Racism and Gasoline

We watch House on DVD. My favorite character was Kutner. Great character, great actor, REALLY not happy with his exit from the show. Naturally, I checked the web this morning to see what that was all about. The actor, Kal Penn, was offered a job in the White House and had to be written out of the show. This post isn't about that.

Reading about Kalpen Mobi on Wikipedia, I learned he changed his name to Kal Penn as a lark because friends said he'd get more callbacks if he Anglicized his name. Sure enough, they went up 50%. He apparently had a role as a terrorist in 24 he almost didn't accept because of the evil of racial stereotyping... but he got blow things up and hold a family hostage and who can pass up that? Then a big deal was made out of Harold and Kumar as the first non-white/non-black led movie in history.

While I knew the Kutner character was Indian, it was purely on a characteristic basis, like Taub has a big nose, or 13 has weird-but-cool eyes. I liked who he was. He seemed like a person it would be cool to be friends with.

And that's all race should be. A characteristic. Okay, if 99% of terrorist are Middle Eastern, "characteristic" profiling makes sense. It's not racism unless you assume all ME's are terrorist.

Today, most of what is considered racism, isn't. It's behaviorism and culturalism and mostly because we're uncomfortable with what people DO not what the ARE. I'm not going to hire someone who slouches, grumps, speaks poorly, and looks angry. That's true of white, black, brown, whatever.

Bill Cosby said racism won't be over until we stop talking about it. I believe racism is fomented in part because people trying to "stop" racism. I believe it's one of the few society ills that can die a slow, quiet death. Stop pouring gas on the flames.

And I guess Taub is now my favorite character.

And They Thought Republicans Were Bad

Remember how the left accused the right of labeling any dissenters as "traitors" when they were just calling out policies they disagreed with?

Now the right is being called racist whenever they disagree with Obama. Sure, dimwits like Janine Garggle-Rofo have been saying it since before he got elected (on a wave of "reverse" racism -- would he be president right now if he wasn't black? Face it, he wouldn't have even been nominated)... now presidential dimwit Jimmy Carter hops on the bandwagon claiming Joe Wilson's outburst was motivated by racism.

I'm curious; while Joe was technically incorrect that Obama was lying about illegal aliens receiving single-payer benefits when it passes, will anyone look back and say, "whoa, Joe was right!" when they do end up with benefits, because really, does anyone doubt they will? As soon as the government gets their sticky hands on some of the health care, they'll grab for more like mold taking over a bathtub.

Wilson was out of line. And premature. But is it really any different from democrats booing GWB? What a mighty shield Obama has to hide behind. Disagree with my dumb comments, denounce my naive dealings with heads of other states, see my socialistic policies for what they are? Racist!

Hey, is Obama calling West a jackass racism? Food for thought....

Dogs

Dogs. They have a brain the size of a walnut but know everything there is to happy life.

1. Sleep
2. Eat
3. Play
4. Poop
5. Love someone unconditionally whether they deserve it or not.

Not bad for a slobber-machine.

Mighty Mouse or Spidey Mouse

Disney is buying Marvel Comics. Knowing the principles in both companies, I don't expect this to be a match made in heaven. While I doubt much is going to happen to the comics (you don't kill a cash cow), and I'm fairly certain all the movies and amusement park stuff is locked up with long-term contracts, there are only two things hanging 'neath the sword:

1) My old employer, Diamond Comics, may be taking it in the shorts. Marvel is almost 50% of the distributor's comic book base and Disney has their own distributor. Will they take it was from Diamond? Eventually, I'm sure they will. Might be a pain for retailers, but they'll adapt (it may affect their discount, though, so that could hurt them).

2) Animated shows and animated movies. This could be a great thing. Marvel's animation projects are horrible. Bad art, not enough frames... Disney, on the other hand, is the gold standard. Or at least they were. With their 2-D geniuses dismissed, what could be amazing probably won't be. *Sigh* If they hired them all back, though, imagine how good things could be. Imagine the Fantastic Four as good as the Incredibles; Ultimate Spider-Man, Submariner (underwater could work in art; less so in live action).

It probably won't happen though. Fan boys can only hope.