"George, life is hard. Its harder when you're stupid."
Posted on 07/03/2015 10:26:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Oh. Well, my mistake then. Yesterday I thought he was saying something racist.
What did this guy think his critics were accusing him of, if this is his “clarification”?
A few fans have written wondering whether I intended to utter a racist remark by referring to Justice Thomas as a “clown in blackface.”
“Blackface” is a lesser known theatrical term for a white actor who blackens his face to play a black buffoon. In traditional theater lingo, and in my view and intent, that is not racist. It is instead part of a racist history in this country.
I feel Justice Thomas has abdicated and abandoned his African American heritage by claiming slavery did not strip dignity from human beings. He made a similar remark about the Japanese American internment, of which I am a survivor. A sitting Justice of the Supreme Court ought to know better.
The first time I read that, I thought he was suggesting that people had misunderstood his “clown in blackface” remark to be a more straightforward racial slur, equivalent to calling Thomas a “black clown.” Reading it again, he seems to be making an even dumber point, which is that the practice of “blackface” isn’t necessarily racist. I … guess that’s true — Fred Armisen’s “blackface” as Obama on SNL wasn’t grotesque and intended to demean the subject, the way blackface usually is — but it’s almost always racist and it’s certainly racist when used to denigrate the racial authenticity of someone who’s actually black. It’d be like calling Thomas a “Sambo” and then claiming there’s nothing inherently racist about that nickname, even though it’s widely culturally understood to carry that connotation. When the left calls Thomas an “Uncle Tom,” which they do much more often than you’d expect in 2015 America, they at least have the good sense to defend themselves with a simple double standard (“leftists can’t be racists”) rather than a tortured argument about the etymology of the term.
If Takei’s being honest here and not feigning stupidity as damage control, he genuinely doesn’t see the problem in comparing Thomas to a white actor playing a “black buffoon.” He’s practicing racial essentialism — if you’re black, your position on slavery and inherent dignity is as follows — and then presuming to excommunicate Thomas from “authentic blackness” because, as someone whose family experienced internment in the 1940s, he somehow has the right to do that now. That’s insulting in the abstract and even more so when applied to Thomas, who, as Sean Davis reminds us, actually grew up in the Jim Crow south and knows something about maintaining one’s dignity during oppression. I wonder if Takei knows that about him — or maybe he does know and just figures that he’s entitled to lecture Thomas anyway because, as a gay man and former internee, he thinks he’s got victim trump cards to play. Either way, we’ve reached an interesting new turn on the path of progress when someone who’s not black is once again entitled to tell a black man what to think and how to behave.
Yesterday I called Takei’s comments “high-five material for jerkoffs.” Here’s Exhibit A.
When liberal have no response for a man’s idea, they attack the man.
Nothing like a viscious fag with a false grievance.
In a perfect world, any number of psychologists seeking to help someone with a severe mental disorder.
"George, life is hard. Its harder when you're stupid."
This comment shows that the slanderer of Mr. Justice Thomas has no understanding of southern history--no understanding of world economic history. While a bondage labor system is certainly not an optimum system to bring out the best in those in such service; from ancient & Biblical times onward, it has never prevented those in bondage from retaining a high level of human dignity.
There are innumerable examples: From the "good & faithful servant" in the Bible, to the Greek slave Aesop; to the often loved and honored household servants in the old South, as well as the skilled artisans (60 to 80% of whom were Black at the time of emancipation in the deep South); there are plenty of histories of highly respected individuals.
Was "Mammy"as portrayed in "Gone With The Wind," disrespected! She was the moral compass of the White family she loved. (Yes she was a fictional character, but one drawn by a careful student of history, to reflect how such servants were actually seen in the era.)
Or one can consider Shakespeare's recital of Fifteenth Century British attitudes in the last days of British feudalism, in Henry V.
Or consider the testimony of Booker T. Washington. What writers like this fanatic, who hates Justice Thomas, because Justice Thomas has a moral compass, want is to create turmoil and hatred in America at large. Why? His rhetoric suggests he has embraced the Egalitarian/Collectivist mania to coerce uniformity of thought; indeed, acceptance of a form of social chaos, where all traditional standards of acceptable behavior are trashed.
Captain Kirk: Scotty we ‘re under attack. We need more power.
Scotty: I’m giving you all I’ve got.
Captain Kirk: Spock why isn’t Mr. Sulu at his station?
Spock: Mr. Sulu volunteered to be probed by the aliens Captain.
Captain Kirk: But Spock!
Spock; Yes Captain. I believe your assumption is correct. That is where the aliens are probing Mr. Sulu.
So any black person who has the courage and confidence to break out of the black box and think freely as an individual is a fake...
NICE!
what did he call .. not just clown but ...blackface ...clown It interesting that the left almost always make there attack racial...and get a pass
Wow.
Thank goodness we aren’t dependent upon getting other people to give us human dignity as it’s hard enough just getting them to recognize what’s already there, in some cases VERY hard!
Takei claims to be a “survivor if the Internment”
Then he attempts to refute Justice Thomas’ remark that the Internment did not rob The Japanese people of their “dignity”.
Ergo, he is implying that the Camps DID rob Japanese People of their “dignity”.
This shows a profound deficit of Takei’s understanding of both the event and his “own” people.
I guess homosexuals don’t speak the same language we do. But...be advised...I can’t watch Star Trek anymore, because Takei has ruined for me.
From all accounts, the Americans of Japanese origin not only maintained their dignity in the face of the Internment, but actually GREW in dignity.
I understood Justice Thomas perfectly. He was speaking of the magnificent capacity of human beings to maintain their dignity even in the harshest of circumstances. This is a powerful statement on the dignity and resilience of certain people and is a great compliment.
He also paid this wonderful compliment to Enslaved Black People and Holocaust Survivors.
LOL
My mother was in the same camp as Takei (she did not know him before or after). My mother kept her dignity all her life. Takei does not need to speak for her.
BTW, Takei’s family was removed from Rohwer internment cmp during the war and moved to Tule Lake internment camp. If you were moved to Tule it’s likely his family showed signs to disloyalty.
Just another piece of liberal trash.
That is the truth, instead of a pot of gold at the end it ends in Shiite! I wish I was better with PS so I could make that a "flag" and post it everywhere!
And inserting your organ in another mans anus is dignifying, right George?
He’s really something.
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