Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Our insulting/insulted society


By PAT MURPHY

Vice President Dick Cheney apparently didn't apologize to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy for his insulting "go f--- yourself" obscenity on the floor of the Senate chamber. In fact, Cheney later boasted with a smirk that Leahy deserved the vulgar slur. Besides, Cheney said, it made him feel better.

From Cheney down to the raunchiest trash-talking hip-hop singer, we're a nation of crude insulters, publicly and privately—"wetbacks" for Hispanics, "N" word for blacks, "kikes" for Jews, "rag heads" and "camel jockeys" for Arabs, "fags" for gays, "spicks" for Italians, "poloks" for Poles, "honky" and "crackers" for whites. Conservative politicians insult "liberals" as being un-American.

It turns out we're also thin-skinned, whining about humiliation and demanding apologies.

Currently, two African Americans are elevating language victimization to a new level: They've hired litigious California attorney Gloria Allred to possibly sue third-rate "Seinfeld" comic Michael Richards for, they claim, being humiliated with the "N" word after they heckled Richards' amateurish Laugh Factory comedy club routine. Black leaders also stirred up a storm of protests about racism. Richards, meanwhile, is groveling for forgiveness. His contrition may have more to do with rescuing a collapsing career.

Isn't there hypocrisy here?

Anyone entering a comedy club can expect gutter language, racist or not, just as front row spectators at a Don Rickles nightclub show in Las Vegas should steel themselves to be mortified by gross name-calling and sleazy words, while audiences at a Gallagher watermelon-smashing frenzy should be prepared for showers of debris.

If comic Richards is sued for "humiliating" audience hecklers, were football fans "insulted" by the double obscene finger gesture of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick as he left the field Sunday to hometown boos? The flicked "bird" is the equivalent of Cheney's gross vulgarity to Sen. Leahy and the most common road rage greeting among strangers.

Taste and shame are lost qualities in today's culture. Hollywood films don't rely on smart, elegant writing and sophisticated dialogue. Now the staples are deafening car crashes, urban shoot-outs and simple-minded leading men demonstrating their manliness with the "F" word or repetitive references to human genitalia.

The aftermath of the Richards comedy club episode also says something eloquent about American television's dismal state: His meltdown has been reported as "news" for days.




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