Making Ourselves Obsolete, Part II: Our House

I surely wasn’t going to dignify the apalling Fresh Prince with a blog on this topic and am not doing so here.  However, when an obvious copycat threatened comedian David Chappelle this week, my need to (for what is it worth) educate kicked in.

Call the “ Audience Behavior Police”! These nuts are slapping and stabbing at the wrong people!  “Shooting the messenger”!  Its prime-time for lunatics who need to be in mental institutions! A gun with a knife sticking out of it? What is this, an Austin Powers movie??

A society who increasingly cannot laugh at its imperfections is a society in trouble, which needs a moderation ointment to promote healing.

Its a moral decay in one sense, since the role of comedy historically goes back to Shakespearean time – or further… Back then they might throw a tomato or an egg to express displeasure with an act – or one could always just “boo” or hiss – but  never  charger the stage!

That… is patently uncivilized behavior!  There is such a thing as Theater Etiquette. *

We must appreciate satire, understand and study it from sexual jokes to parody and creative critiques of the issues of the day!  I wonder, did this guy who rushed Mr. Chappelle in the midst of his show have “appreciation classes” in grade school?  I for one, remember music appreciation, sex education and driver’s education – or have these non-adacemic classes been labeled “too expensive during the past thirty years or so?  “Hygiene class” is another example which comes to mind.

Would you run up to the movie screen and slap at or slash it when displeased with the actors or a scene?  Next thing you know someone will want to hold the projectionist responsible for the content of a movie (do they still use human projectionists, or is it computerized now?).

Exacerbated by information overkill and the greed-driven catalyzing of extremist hate broadcasting, on and off-line, it feels like a minority of prejudiced, partial-misanthropes are trying to drag us backwards in time, taking away what previous generations (like mine) achieved in the 1960s and 1970s, to better life, such as voting rights, abortion rights and women’s equality while ignoring today’s plagues of gun violence, lenient bail rules, and unjust war in Ukraine and the dumbing-down of citizenry.

I’ve noticed that one of the first signs of a society’s house of cards collapsing is the encroachment of extreme intolerance and anarchy. You can see the backsliding today with the pro-life zealots and increasing, daily gun crime in our largest urban city and people carrying guns in their vehicles; you can notice it on the roads while driving with more speeders and less/misplaced courtesy outside of the traditionally accepted “rules of the road”.  We cannot go back to puritanical times, no mater how some pruds might pine for it.

Maybe Chappelle and other comics should take up Marshall Arts; it would be truly hilarious to see one of these stage intruders decked by a defensive “karate kick”, Bruce Lee-style, and fall away from his intended victim, the entertainer!  Having tried stand-up comedy for a while during my career, I can tell you that it is an art and its not as easy or cavalier as it looks. Those who do it well and effectively are truly talented.

Due to the signs of the aforementioned upheavals and other’s I’ve probably left out, the biblical saying from Matthew 12:22 comes to mind, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”  There are plenty of examples throughout history of this coming to pass.

In order to save society, not become known as the “DSA” (Divided States of America) and maintain a majority of more moderate thinking, a  famous quote by our President John F. Kennedy is worth restating, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!”

I am encouraged for our reunification because I notice that, as when George Floyd was murdered on-camera for all to see, today’s youth are keenly watching the pending injustices unfold – and seem to be boiling again, raising their voices to oust the zealots who would take us back in time, at the “mid-term” voting polls.

*Suggested reference material:  “The Reasonable Audience; Theater Etiquette Behavior Policing and the Live Performance Experience” by Dr. Kirsty Sedgman

A “Loving” Movie Revu

I’ve made it a point to live in a few cities which were unkind to my black American slavery ancestors, partly due to my years as a radio disc jockey and lately, just because we can now. The latest was in Virginia, the state which, ironically, is the setting for the 2016 movie, “Loving”, which I recently rented from the public library after seeing the trailer prior to a different film.

Directed by Jeff Nichols, this isn’t just a romance story as its title might suggest. The Lovings and this “Commonwealth” state were the centerpiece for a landmark US Supreme Court case, Loving v Virginia and the 1967 decision which erased laws that made interracial marriages criminally illegal in the United States. I didn’t know this – or probably forgot the nuances of that high school American history lesson – until watching this movie revived those facts. This was going on while I was a young teen growing up in New York City where everybody went steady with anybody you liked! Wow. Scary.

“I’m pregnant” are the first words uttered by Mildred, played by Ruth Negga (interesting surname for this type of story, don’t you think?) to which Richard Loving, played by Joel Edgerton (famous for his role in “Black Mass”) replied, “Good. That’s real good.” The progress of the story tries your patience to get into, but is worth the wait. It could be categorized a docu-drama and used as a teaching tool!

All through the film, I kept asking, “who ratted them out?” Getting rousted out of bed in the middle of the night and offed to jail by the mean ole KKK-ish sheriff, played to the hilt by Marton Csokas (“Noah”, “The Equalizer”, “Aeon Flux”), cold southern drawl and all. “That’s no good here..” – pretty good for a New Zelander – just for being in love. They even threw Mildred in jail while pregnant and in her bath robe! One thing that hasn’t changed to this day is a woman getting pregnant out of wedlock, I noticed. Richard didn’t hesitate to ‘make an honest woman’ out of Ruth, however. You’ll see some slightly amusing “city-country-city” cultural moments among the uncomfortable heartbreak.

This is a reminder of many shameful episodes of America’s racial integration past, the vestiges of which some among us still struggle to eradicate. Watching it conjured emotions of anger, sadness and resolute hope deep inside. I couldn’t help wondering if this is why Virginia gives me a kind of weird vibe sometimes; like suppressed parsimony is in its soil.

During the end credits, they show photos of the original couple portrayed and I cheered the Casting Director, Francine Maisler.

I feel this film with four stars and can’t help wondering how the Supreme Court would have ruled if the man was a black American and the woman Caucasian; would it have even gotten the same attention and to the Chief Justices?

Pickhit: Thank you to WordPress for noticing that this is the date of my 10th anniversary here. Thank you, dear reader for reading my words!

President Preposterous!

“Those without previous governing experience via public election need not apply, nor are eligible”

Its like any other job, if you do not have the experience, you cannot get hired!!

So what happened this last American election should serve as the major reminder to the electorate, Supreme Court of the United States of America and its legislative branches. Here yee, here yee: The most recent past election in 2016 should prove to all USA citizens that unless you have been elected and governed previously, you are unqualified to become elected to the highest office in the land, which is President. There should never again be a choice between “slim” and “none”. One reason that we do not get “great” candidates as in days past is because somehow, those covering them expect them to be “perfect” – and none of us are – getting into their pants! Yes, some transgressions should disqualify prior to Primaries. Last cycle, I am surprised the GOP didn’t dig-up the dirt on the reality TV candidate in order to expose him! I guess they just wanted to “win” at any cost to our national unity, trying to dumb-down the populace along the way.

Even the former Hollywood Actor, Ronald Reagan had been elected and served as the Governor of the great state of California prior to running for President of The United States. Let this be a warning to the “Oprahs” of the world: get some experience and do not be gloated into biting off much more than you can chew due to ego. I met Oprah at a nightclub called Stringfellows in New York City, circa 1990, and she impressed me as a snob. Might be nice to some, however I saw her boy, Steadman following dutifully a few steps behind her as opposed to being by her side as an equal. I was a radio personality in New York City at the time and she ignored me.

Whenever we have all of these “secret memos”, special prosecutors, marital infidelity against The First Lady, investigations into tampering, et al in the first year of a Presidency, impeachment hearings soon follow, as seen during my three score as a lifetime independent thinker.

Unlike any other position, the holder of the highest office in the nation of America, The United States, needs experience, self-control, maturity, coolness, a big-picture vision of the past, present and future peaceful planet in which we share with other nations and move forward in a spirit of help and unity to solve the difficult and unexpected decisions ahead. My ideal President is a war veteran, like my dad was or Colin Powell and Dwight Eisenhower and John F Kennedy, because in order to lead this nation into a war, you must have experienced the tragedy and human cost of it.

Vote for the favorite USA President of your lifetime or yore in the “comments”!