tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post7825617660437045966..comments2024-03-22T20:34:13.792-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: Barack Obama's Post-Racial America: "The Heckler," Georgetown University's Newspaper Jokes About Lynchings and KKK Violence Against Black PeopleLady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-84022577371773201122009-12-20T00:49:46.910-06:002009-12-20T00:49:46.910-06:00Seems like the author accomplished the feat of bei...Seems like the author accomplished the feat of being 'controversial'. Though, I can't comment on the newspaper article 'true intentions', I can say that maybe this piece of satire was put in the wrong context (Hoya newspaper).LifeinBmajorhttp://www.lifeinbmajor.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-44729392909863890432009-12-19T18:53:44.602-06:002009-12-19T18:53:44.602-06:00On a historical note, the fact that the Klan gaine...On a historical note, the fact that the Klan gained renewed popularity in the 1920s by attacking immigrant Catholics shows even more how ignorant these satirists (at a Catholic university) really are.<br /><br />I also wonder how much of this has to do with the rise of "un-PC" entertainment like Family Guy and South Park has to do with this. Some of the audience for this programming gets the satire, but in my experience a lot of my students see it as a way to unleash their racial and gender ids and cover it up by calling it humor.Werner Herzog's Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01918845193415571702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-26331315307253800322009-12-19T12:30:46.827-06:002009-12-19T12:30:46.827-06:00I'm going to go somewhere strange and theoreti...<i>I'm going to go somewhere strange and theoretically dangerous</i><br /><br />somewhere <a href="http://www.bostonfairhousing.org/timeline/1920s1948-Restrictive-Covenants.html" rel="nofollow">question-begging</a>, <a href="http://museumca.org/picturethis/4_10.html" rel="nofollow">ahistorical</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyx85-K3Mr8" rel="nofollow">more than a little silly</a> - would be more like it.<br /><br /><i>I base this on my experience raising kids in a competitive suburb now going on nine years. Every kind of loser is stigmatized in these parts.</i> <br /><br />reminds me of exactly how little crabs who grow into mature crips <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqYdxBsWXPM" rel="nofollow">are socialized into believing</a> and acting like crackheads are subhuman.<br /><br /><i>From they're parents perspective and their own grok of their socioeconomic circumstances, they start dealing with American expectations.</i><br /><br />Way to go Cobb!!!<br /><br />There's nothing laudable or defensible in this behavior, or the unsustainable and collapsing way of life that it subtends, so why go to the effort to either laud or defend it?CNuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14152640304402402884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-9279680822058356732009-12-19T09:29:32.213-06:002009-12-19T09:29:32.213-06:00I'm going to go somewhere strange and theoreti...I'm going to go somewhere strange and theoretically dangerous by suggesting the following. This kind of racism is less than or equal to blonde jokes. Which is to say that it is neither deeply held nor ever going away. It is part and parcel of the way a class of kids are raised - the kids from the competitive suburb.<br /><br />I base this on my experience raising kids in a competitive suburb now going on nine years. Every kind of loser is stigmatized in these parts. It's all very juvenile, but it's also how the people that *do* stuff (not necessarily *run* stuff) distinguish themselves socially on a daily basis. If you're not kicking ass and taking names, then you are called names and kicked in the ass. <br /><br />Every kid from the competitive suburbs that survives knows exactly what they represent. From they're parents perspective and their own grok of their socioeconomic circumstances, they start dealing with American expectations. Do you get everything on TV for christmas? Are you on the football team? Are your parents still together? Do you get drunk with the stoners? Are you taking the honors classes? If you can't hang, tough titty. It's not that anyone goes out of their way to prove something about stereotypes, they just call them as they see them. <br /><br /><br />Now California is different. There is ample space for all kinds of multicultural success, but neighborhoods are neighborhoods. Highschool and college cliques are all the precursor chemicals for social WMDs. But are you going to go all Cheney on the Powell report?<br /><br />honestly, i don't think it gets any more real than those 'step it up' movies.Cobbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14540420277243106564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-33680889764509222042009-12-19T01:13:11.110-06:002009-12-19T01:13:11.110-06:00@Irie--good points. But, one thought: why isn'...@Irie--good points. But, one thought: why isn't white supremacy a painful episode in white americans' collective past as well? So often, racism is "our" problem, when it really is a mental illness of white folks in the American context. How would the conversation change if white folks were asked to collectively own their history and to make real amends for it?<br /><br />@Sharon---Agreed.<br /><br />@Boca Flaca--Agreement number two.<br /><br />@Cobb--Great point. We do waste so much political capital on being upset over being "offended" but many are not able to articulate why they feel such a way and what are the consequences of it. As I have written elsewhere, you see this "offense" syndrome everywhere. My feelings are hurt, what you said offended me, I am upset, hurt, angry etc. etc. etc. And often there is no logical consequence, no explanation for why and the import. In this case, joking about racial terrorism isn't about "offense" per se for me, it is about what this suggests about whiteness, historical memory, and the sickness that is racism. I am an ardent defender of free speech--and the freedom to offend and to be offended--but I am also a fan of responsibility and ownership for one's deeds.<br /><br />Good catch though and appreciated.<br /><br />@Anonymous 1--No shame here. This effort at satire totally failed. Just because one tries to be funny, smart, snarky, etc. does not mean one pulls it off. The selection of one's examples to parody are the beginning of where this one went off the rails for the journeyman journalists in question.<br /><br />@Anonymous 2--The blackface parties and other such events all spring from a deep and willful myopia about white supremacy and violence. The Heckler article is rooted in white entitlement. The blackface parties are as well. They all spring from the same rotten, putrid, waters of the popular white imagination.chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-64064796087197900082009-12-18T16:17:25.958-06:002009-12-18T16:17:25.958-06:00According to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...According to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/17/AR2009121702502.html:<br /><br />Jack Stuef, editor of the Heckler, said the intent of the satire was "to mock or criticize, in a darkly ironic way, the latent racist sentiments that were shown by the Hoya in the April issue."<br /><br />Whether the satire was of high quality or not, how is the Heckler article equal to people's ignorance in thinking that blackface or crossing the border parties are OK? It just seems like two different issues.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-50775822595749466662009-12-18T12:29:13.319-06:002009-12-18T12:29:13.319-06:00i used to dream militant
dreams of taking
over ame...i used to dream militant<br />dreams of taking<br />over america to show<br />these white folks how it should be<br />done<br />i used to dream radical dreams<br />of blowing everyone away with my perceptive powers<br />of correct analysis<br />i even used to think i'd be the one<br />to stop the riot and negotiate the peace<br />then i awoke and dug<br />that if i dreamed natural <br />dreams of being a natural<br />woman doing what a woman <br />does when she's natural<br />i would have a revolution<br />---<br /><br />That's Nikki Giovanni. And for all the non-liberated negroes of the world, the message is simple. As long as you are a Negro, your life will be pain and suffering under the intentional and unintentional slings and arrows of people no more powerful than drunk suburban adolescents. Because they are They and you are Other, and you cannot think your way out of that bag. Pity. Pity. Pity. <br /><br />Maybe that's why you're still unloved. <br /><br />I wonder with doubt if the peasant generation of negroes, without the benefit of literacy, will ever achieve beyond this self-pity they call 'sensitivity'. It's the ignorance of the echo chamber - you know. Only babysitters respond to baby whining, and babysitters are paid to *mind* you. So crawl out the back door and learn to walk.Cobbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14540420277243106564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-56646808383745830512009-12-18T11:39:07.349-06:002009-12-18T11:39:07.349-06:00I get that they were trying to take down The Hoya ...I get that they were trying to take down The Hoya by calling them a bunch of thick-headed racists, but they took it a wee bit too far in their attempt at satire. <br /><br />I've found that "satire" is a lot like "irony" in that no one really knows how to do it or what it means, but everyone thinks they're experts.Kmoneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08656241185835022012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-44630631080561337192009-12-18T10:28:59.681-06:002009-12-18T10:28:59.681-06:00OK, I read the article.
I'm afraid satire re...OK, I read the article. <br /><br />I'm afraid satire requires writing skill and intelligence. It does not consist of writing the most offensive crap you can think of and then saying...oh, it's SATIRE.<br />It also has to be funny. <br /><br />Even professional satirists (like Jon Stewart's writers & The Onion) miss the mark alarmingly often, but they at least have an idea what they're aiming for.<br /><br />99% of college students are incapable of writing satire and the other 1% don't attend Georgetown.Sharonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11827236343578670299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-37034919997244074912009-12-18T09:45:15.106-06:002009-12-18T09:45:15.106-06:00How about actually looking at the context of the a...How about actually looking at the context of the article? You attack the writers as racists when they are actually attacking racism with satire. Be ashamed for making conclusions without the requisite thinking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-46189303999994061552009-12-18T03:56:05.013-06:002009-12-18T03:56:05.013-06:00This is absolutely disgusting.This is absolutely disgusting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-89568738494846071312009-12-18T00:43:27.721-06:002009-12-18T00:43:27.721-06:00There is no such thing as being 'oversensitive...There is no such thing as being 'oversensitive' about racial issues. There are over 6 billion people on the planet and each and everyone of them has and will have different experiences with racial issues. That being said you can guarantee that if you act in a manner that you think might/possibly/maybe offend someone ...you WILL offend someone. Just don't do it. In humor or not. Why must we poke fun at our differences so negatively? And making fun of the painful African American past, that is completely tragic. I cannot even express how disturbing that is. Sigh. Poor young America..8https://www.blogger.com/profile/05492970823108881964noreply@blogger.com