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| Rob's Soapbox | ||
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Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
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Monday, August 18th, 2008 ANOTHER RETARDED PROTEST I wonder if Black people ever get tired of being compared to homosexuals, transvestites, and/or the mentally retarded. Every time a fringe group of people comes along claiming that they’re being discriminated against, that group compares themselves to African Americans. Gays, for example, demand marriage on the grounds that their plight is no different than that of centuries of servitude and suffering on the part of the black community. Transvestites, Trans-genders, hermaphrodites and every other sexual freak of nature demands that our inability to tolerate and/or accept them is based on the same ignorance that allowed our founding fathers to define slaves as 3/5 of a human being. And then we have the mentally retarded and their advocates. Few groups are as overly sensitive and out of touch with the real world than those who have deemed themselves the protectors of the mentally disabled and their feelings. Witness the latest outrageous outrage; directed at the new Ben Stiller comedy “Tropic Thunder,” in which an exchange about actors portraying the mentally retarded and using the word “retard” over and over again has fostered yet another over-reaction by the language police of our nation. Articles and calls for boycotts and protests of the film have popped up throughout the week, none more intellectually offensive than one written by the chairman of the Special Olympics, in which he states that “it wasn’t funny when Hollywood humiliated African Americans for a generation…(and it isn’t funny when they do it now to the mentally disabled).” Once again, the nuclear example of African Americans is dropped upon the American psyche. Bravo. It is, of course, brilliant to play to the guilt and shame of most Americans regarding, without a doubt, our darkest hours as a nation; when we allowed human beings to be treated as far less than such based solely on their skin color. We screwed the pooch beyond repair on that one and continue to pay for it today in more ways than most of us notice. One way is the constant reminding and badgering of us with it by those who have no right using slavery and the oppression of blacks in America as an analogy to their cause. Gays may choose to be homosexual, they may not. No one actually knows for sure, no matter how fervently they try to tell us otherwise, but we do know that blacks are born black. Similarly and additionally, there is no hiding that you are black. There is however, plenty of reason to not display your sexuality, whether you are gay or straight, in most public situations in America. No one wants to see a man with his tongue in his girlfriend’s mouth at TGI Friday’s any more than they want to see two dudes doing the same thing at Chili’s. Arguing which is more tolerable is like justifying rape to a judge by saying “yeah, but your honor, at least I wore a condom.” There are rules of decorum in America and we all must abide by them, regardless of sexuality. Banks don’t hire people littered with tattoos and piercings, and if Wal-Mart decides not to hire people who insist on displaying their sexuality at work, that’s okay too. Transgenders, transsexuals, transvestites, transformers, trans-ams, and all of the other up and coming ghouls and goblins of the sexual/gender extreme are a whole other breed of nut trying to stake their claim to legitimacy by pointing to the African American race. These individuals were never taught that pointing to other peoples’ behaviors and privileges is an irrelevancy in defining or demanding your own. America is a society and as such, the people who make up the society have the right and the obligation to determine and define where our collective lines are drawn. Chicks with dicks, dudes using women’s restrooms and people who literally have the necessary genitalia to go fuck themselves have been deemed “abnormal,” and not yet allowed into the culture. Deal with it and keep fighting. I not only applaud but encourage them to continue their attempts to “educate” the public on why they belong, but for God’s sake stop trying to compare yourselves to African Americans; it’s a non-starter for most of us and it’s offensive beyond explanation to the African American race. While you’re at it remind yourself of the American creed ingrained upon us by our founding fathers; all men are created equal. Creation simply demands that you will have equal and unfettered access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No one is advocating the murder or arrest of sexual deviants, which would hinder the pursuit of life and end their liberty. Furthermore, happiness is a self fulfilled prophecy found and beholden only within each of us as individuals. Trans-whatever’s are afforded voting rights, drivers’ licenses and the ability to spend their currency throughout our land. No one is oppressing them, but plenty of us are not accepting them. Too bad, freaks; you are different and that means you have additional hurdles to overcome than most. Welcome to Earth. I fought the same battles as a short kid trying out for baseball teams; I was judged as less able than others prematurely and had to perform at a level higher than others to achieve acceptance. Such is the way of the world, whether you are black, short or a dude trapped in a woman’s body; you either choose to overcome the possibly unfair obstacles placed before you or you choose to view yourself as a victim. Changing what people say out loud about you will not change the laws of the universe and/or the bigotry directed towards you. For all of the alleged progress we’ve made, ask a black man about getting a cab at Midnight in Boston and see if there isn’t still plenty of unspoken racism in America. Which brings us back to the retards. There are very few groups that infuriate me more than advocates for the mentally handicapped. The overwhelming majority of spokespeople for the mentally disabled are simply projecting onto the rest of us their uncomfortable-ness with the injustices of nature and the world as they see them, which has allowed the delicate soul of a human to be put into a deformed body or mind. As a result, they allow their heroic levels of sympathy to simultaneously demand that we respond to our emotions in the exact same way they do; by pandering to the differences of others and abiding by a non-existent rule that if one can’t say anything nice, one shouldn’t say anything at all. Many of us make fun of people different than us as a way to deal with our overwhelming feelings of both remorse and admiration at those who can find a way to walk amongst us despite all of the seeming strikes against them. Others simply to do it to be mean. And guess what? Nothing will ever change that and nor should it. Asking a segment of society to hide by (in this example) not expressing their feelings or what they deem to be funny is no different (in the abstract) than those who say that the mentally retarded should be hidden from society or in the worse example, aborted before they are born. Make no mistake, either. While such advocates will hide behind nuance arguments like “no one is saying they can’t say that, we’re just saying they shouldn’t,” that is a total lie. They want such speech banned, outlawed, shamed and forbidden. Mark my words. Sadly, given the direction of this country they may one day get it in some asinine unconstitutional “hate speech” law which in the end will do nothing to stop bigotry and hate. In fact, some argue it will have the opposite effect, increase resentment and create a surge in hate crimes. If such an outcome occurs, we of course, like always, will be told to analyze the intentions, not the horrendous results. Go Ethanol! At one point in his pathetic piece, the Special Olympics chairman, a man named Timothy Shriver, actually had the audacity to write “I was taught that mean isn’t funny.” Mr. Shriver, you cannot possibly be that naïve. Perhaps I should root for naïveté, because the other choice is hypocrisy which is the eighth deadly sin. Certainly Mr. Shriver is not asking his readers to actually believe that he never finds anything that could ever be defined as “mean,” as funny, is he? Certainly he has more intelligence and integrity than that. The idea that “mean isn’t funny” is typical of people who are so guilty and oppressed by the successes, treasures and natural gifts of themselves and others that they live in a dream world where life is fair. Short of “knock-knock,” jokes and the old line about the female mushroom calling her boyfriend a fun-gi, ALL humor has victims, this creating the potential for “mean-ness,” which is wholly subjective. Bill Cosby used to ignorantly and hypocritically claim that he engaged in “victim-less” comedy, only to have one of his most famous bits ever (the dentist visit “oba-kabee” skit) lambasted by dentists everywhere as being mean, detrimental and unfairly stereotypical of their industry. Beyond Mr. Shriver’s inability to acknowledge the basis of great comedy is the hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty. What he really means, I submit, is that it’s okay to be mean as long as it’s not directed at the people and things he cares about. Short of that, he is asking us to believe that he never laughs at or even judges a bald man, an overweight woman or whatever racial stereotype jogs his funny bone. He is actually demanding that we think he never casts dispersions or chuckles at the occasional dig directed at Mormons, Catholics, Buddhists, or any other religion he doesn’t belong to. Spare us the righteous indignation, Mr. Shriver; all humans are bigots about something. Equality is the final note that must be touched upon here for it is both a sad and true fact of this particular argument. The mentally retarded are, by definition not equal to the rest of us. While many want to argue existential levels of whether or not their souls are in fact greater than ours, blah blah blah, the truth of the matter is that all disabled people are less equal, on some level, than the overwhelming majority of society. As is a guy with one arm, a woman with no legs and a genius with a 200 I.Q. In each of these examples, there exists inequality. The genius has advantages, the dude with one arm has trouble golfing. Neither one is “equal” to the average American. None of this has anything to do with having equal access to pursuing dreams, goals and happiness but it does have to do with the harsh realities and truths of not just life but nature. In the wild, those who are un-equal die. In America, those who are un-equal should be told “thank your lucky stars you live here and get to work on overcoming the odds that are stacked against you.” Sadly, the message we’re sending lately is directed at the rest of us; and the message is that we should all feel pity and as a result demean those who face greater challenges by assuming and expecting less from them. I refuse to be part of it and find it sickening. I’d rather sit next to 10 retards than one Mr. Shriver any day of the week. The retards are proud of who they are. Sadly, the only people Mr. Shriver and his ilk are more ashamed of than the retarded are themselves.-----
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