One, I’m a strict adherent to the first amendment. Without freedom of expression, we’re basically fucked. It was that freedom which allowed (for instance) a young Ben Franklin to publish incendiary anti-British tracts prior to the US Revolutionary War. It is that freedom which is so commonly abrogated by dictators that need not be enumerated. It is this same freedom which is threatened by the likes of Cheney, Rummy (late, unlamented) and even Bush himself when they try to dictate how The Media ought to think, act or behave in terms of their misbegotten war.

Any time anyone sincerely begins suggesting suspension of free speech, we have to remember what happens when that happens … and even if the cause seems superficially just, we have to wonder if we’re sacrificing a deeper freedom in the name of protecting ourselves from an ephemeral harm.

Are we ready to lose habeas corpus in the name of stopping terrorism? Are we ready to stop using “nigger” in the name of ending racism?

Well, look at that another way. Will racism be stopped because no one can say “nigger” any more?

Will terrorism be stopped because we don’t let accused terrorists be confronted with the evidence against them?

My other reason is very parochial. I like my review of To Kill a Mockingbird and don’t want to take it down just because it’s unfashionable to use the word “nigger”, even when referring to an inarguable work of art.

Their best album is “When the 90’s Came”. On it is the song “i’ll stop calling you niggaz”.

“I ain’t mad at whitey, I am mad at you, you low-down niggaz.”

“i’ll stop calling you niggaz when you start acting like black men.”

A documentary on the Watts Prophets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISUoTJaXVBQ

This group was probably the father of rap today.

Insulting people based on traits they have no control over is a crap insult.

I agree that hating someone for the things about them that they can’t change, be it skin color, country of origin, etc. is ridiculous. Don’t we have enough to hate one another for without bringing that stuff in, too? Besides, why should someone want to change their skin color (aside from appeasing bigots)? I love the variety found in the human phenotype.

Any comedian worth a shit should be able to deal with heckling.

Apparently, he doesn’t fall into that category. He wasn’t really very funny on Seinfeld, so I can’t see how he would be funny doing standup when Seinfeld always felt like a running standup comedy act.

This story is depressing because, just when I think it’s only Southern cowboy-types that act like this in our modern age, I am reminded that it is everywhere. And, as I’ve said before, Jesse Jackson and his ilk are no better. They aren’t for helping anyone except themselves…to as much money as possible. Why isn’t he out there (or anyone else with money, black or white!) handing out condoms and paying for free vasectomies when people want them. Helping build houses and pay for child care so parents can go to work. Instead, he’s wearing extremely expensive suits and has an entourage. Rappers who talk about how hard life was before they were famous should take some of that money back to their neighborhoods and clean them up. Money can do lots of things, especially when coupled with fame and a humanitarian cause.

I’m tired of people fighting and I wish that they would turn those energies toward something positive.