| Chappelle's Show | |||||||||||||||
| Frontline - Clayton Bigsby | |||||||||||||||
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Wassup, my racially intrigued niggas?!
(Wait...what just happened?) Yes, I used the word "nigga". A word that's mostly used in black culture as a term of endearment to one another and which derives itself from the racial epithet, "nigger". The word's become a bit of a cultural appropriation thanks to the widespread popularity of Hip-Hop music and black-culturally themed entertainment (This whole paragraph had a whole bunch of big words and a whole bunch of dirty words in it...)
Along with the "n-word" we have spics (my favorite!), chinks, japs, jews, honkies, dagos, krauts, coons (not fair, you already did the blacks) and so many others (don't only make it racial - remember the fags, dykes, retards, etc.)! The English language is littered with these words (forget Latin, English is the TRUE romance language).
Yes, they all have negative connotations and trigger ill sentiments in people, but at the end of the day they are merely words (words are weapons - like NERF guns). Words that when used with malice, hate and ignorance behind them do harm and affect people. These words only do damage when the original intent of the user is to do so.
This is why I chose to start my blog off with this ingenious sketch from the instant-classic Comedy Central sketch program, "Chappelle's Show". The show while sometimes crude and offensive, as the prior derogatory terms mentioned may be, helped address the basic idea of cultural differences in the world and how humanity co-exists. The skits within the show have tackled such heavy subjects as racism and cultural/class differences. The video I chose here has a black white supremacist, who having been born black and blind, was pretty much conditioned to hate African-Americans. It's a sad idea to think that this could actually happen, but it leads one to think: Can discrimination be taught? Is it merely based on those differences we can see? Or do we have this innate tendency to segregate or classify people into groups regardless? (and to think, this is the same show that gave us, "I'm Rick James, bitch!")
"The Chappelle Show" clip uses a device that I believe we desperately need in order to swallow the heavy subject of race and diversity - humor. Humor helps bend, mix, stretch and alter conceptions in our minds in order to realize the truths amongst us (whoa...this is like some Matrix shit).
I hope to use the gift of comedy and humor throughout this blog as a means to have an open dialogue about the millions of varying characteristics that make us different, unique and even sometimes similar. I'll try to find clips from popular movies, television shows, or simply internet videos that will help me make my point (wait until you see the masterpiece I do with the "Two Girls, One Cup" video). I know I may slightly offend somewhere down the line and provoke with some of the things I say ("Vampires AREN'T real!"), but I hope it helps lead to constructive discourse and to new areas of conversation. This blog is called "Stirring the Melting Pot" because I plan to churn up and jostle the proverbial multi-racial pot to make sense of this all. My intentions aren't to alienate (as in those people they keep talking about in Arizona?!) but please do have a thick skin. I feel no one should be safe when it comes to comedy and by leaving people out of it we're in a way segregating and alienating them.
OK! OK! I'm rambling on and we got a lot of blogging ahead of us in the coming months!
Let's all have some fun and really try to understand this complex and amazing species that we are - human (eh, we're just glorified monkeys with opposable thumbs!).
P.S. - I'm full of shit sometimes so call me out! Please! Keep me on my toes and COMMENT AWAY! Also, yes I do curse in this blog. Get over it, we're adults. Well, at least you should be an adult to read this blog (thus the colorful disclaimer prior to getting in here) and these type of words shouldn't be a problem. I don't consider myself some simpleton that needs to use them, I just feel that they add a certain flair and pinache to my speaking/writing style (plus, I'm an ACTUAL sailor...).
