Hey Joe!
Where ya goin’ with that gun in your hand?
Hey Joe!
Is it just me, but have we swerved into a New McCarthyism?
OK, let’s take a look:
- Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is an idiot, and for all intents and purposes, a racist. I am pretty sure we can all agree on that.
- Adam Silver detailed Sterling’s punishment of a lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine — the “maximum amount” allowed per league guidelines
- I say ‘Bravo’! But we are talking about a man worth probably TWO BILLION. Does he care? Not one whit, in my humble opinion. He can afford to be a racist in America today.
- What about the careers ruined in the Nineteen Fifties by McCarthy, Nixon, and HUAC? These were working people. Actors? yes. Movie Directors? Yes. Writers? Yes. Famous people? Some, but most were… just actors, writers, directors and certainly not Billionaires.
Even today, people lose their jobs over an oft-hand racist remark. Is this justice? Does the punishment fit the crime? In some extreme cases, if chronic, yes it does. But for a one-time remark, should they be ostracized? Should they be forced to wear the Scarlett ‘R”?
Nope.
Fuck nope.
Okay, for my purposes, this is enough.
When did we slip back into McCarthyism?
As far as I can glean, this was a personal phone call from an idiot to a… as CNN says, “Girlfriend and Mistress.”
Ok, the man is married. And he has a BFF who happens to be female.
Why should we care?
If one can point the ‘Racist’, the ‘Scarlett’, the ‘Communist’ finger at someone, thus dragging them through the muck, and down in to perdition, on an accusation, then what?
What, and who is next?
People who kick rats?
Or speak ill of rats?
In the privacy of their own homes (personal phone calls)
Fuck with rats?
Or even fuck rats?
Who-the-fuck-cares?
How did we get here?