Jeff Dunham is an Unfunny, Racist Piece of Shit: Reexamining Political Correctness

Well it’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post, but between the busy season at work dying down and finally getting my prescription of Adderall filled, I think I’ll take my hobby of a ranting for way too long on a barely public forum back up.  As always, sorry for the length:

As a younger kid growing up in the 90’s, I had a big problem with political correctness.  “This shit is ridiculous”, I thought.  Acting like an inclusive-language Nazi does nothing but impede actual discussion, and thinking that a utopian society of everyone just being nice to each other and being careful not to inadvertently hurt each other’s feelings is intellectually childish.  But with the 90’s long gone it’s time for me to look back on the matter and see where I stand on the issue.

How most people view PC

Political correctness is now laughed at by a majority of Americans.  It seems that most people have long realized the childishness of PC and its general shortsightness (Indians aren’t the “Native” Americans, they’re from Asia, plus America is the Western name for the continent anyhow).  PC advocates are still out there, but when was the last time someone you know actually championed the removal of a traditional American Indian school mascot for something less offensive?  Every December we hear the same crap about the “War on Christmas”; a Happy Holidays is met with a snicker by a majority of Christians.  And when someone says that a person’s statement was offensive, they’re branded as “the PC police” and that the offender is a champion of free speech.

Here’s the thing though: in most cases, the offender isn’t a champion of free speech but a hateful bigot.  The Indian mascot is being discarded because it’s obsolete in today’s society.  And those upset with hearing “Happy Holidays” are usually upset because they think the holiday season is decidedly Christian, and anyone who says otherwise shouldn’t get to join THEIR celebration.  In today’s world, when someone tries to not be offensive it’s not because they adhere to the strict dogmatism of PC, but because they want to treat other people with respect.  We no longer live in a world where being openly bigoted and misogynistic is socially acceptable, and these people know it.  As for the rest….

Nowhere is this topic explored better than through comedy.  There are plenty of great politically incorrect comedians out there, like Richard Pyror and George Carlin (well, not out there anymore…).  Trey Parker and Matt Stone aren’t just being mean to people on South Park, they’re using exaggerated statements by fictional characters to make an actual statement about our reality.  Huckleberry Finn shouldn’t be edited because Mark Twain was purposefully pointing out the flaws in racism.  Getting rid of every mention of the name “Nigger Jim” destroys the point of the book, and ruins this important novel preaching anti-racism for future generations.  You SHOULD squirm when you read the “N-word” in the book because it reminds you of our dirty history.  Don’t cover it up and forget it.  See, in these contexts being “politically incorrect” is okay because the offenders in question aren’t actually bigoted and are making a point.  But there are wolves in sheep’s clothing out there that pretend to do the same while in reality are just being hateful.  Carlos Mencia and Jeff Dunham, for example, are not breaking through the chains of PC that society has forced us into, THEY’RE JUST BEING HATEFUL.  Dunham in my mind is possibly the best example of this, and his popularity just makes it worst.  He hides behind his puppets like a coward while pretending that it’s the dummies that are spouting off the hate speech, not him.  That’s intellectual cowardice.  He’s writing the “jokes”, and he’s speaking the jokes out of the corner of his mouth.  Meanwhile, his onstage Jeff Dunham persona is a strawman for a weak-willed liberal PC police who barely tries to counter the puppets and always lets them get the last laugh.  Before you claim that he’s just pulling off a Colbert routine, or that the way he uses Walter is consistent with how Parker and Stone use Cartman, just note that he’s mentioned in interviews that a)he uses puppets to say what he’s too shy to say himself, b)he almost breaks character and laughs every time he makes Peanut do his racist Chinese stereotype circa 1953 routine, and c)he’s an equal opportunity offender, except for white, heterosexual, Christian males because that just wouldn’t feel right to him.  Wow.  Because I feel the need this time to back this up with proof, check out  this interview from the New York Times, and skip to page 3.  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/magazine/01ventriloquist-t.html?pagewanted=1 The two most telling quotes from that article are:

“Dunham does concede that he’s extra-sensitive to one of his largest constituencies: the conservative “country crowd.” “That’s why I don’t pick on basic Christian-values stuff,” he told me. “Well, I also don’t like to, because that’s the way I was brought up.” He then stopped himself short and said: “Oh, boy. I’m walking into something here.”” 

…and:

“In fact, the jokes that get some of the wildest, loudest reactions aren’t really even jokes, just statements. Like when one puppet shouts that all Mexicans should learn English, or when Dunham wishes Walter “Happy Holidays” and Walter responds: “I’ve been wanting to say this for a couple of years now: Screw you, it’s ‘Merry Christmas’!” And the crowd doesn’t laugh; it riotously applauds. Dunham describes them as moments of “catharsis,” when the dummy says something “everyone wants to laugh about, or that you snicker at with one or two friends, but that you could never say out loud.””

This is so fucking telling about what Jeff Dunham and the majority of his supporters are all about.  It’s a lot easier to state your racist, homophobic, and misogynistic opinions to the general public when it’s behind the guise of a scapegoat puppet.  A literal puppet.  Its almost poetic in its obviousness.

Look at the incredible variety of hate that can fit in one head!

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My only current “beef” with political correctness at this part is at the opposite end of the spectrum.  For example, if I refer to either the god of the Abrahamic religions or my personal God while using masculine pronouns, it’s not because I believe either of them are actually male, or that males are inherently superior or more divine than women.  In the former situation, I’m talking about a deity which has been traditionally viewed as masculine.  I’m also talking about what I consider a fictional deity in a fictional metaphysical context, so I see no need to question the gender role of something that is not real in the first place.  The latter situation is a little different though.  Even if my God was more metaphysically defined, It would have no genitalia.  Why would it need to be a father or a mother?  It’s neither while being both at the same time.  The reasons I often fall into the habit of talking about and thinking about my God in masculine terms are most likely these:

1) Calling God “It” doesn’t seem very respectful. 

2) I was raised Catholic so I’m used to thinking/talking about the Divine with masculine terms, and it’s a hard habit to break.  It took me 4-5 years after abandoning Catholicism just to stop crossing myself before I talk to God, and I still do it whenever I participate in stereotypically theistic activities like saying grace with the in-laws or begging God for video game help even though I know it’s ridiculous.  I understand that my behavior in this context is not excusable, but it’s understandable.  I try to get out of habits like these over time, with varying success. 

3) I’M A GUY.  When I think about someone with no discernible gender, I assume they’re male because it’s human nature to project yourself in the presence of blank slates like that.  For example if you’ve ever played Portal (and you’re male) did you assume you were playing a man until you saw yourself through a portal?  When you pick a gender in a video game, do you choose your own sex the first time around?  It’s comfortable to assume that an unknown quantity like a protagonist in fiction is similar to you, and that includes sex.  That same concept applies to your personal image of God.

So far, all these excuses for why I sometimes refer to my God as a He are valid in my opinion.  It’s not like I ACTUALLY think men are more divine than women, right?  Well, there’s a possible 4^th excuse that gets me worried:

4) I might naturally assume that being the master and creator over everything is a masculine trait.  This self-accusation unfortunately might have some weight.  Unlike the situation in Portal, I’m guessing that the main reason people assume Samus Aran of Metroid fame is male at first is because blasting aliens in a robot suit is “man’s work”.  The Spanish language is filled with calling inanimate objects by assigned genders because, I dunno, certain things just have an “essence” of masculinity or femininity.  If this train of thought actually applies to my image of God, then I have a serious problem.  I know I make this same mistake when talking about philosophy.  My wife once called me out on the fact that I often say “man” or “mankind” when speaking about philosophical or political concepts.  Thinking about it I realized that centuries of male scholars have left me considering the male sex more “intellectual” in matters like these.  That’s a serious problem, obviously.  Masculinity might be physical, femininity might be emotional, but neither are more intellectual than the other.

Clearly, we must find a balance between supporting inclusive language while not being too tied down by it and overly sensitive.  I feel like the trick is looking at the context of the situation and the person themselves.  For example, when a white man says he doesn’t like Obama’s presidency, he’s not automatically racist because Obama is the first black president, he might just actually dislike Obama’s policies.  But when a white man from Alabama with a mullet says he doesn’t like Obama’s presidency while making a joke about watermelon, he’s not just being politically incorrect.  He’s a bigot.

PS-The irony is not lost on me that I ended a long rant denouncing bigotry with a bigoted statement about all white Alabamian men with bad haircuts being racist.  If you caucasian, from Alabama, male, and have absolutely no taste in hair fashion, then I’m truly sorry for assuming you were racist.  Also, the early 1980’s called, and even they think you should get a haircut.