She does get some stiff competition from the old bluesman in the Ralph Macchio movie.
Fake Robert Johnson: “Blues ain’t nothin’ but a good man feelin’ bad.”
There’s feelin’ bad, and then there’s feelin’ bad.
Jackmannii:
Not that Rush’s behavior sounds nifty, but he supposedly wasparodying an op-ed in the L.A. Times by David Ehrenstein:
"The Times op-ed, written by cultural critic David Ehrenstein, is headlined "Obama the ‘Magic Negro.’ " Ehrenstein invoked the cinematic trope of the “Magic Negro,” which he defined as follows:
The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. “He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist,” reads the description on Wikipedia
He’s there to assuage white “guilt” (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.
As might be expected, this figure is chiefly cinematic – embodied by such noted performers as Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman , Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle. And that’s not to mention a certain basketball player whose very nickname is “Magic.”
Ehrenstein concluded: “Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn’t project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him.” "
And Limbaugh could hardly be trying to one-up Imus, since he Limbaugh parody was aired days before Imus got into trouble.
Morgan Freeman doesn’t count. He IS God, or haven’t you noticed?
Liberal:
Lemur866:
I don’t think he’s particularly racist, but right wing blowhards don’t get cut any slack when they natter about racial issues, and the reasons this is true are obvious, given the last couple hundred years of race relations in this country.
I think you’re right about that, and it’s a shame. Because all it does is extend the problem. If people are to be tied to artifacts of history and never allowed to escape those bounds, then I’d like to talk to some of y’all about those small pox blankets and whatnot.
Now is this “extend the problem” the same as or different from Yom HaShoah***** (and the idea of “Never Again” in general)?
never again
… Despite the indispensability of the United States in drafting the 1948 {Genocide} Convention – and some 3,000 speeches by Senator William Proxmire on the Senate floor on behalf of it – the Senate did not pass the Act until 1988 – a full forty years after President Truman signed it. American law-makers were petrified that African- or Native Americans would haul the United States before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on genocide charges …
[RIGHT] {DarkRed}=CMC [/RIGHT]Paul Shanklin puts on blackface when he does his [DEL]darky[/DEL] Sharpton , minstrel show act on the radio?
Yeah, nothing tops The Stand. In fact, Mother Abigal so completely embodies this character type that it makes me wonder if she could have been written as a parody.
“And Ah still make me own biscuits.” Hello? Why do all the Magical Negroes have to talk like slaves, Stephen? You pulled the same damn stunt in The Green Mile. And The Dark Tower Series.
Remember that in the original edition, Mother Abigail was born around the 1880’s if not earlier. (I forget if she’s supposed to be an entire century old or somewhat less.)
More fun from Rush :
ABC News’ Tahman Bradley Reports: Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh issued an on-air apology to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., today after a caller said her daughter thought the Democratic presidential frontrunner looked like the cartoon character Curious George, a monkey.
Limbaugh, who laughed at the caller’s comments, later apologized explaining he didn’t know anything about Curious George.
Limbaugh apologized later, but The New Republic is skeptical :
Never heard of Curious George? Really? My own informal survey suggests that everyone, with no exceptions of any kind, has heard of Curious George. That said, I was initially inclined to give Rush the benefit of the doubt that, while he almost certainly was familiar with Curious George, he might not have made the immediate connection that the caller was comparing a black politician to a monkey–especially given that she presented the observation as one that was made by her young daughter.
But then I listened to the audio, and I’m no longer so sure. Rush’s laugh is a kind of conspiratorial snigger, which he cuts short by saying, “Don’t make me laugh. I can’t, I can’t laugh. The point I was going to make to you is, you’re going to be very careful how you try to dis–you don’t have to disabuse Republicans of Obama.” The laugh, the suggestion that he knows he shouldn’t be laughing, and the immediate segue to what starts out sounding like a warning to be “careful” about how to criticize Obama all seem to hint that Rush was perfectly aware of the racial connotations of the comment. But perhaps it’s just me.
Audio link here .
ArchiveGuy , this thread is now old enough that it would be better if you started a new thread and linked to this one. Thanks.