Who the fuck is Lemmy?

No, the title isn't a slip of the tongue (or keyboard as it were). And no, I'm not a racist (at least no more than most open-minded bleeding heart liberals out there). I've been reading about Michael Richards' racist outburst all over the Internet and I watch the news on TV, and most everywhere the story is that he used the "n-word" in his outburst to shut up a couple of African-American hecklers during his show. Well he didn't. He said "nigger". Political correctness is going too far when I'm not even allowed to quote what someone said, it kind of distorts the message. I might get the idea that he said "naprapathy" (noun, system of treatment based on the belief that all diseases are caused by disorders of connective tissue or of ligaments and can be cured by massage), and wonder what the hell all the fuss is about.

So he called a couple of black guys niggers. He also said that (paraphrasing) 50 years ago they'd be strung up upside-down with forks up their asses (where the hell did that come from?!?). Does that make Michael Richards a racist? Hell yeah! It also makes him a total asshole, but having watched him on Seinfeld over the years, I kinda figured the guy had issues. But does it make him the equivalent of a cross-burning, hood-wearing, white supremacist Southern gentleman? This is where I disagree with what seems to be popular opinion. I am not joining the mob screamimg for Michael Richards to be burned at the stake. Instead I'll venture the opinion that Mr Richards, like most of us, harbors some element of racism. The same goes for honkeys, niggers, spicks, greaseballs and gooks; injuns, makakas, africoons, ragheads and fonzies; herring chokers, indoniggers, jarheads, pakis and ayatollahs; sambos, lambchops, leprechauns, mandingos and muppetfuckers; noodle niggers, punjabs, rice crackers, rjeindeer fjuckers and matza-gobblers; even pastyfaced slim shadys from the burbs in Connecticut. That's right, we're all to some extent racists and/or xenophobes.

We tend to forget that we're all a product of the society we grew up in, and, that America, despite being "the big melting pot", is a nation founded on genocide and enslavement of other races, that racism is deeply embedded in our culture, much more so than tolerance (and forgiveness I might add), and that large parts of our country were legally segregated until the mid-60s. These are facts.

Back to Michael Richards. I don't believe he is any more or less racist than the rest of us. I believe he possibly has a temper problem and in a moment of frustration and anger lashed out with the most hurtful and insulting comments he could think of. I don't think he actually meant what he said. Of course I could be wrong. He apologized. Does that absolve him of all sins and make it OK? In the eyes of many out there, no. Personally I have no further issues with him and will continue to happily watch reruns of Seinfeld. I saw Mr Richards' public apology on Letterman and what a pathetic sight it was. I think he's hurting a lot more from this than the "victims".

What pissed me off orders of magnitude more than Kramer's outburst was the bloodsucking leech of an attorney that appeared on CNN along with the "victims". I get it that the guys were insulted and hurt by being bashed and made the subject of racial slurs, but that fucking lawyer was talking about hate crimes and seeking financial compensation. For what? Hurt feelings? Last time I checked it wasn't illegal to insult someone, I do it all the time and take great pleasure in it. And when the "victims" almost teared up and (obviously coached by their lawyer) started prepping for a possible lawsuit by letting us know how distressed they were from the whole incident and the trauma they had suffered I almost wanted to puke. You know, I try my best to control whatever racist urges I may have, I try to look at people as persons, individuals, rather than pass judgement based on skin color, ethnic origin, religous beliefs, sexual orientation and whatnot, but I'm not ashamed to say that I fucking hate a certain class of lawyers and anyone else who jumps on this bandwagon screaming for blood and justice, but are motivated by nothing else than personal gain and their picture on the front page.

I'm prepared to let it be with this. Michael Richards has his own demons to fight with. The hype around this incident and others like it only aggravates tensions and slows down the healing process America is going through as a result of hundreds of years of institutionalized racial injustice. It certaily doesn't help when a celebrity like Jamie Foxx says he'll punch out Michael Richards if he ever meets him in person. Way to go Jamie; respond to one kind of idiocy with an even worse kind. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt; your comments were probably a heat-of-the-moment thing. Surely you don't really believe that violence solves anything.

Strangely enough the sale of the 7th season DVD series of Seinfeld has skyrocketed since this whole mess started, and Michael Richards stands to make a pretty penny from it. It's a funny world we live in.

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