen, who is a celebrity chef, was shamed by the media and at least temporarily lost her television shows because she admitted to using the so-called n-word in private (Deen clearly is not well-educated or smart enough to lie about private conversations). Donald Sterling, former owner of the Clippers, was forced to sell his team because of racist comments he made in what should have been a private conversation to his half-black mistress. Donald Trump made his racist comments in public. In fact, he gave news conferences in which he suggested that the half-black President was not really American and that he probably didn't go to Harvard (although Obama was actually in the news when he was at Harvard because of his historical accomplishments). And then last week he accused Mexican immigrants of being rapists and drug dealers. Where was the outrage?
Donald Trump should not be running for President. He should not have a show on television. And people who are serious about racism, serious enough to boycott states or towns that still fly the Confederate flag, should boycott anything with Trump's name on it.
The media loves Donald Trump not only because he's entertaining but also because he's friendly with journalists and (because he's a fame whore) gives them access. Unlike President Obama, Trump is always ready to sit down for an interview or hold a news conference. But as much as journalists love him, they need to do their job and connect the dots. Forget the Confederate flag. Let's go after people in the media who are promoting the idea that nonwhite people are taking over the country and that the country is no longer great because it's not as white as it used to be. Start with Trump and then move to several Fox anchors.
Although I'm usually against political correctness, I think we need to overcorrect here because we have allowed these racist lies to fester for too long. We should challenge everyone who suggests that America isn't as great as it once was; we should make them defend that statement by pointing out what America did in the past (slavery, Jim Crow, internment of Japanese, massacre of Indians, etc.). If they say Obama is destroying America, we should ask if they mean the white racist America.
As we try to heal our country from still another racist assault, I suggest that we change our focus. Instead of focusing on obvious racist slurs (like "nigger") or racist symbols (like the Confederate flag), let's focus on powerful racists. Start with Donald Trump. Do we really want a racist on the stage pretending to run for President of the United States? Should we really give him a chance to spew his racist hatred in a public forum? Isn't he more dangerous (and less American) than our half-black President and the Mexican immigrants he maligns?
I admit that when I first heard that Donald Trump was actually running for President, I was delighted. I watched more MSNBC shows on the day of his announcement than I had since 2012, and I planned to watch the Republican debates for the first time ever because I wanted to see how the "real" candidates would respond to Trump's shenanigans. Because I'm a liberal, I thought it would be fun to see "the Donald" calling Jeb, Marco, Ted, Rand, and the rest of the more serious candidates nasty names.
My reaction to his racist, egotistical speech was similar to the responses of the commentators on MSNBC. Trump was just being Trump; he was obnoxious and ridiculous but also kind of funny. When I learned that he had paid actors to show up and cheer so that he could talk about how big and enthusiastic his crowd was, I laughed and looked forward to more fun with Donald and his funny-colored cotton candy hair. Even when the massacre happened, I initially saw Donald's presence in the presidential race as comic relief from another sad story. I said that the one silver lining in the loss of nine black souls was it bumped Trump off television. I knew Donald was steaming because he first had to share air time with the white woman who passed for black and now he had nine dead black people taking attention away from him. I even took advantage of my position as an elderly black woman to post a politically incorrect joke on Jon Stewart's Google+ site. After describing what happened as karma for Donald's playing the race card during the 2012 election, I said, "Spades trumped the Joker."
But then I started thinking about how Donald behaved in 2011-12 and about his racist comments during his presidential announcement speech, and I became angry. I realized that Trump was more dangerous than funny. People like Trump are, in fact, one of the primary causes of the increased racism in our country right now. They are the ones who are feeding the working-class white people's belief that they are victims and that nonwhite people are taking over this country, which belongs to whites. Educated people of all races know that Mexico is not sending people to our country; some of us even know that the immigration from Mexico has slowed since our recession and that Obama has deported more illegal immigrants than other Presidents. But the less educated whites believe the myth of blacks, browns, and yellows taking over our country, led by an illegal President.
The question I have now is why wasn't Donald Trump treated like Paula Deen and Donald Sterling. Deen, who is a celebrity chef, was shamed by the media and at least temporarily lost her television shows because she admitted to using the so-called n-word in private (Deen clearly is not well-educated or smart enough to lie about private conversations). Donald Sterling, former owner of the Clippers, was forced to sell his team because of racist comments he made in what should have been a private conversation to his half-black mistress. Donald Trump made his racist comments in public. In fact, he gave news conferences in which he suggested that the half-black President was not really American and that he probably didn't go to Harvard (although Obama was actually in the news when he was at Harvard because of his historical accomplishments). And then last week he accused Mexican immigrants of being rapists and drug dealers. Where was the outrage?
Donald Trump should not be running for President. He should not have a show on television. And people who are serious about racism, serious enough to boycott states or towns that still fly the Confederate flag, should boycott anything with Trump's name on it.
The media loves Donald Trump not only because he's entertaining but also because he's friendly with journalists and (because he's a fame whore) gives them access. Unlike President Obama, Trump is always ready to sit down for an interview or hold a news conference. But as much as journalists love him, they need to do their job and connect the dots. Forget the Confederate flag. Let's go after people in the media who are promoting the idea that nonwhite people are taking over the country and that the country is no longer great because it's not as white as it used to be. Start with Trump and then move to several Fox anchors.
Although I'm usually against political correctness, I think we need to overcorrect here because we have allowed these racist lies to fester for too long. We should challenge everyone who suggests that America isn't as great as it once was; we should make them defend that statement by pointing out what America did in the past (slavery, Jim Crow, internment of Japanese, massacre of Indians, etc.). If they say Obama is destroying America, we should ask if they mean the white racist America.
As we try to heal our country from still another racist assault, I suggest that we change our focus. Instead of focusing on obvious racist slurs (like "nigger") or racist symbols (like the Confederate flag), let's focus on powerful racists. Start with Donald Trump. Do we really want a racist on the stage pretending to run for President of the United States? Should we really give him a chance to spew his racist hatred in a public forum? Isn't he more dangerous (and less American) than our half-black President and the Mexican immigrants he maligns?
Fake Outrage: When Everything Is Shocking and Offensive
I've written several blogs dealing with fake outrage and too much emphasis on being politically correct. First, in "Blackface/Whiteface: Why We All Need Thicker Skins" (3/30/14), I criticized the media for making a fuss about comedian/host/Mariah's babies' daddy Nick Cannon wearing whiteface and dancer/actress Julianne Hough wearing blackface. I argued that the fake outrage allows us to ignore the real horrors of our society caused by systemic racism. In "Morals Versus Manners: Why I Support the Anti-PC Movement" (4/10/16), I distinguished between people like me (and the character Simon Rosedale in THE HOUSE OF MIRTH) and those like the corrupt members of my community's Home Association. I might call the President of the HOA racist and maybe even a bitch, which offended another racist white bitch serving illegally on the board, but I wouldn't participate in a corrupt coup to prevent the people selected by the community to represent them from serving on the board. In "Black and Blue: What We Can Do" (7/16/16), I said that one way we can stop the men and women in blue (police officers) from murdering unarmed blacks is to ignore the molehills (like tasteless jokes or racial slurs) and focus on the mountains.
Apparently, no one is paying attention to me and my blogs because once again last week there was an outbreak of fake outrage. I have chastised people on Facebook and Google+ for joking about killing Trump or for discussing how much they hate him. I even refused to join a special Facebook group called "I Hate Trump," although I belong to one called "Republicans Suck." Hating makes us haters, and we shouldn't celebrate the murder or death (sorry, Supreme Court Judge Scalia, but you can rest in peace because karma, also known as McConnell, appropriately from Kentucky, punished me) of anyone. Still, when insult comedian/provocateur Kathy Griffin was demonized for holding up a decapitated bloody head that resembled the electoral college President, I was outraged. Like many other folks on social media, I pointed out all of the ways that Trump had insulted Obama, not caring about his children. (I didn't mention Ted Nugent, who had threatened Obama yet recently spent a day in the White House with Trump and Sarah Palin, but many others did.) And since I like to mean-tweet as much as he does, I let the electoral college President know how I felt. I also tweeted CNN and asked why they allowed Trump to continue to come on their shows after he accused our (half-)black President of being foreign and called Mexicans rapists. I even went after Kathy's so-called friend Anderson Cooper, telling him to grow some balls and defend his friend because Trump grabs pussies. When the former producer of Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" wrote an op-ed in USA TODAY, claiming that Kathy's tasteless joke had united Americans in defense of Trump, I set him straight. I let him know that some of us were old enough to remember when Jay Leno moved ahead of David Letterman in the late night ratings because Dave didn't think the trial of a black football hero accused of savagely murdering two young white adults was comedy material while Jay had fun with the Dancing Itos and Marcia Clark and Kato Kaelin lookalikes.
My spirits lifted on Friday evening when my favorite politically incorrect comedian Bill Maher gratuitously dropped the so-called n-word into an interview with Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse. I had tweeted Bill a few hours earlier, saying I hoped he and the other anti-pc comedians would defend Kathy. But I didn't assume he had read my tweet; I like him mainly because he's the only white man I know who thinks like me. I assumed Bill was defending Kathy by provoking the pc cops to attack him so that he could blast them for faking outrage over a word or a picture instead of over having an insane bigot in the White House. Imagine my surprise when I learned yesterday that Bill (like Kathy who turned into a whiny bitch and hired all-women-are-victims lawyer Lisa Bloom) apologized. Now one difference between liberals and conservatives is that liberals will apologize. But I thought Bill, who lost his ABC job for being politically incorrect (the name of the show) after 9/11, who still spouts anti-Muslim rhetoric despite being chastised by just about every liberal who communicates with him, including Ben Affleck and me, and who continued to ridicule Trump after being sued for saying Trump's daddy was an orangutan, would stand his ground. WTF!? Has Trump driven everyone crazy?
The problem with fake outrage is it allows us to ignore the real horrors and outrages, the ones that are more damaging to our society and that are harder to fix. If we go nuts because Bill Maher or Paula Deen used the n-word, we don't have to think about cops killing unarmed black people, Republican governors and legislators working to prevent blacks and browns from voting, the electoral college discriminating against urban nonwhites, or a point that Bill made to Sasse, the fact that the very diverse California, with 40 million people, has the same number of senators not only as Nebraska but as mostly white states like Montana and Wyoming, which are so sparsely populated that they have more senators than they do U.S. Representatives. We don't have to worry about our so-called democracy turning into apartheid. If we go nuts about a self-proclaimed D-list comedian posting an offensive picture that evokes violence, we don't have to worry about mentally ill people killing white children in schools or elderly black women in churches, about racists stabbing people on trains, or religious/political terrorists blowing up nightclubs. We can make the offending celebrities apologize, we can fire them from their jobs, we can even take down symbols like Confederate flags and monuments to Civil War "heroes," and feel good.
There is another problem with fake outrage. As I tweeted in response to a woman on Katy Tur's MSNBC show shrilly proclaiming how shocking it was that a man had streamed a murder live, "When everything is shocking, nothing is shocking." I pointed out to Katy that some of us are old enough to remember (being old has its advantages) when the man who killed our President was shot "live" on television, and we remember wars that were televised. I didn't mention that we had also seen a teacher blown up on her way to space and two very tall buildings crumble and fall with thousands of people, including many firemen, trapped inside. One explanation for how Trump managed to win the electoral college is " shock and outrage fatigue." By the time the "Access Hollywood" tape was released, we were beyond being outraged.
As I've been saying for the last few days, we should be outraged, horrified, and terrified that an insane, incompetent bigot is in the White House. Everything else is just distracting noise.
Apparently, no one is paying attention to me and my blogs because once again last week there was an outbreak of fake outrage. I have chastised people on Facebook and Google+ for joking about killing Trump or for discussing how much they hate him. I even refused to join a special Facebook group called "I Hate Trump," although I belong to one called "Republicans Suck." Hating makes us haters, and we shouldn't celebrate the murder or death (sorry, Supreme Court Judge Scalia, but you can rest in peace because karma, also known as McConnell, appropriately from Kentucky, punished me) of anyone. Still, when insult comedian/provocateur Kathy Griffin was demonized for holding up a decapitated bloody head that resembled the electoral college President, I was outraged. Like many other folks on social media, I pointed out all of the ways that Trump had insulted Obama, not caring about his children. (I didn't mention Ted Nugent, who had threatened Obama yet recently spent a day in the White House with Trump and Sarah Palin, but many others did.) And since I like to mean-tweet as much as he does, I let the electoral college President know how I felt. I also tweeted CNN and asked why they allowed Trump to continue to come on their shows after he accused our (half-)black President of being foreign and called Mexicans rapists. I even went after Kathy's so-called friend Anderson Cooper, telling him to grow some balls and defend his friend because Trump grabs pussies. When the former producer of Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" wrote an op-ed in USA TODAY, claiming that Kathy's tasteless joke had united Americans in defense of Trump, I set him straight. I let him know that some of us were old enough to remember when Jay Leno moved ahead of David Letterman in the late night ratings because Dave didn't think the trial of a black football hero accused of savagely murdering two young white adults was comedy material while Jay had fun with the Dancing Itos and Marcia Clark and Kato Kaelin lookalikes.
My spirits lifted on Friday evening when my favorite politically incorrect comedian Bill Maher gratuitously dropped the so-called n-word into an interview with Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse. I had tweeted Bill a few hours earlier, saying I hoped he and the other anti-pc comedians would defend Kathy. But I didn't assume he had read my tweet; I like him mainly because he's the only white man I know who thinks like me. I assumed Bill was defending Kathy by provoking the pc cops to attack him so that he could blast them for faking outrage over a word or a picture instead of over having an insane bigot in the White House. Imagine my surprise when I learned yesterday that Bill (like Kathy who turned into a whiny bitch and hired all-women-are-victims lawyer Lisa Bloom) apologized. Now one difference between liberals and conservatives is that liberals will apologize. But I thought Bill, who lost his ABC job for being politically incorrect (the name of the show) after 9/11, who still spouts anti-Muslim rhetoric despite being chastised by just about every liberal who communicates with him, including Ben Affleck and me, and who continued to ridicule Trump after being sued for saying Trump's daddy was an orangutan, would stand his ground. WTF!? Has Trump driven everyone crazy?
The problem with fake outrage is it allows us to ignore the real horrors and outrages, the ones that are more damaging to our society and that are harder to fix. If we go nuts because Bill Maher or Paula Deen used the n-word, we don't have to think about cops killing unarmed black people, Republican governors and legislators working to prevent blacks and browns from voting, the electoral college discriminating against urban nonwhites, or a point that Bill made to Sasse, the fact that the very diverse California, with 40 million people, has the same number of senators not only as Nebraska but as mostly white states like Montana and Wyoming, which are so sparsely populated that they have more senators than they do U.S. Representatives. We don't have to worry about our so-called democracy turning into apartheid. If we go nuts about a self-proclaimed D-list comedian posting an offensive picture that evokes violence, we don't have to worry about mentally ill people killing white children in schools or elderly black women in churches, about racists stabbing people on trains, or religious/political terrorists blowing up nightclubs. We can make the offending celebrities apologize, we can fire them from their jobs, we can even take down symbols like Confederate flags and monuments to Civil War "heroes," and feel good.
There is another problem with fake outrage. As I tweeted in response to a woman on Katy Tur's MSNBC show shrilly proclaiming how shocking it was that a man had streamed a murder live, "When everything is shocking, nothing is shocking." I pointed out to Katy that some of us are old enough to remember (being old has its advantages) when the man who killed our President was shot "live" on television, and we remember wars that were televised. I didn't mention that we had also seen a teacher blown up on her way to space and two very tall buildings crumble and fall with thousands of people, including many firemen, trapped inside. One explanation for how Trump managed to win the electoral college is " shock and outrage fatigue." By the time the "Access Hollywood" tape was released, we were beyond being outraged.
As I've been saying for the last few days, we should be outraged, horrified, and terrified that an insane, incompetent bigot is in the White House. Everything else is just distracting noise.
