Paris Hilton: The Next David Duke
Aspiring to be a grand wizard is so "Not hot!"
This might sound weird coming out of the mouth of a person with melanin and a predisposition for hypertension, but I don't get all flustered and outraged when I hear that some person of note used some racial epithet in a public place, the N-word rolling off their tongues with the familiarity of a sister-and-brother inbred relationship. I guess I should be angered, but I'm not. Not because I feel that all Caucasians are inherently evil or anything, but ever since I've embraced my inner asshole I've just gotten used to believing the worst in people, regardless of what particular hue they are. Specifically with racism: coming from a town that likes to pride itself on being progressive - even though that hatemonger Pat Robertson is only a stone's throw away from my house and my state came within a pube of electing a guy who refers to black folks as "Macaca" - I've witnessed my fair share of racism over the years, so that hearing some celebrity use the N-Word just isn't particularly news to me.
Even though homophobia and anti-semitism is a slippery slope - one that probably leads that person thinking that black folks should still be enslaved - I really didn't care about Mel Gibson's track record or his latest incident of anti-semitism. Sure, what he said was wrong, but I didn't give a shit, because he wasn't talking about my people. And a brother really loves those Lethal Weapon flicks where "Riggs" acts all crazy, and Danny Glover says "I'm getting too old for this shit!" ad nauseum. The Michael Richards incident was a bit different. Again, I wasn't shocked at his usage of the N-word, because it just seemed that he was trying to hurt somebody and didn't have enough of a vocabulary to come up with a significant retort. But his references to lynching would have definitely had me going through his pockets for that proverbial phat "Seinfeld" cash, post-beatdown. That wasn't particularly a big deal either, however, since I'm possibly the only human being in the continental United States with a television who was never a fan of "Seinfeld." So Michael Richards being a racist didn't exactly affect my viewing habits.
Talking to my mother about this, she asked me, "HumanityCritic, what if an actor that you're a fan of turns out to be racist? Then what?" Well, DeNiro is addicted to that chocolate love, so that's not happening. No one is expecting Rakim to all of a sudden emerge as a self-loathing black person. Edward Norton seems like the ultimate tree-hugger who once dated Selma Hayek so I doubt he'd be joining Rush Limbaugh's fan-club any time soon. But because I'm a whore for movies, I'm sure at first I'd boycott said actor with all the black angst of Huey Newton. But as soon as the offending party appeared in a worthwhile flick, I'm sure that I'd be the first in line. (Just to feel like less of a sell-out, whenever that particular actor was on the screen, I'd mumble "God-damned racist" under my breath randomly.)
So you can assume that I didn't really care too much about Paris Hilton and her recent love affair with the most famous word attributed to oppression and lynching: she's an inarticulate no-talent whose only discernible skill is getting fucked by losers via a mini-cam. I mean, bless the dead and all, but the woman makes Anna Nicole Smith seem like Dame Judy Dench, based on her lack of marketable gifts.So when the tape surfaced of Paris saying the "N-Word" a few times, I could have cared less.
That is, until she really caught my attention when I learned that she referred to black people as "Lola's." Huh?? What in the fuck is that about?? It is this writer's humble opinion that the worst racists known to man are the ones who don't find the classic stand-by racial slurs acceptable - they have to invent their own terminology to soothe their oppressive needs. Remember George Allen and "Macaca" - only a person with a healthy amount of loathing of black folks can pull an epithet out of his ass that no black person on earth has ever heard before. When I was in Catholic school, around 1984, I would have preferred if my fellow classmate named Jimmy had called me the N-Word - at least I could smack his around without having to ponder anything. But the mere fact that he called me a "speed-bump" gave me the impression that he took a healthy amount of racism back to his house one day after school, worked on it feverishly like it was science homework or some shit, and unveiled his creation upon me and the other black kids as if it was an art exhibit. Even today, I swear, that word has haunted me to the point that whenever I hear it, I reflexively turn around and scream "What did you call me, motherf*cker!" Even though I'm in agreement that Michael Richards is a watery sack of crap, Paris Hilton is on a completely higher plain when it comes to racism. Paris Hilton: "When the words that have oppressed a people for a few hundred years just isn't good enough!!"
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Comments
1.
acolyte says:
Paris Hilton is a waste of flesh and time! I think the people who hate themselves most are those who have sex with her!
02/14/2007 at 4:25 AM
2.
Simplenigma says:
Hmm, like Lola I never thought about the significance of someone making up their own shit, but you do have a point.
Frankly, having seen Michael Richards a couple times in person, I wasn't surprised when I heard about his racial rant...dude is weird...I mean "It puts the lotion in the basket..." weird.
02/14/2007 at 3:57 AM
3.
GG says:
Is it just me, or does everyone want to see her get a public beatdown?
Okay, maybe it's just me...
GG
02/14/2007 at 1:38 AM
4.
lola gets says:
Prior to reading this article, I didnt think much about Paris' babblings either. But Im going to have to agree with you on the rabid hatred that compels folks to make up their own names (cause traditional ones arent bad enough). I think that is indicative of some serious, deep seated loathing. I dont know how much to make of her rantings, though. How infulential is she? How likely are the youth of today to take up her "cause" and begin openly hating themselves?? I hope not many, but given the current state of affairs, one never knows.
L
02/13/2007 at 11:28 PM