I Was a Big "Kramer" Fan...

Yeah, it's a whole lot of nothing. Discussing rocket science it isn't! So how come both of us are involved in this thread?

My brain cells haven't clicked in yet...what's your excuse?

Because I'm putting off emptying my dishwasher and cleaning the cat box.

c ya!

Sometimes getting involved in stupid things is very cathartic. Helps to take a person's mind away from his troubles........................or some such thing!!!

Yeah, like Reyn's penis post

No. You're right. That's not what I mean, at all. I was just going for a nice sounding wrap-up. What I mean is that because the issue is so repressed in most of us, especially white people (since we're afraid to go anywhere near the subject), we tend to overreact. (I don't think anyone has overreacted in this thread, but I expect to see a lot of it in the media, in days to come.) We're afraid to talk about it, and when something like this happens we pounce on the opportunity to prove how un-racist we are.
If someone is unable to laugh at Seinfeld after this, I think that's completely understandable. Like edgar said, it's a visceral reaction. (I have the same kind of reaction when I find out that some actor is a Bush supporter!)
Personally, I don't ever watch Seinfeld, anymore, because it just feels too dated (or maybe it's because I've seen them all a hundred times). It's like watching Cosby or Cheers. Maybe in a few decades it will have regained its appeal for me.
In any case, Michael Richards is not the most intelligent or thoughtful person on the planet (duh), and he is not IMO a very good comedian, apart from his perfectly suited role as Kramer.
Richards' "career" is over, and I think it should be. But I hope this incident will encourage people to talk more openly about the underlying issues and not to simply demonize this one individual.

Now THAT is an example of a truly cathartic thread. Imagine the ability to talk about penises with total strangers. The mind boggles!

I wonder whose it was/is and how it got there... and why outside on the lawn as opposed to inside or on the porch or driveway

Whether or not those people are white is meaningless--people are weird, or act like "jackasses" whether they are black or white, or any other artificial description.

However, since this is a "behind closed door" sort of thing, i'm sure your children know that it is not socially acceptable to denounce someone as "weird," or to call someone a "jackass." I can't help but think that if the weirdness or the "jackass-ness" of the people in question is sufficiently important, it ought to be publicly aired--otherwise, you probably shouldn't characterize them that way to your children.

I also can't help but think that some day, despite or even because of their love for you, your children might not look back to smile at this mild hypocracy on your part.

Hmm, one of my high school teachers actually tought that calling someone a jackass was a perfectly acceptable form of debate.

setanta said

Was it Ivory, with its mild taste with a hint of smoothness? or was it Lifebouy with its harshness and pungent aftertaste?

It couldn't have been Ivory. That would be racist.

A black man once told Ted Nugent that he played guitar like a n-i-doubleguh-er. But people get mad when Ted tells the story.

As a matter of fact, it was Ivory. I suspect, based on my experience, that one would not be able to make fine distinctions in the degree of unpleasantness in having a bar of soap shoved into one's mouth. As that was the 1950s, i don't think Lifebouy was even available then, was it?

Good thing it wasn't Irish Spring. Really leaves an aftertaste.

Do you speak from personal experience?


Say . . . was that a swipe at the Irish ? ! ? ! ?

Yes. And No.

Well, my kids are teens.....and if that's all they look back at and smile about that their mom has done and said, then I'm getting off extremely easy.

That was "look back and NOT"... nevermind.

Granted . . . and for the record, i suspect that your children are fortunate in their mother.