by William Scull

Created on: February 05, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

The whole Michael Richards fiasco demonstrated two very important things: 1)Racism is still alive and well in America and, 2)the whole "sticks and stones will break my bones" adage will likely never become a reality. People will always claim that words hurt, especially if they think they can make a lot of money off of the "inflicted" pain. I was honestly more surprised by black America's response to "Kramer's" meltdown than I was by the meltdown itself. Jesse Jackson's laughable attempt to make Michael Richards the poster boy for a supposedly anti-black American media positively made me angry. And as for Mr. Jackson's insistence that there are no current prime-time shows featuring blacks anymore (he mentioned The Bill Cosby Show as an example of a more unbiased past in television), one only needs to flip stations for a few hours in the early evening (or ALL evening for that matter) to see the veritable cornucopia of black actors and black shows available for viewing.

Now, before anyone writes me off as a vehement white-supremacist who somehow applauded Richard's actions on stage that night, let me say that, yes I am Caucasian. However, my 7 month old son is part African-American and believe me, I wouldn't applaud anyone calling him a "nigger" or other derogatory name. But when he is old enough to comprehend what that means, I also would not advise him to spend any more time worrying about someone having called him that then I would tell him to worry about someone calling him a "cracker" or a "guinea", which the contribution of my blood might very well bring him to hear.
What I am trying to get at here is that, when a person or group of people is so hugely offended by a word, it demonstrates a level of insecurity that simply gives the inflicting offender more power than he deserves to have. To be highly offended at Michael Richard's actions is similar to getting offended at a baby for messing it's diapers. If a person is at such an infantile stage in their mental development (regardless of age) that they think hurling verbal insults is a way to solve problems, then they are essentially "messing their diapers" and, as would be appropriate for any adult having this lack of control, they should be laughed at (noticed I said AT and not WITH) and not taken seriously until they can learn some basic self-control. His own "stink" will keep the general population further away from him than any amount of us being "offended" ever will. And let's face it, their is no greater humiliation for a person than to not be taken seriously.
I think many of us gave Michael Richards WAY too much power. Let this supposed comedian be laughed AT, instead of WITH, until he can learn some self control.

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