Blackface
Is it "cancel culture" to recognize that the world has changed?
What does it mean when comedians say we have lost our sense of humor?
Vote: I’m a finalist for best local blogger in the Austin Chronicle’s Best of Austin poll. Vote here by searching for “local blogger.” You should also vote for Karen Olsson’s The Weil Conjectures for best new book and Sarah Bird for best fiction writer. Also, please buy their books because they have talent to spare, and if they sell books then people will give them money to write more books.
Read: How Russians are proposing marriage, Charles Pierce's blog, the deal with odorless marijuana, the biggest line of any of the five Democratic debates, polling by state and district on liberal issues such as free college, employee governance, red flag laws, or marijuana legalization, evidence that CEOs are talking themselves into a recession, the shocking percentage of women whose first sexual intercourse was rape before they could drive, why we mistakenly believe that the average menstrual cycle is 28 days long, what your expense report says about you, the loophole in the 25th Amendment, what happens to male CEOs when you put more women on their boards, how The New York Times botched the latest Kavanaugh story, the good news about TV news is covering climate change, and how to deliver news to teenagers.
Watch: The Spy, based on a true story, starring Sacha Baron Cohen not being funny
Listen: I know I’ve told you about Brittany Howard before, but now her album dropped, and damn.
But first: We know this isn’t funny. Do comedians?
There’s something funny going on with what’s going on with Justin Trudeau. The blackface pictures turned up, and they mean something, but what? Most people are taking it as proof of comeuppance for “the most politically correct prime minister in Canada’s history,” evidence that the high shall fall and that politicians are full of it. If so, it’s a two act play, and not a good one at that. There is more to the story, though, hiding in plain sight. When the pictures came out, he said, “I am not that person any more.” He has changed, and so have all of us. The Overton Window to the world has shifted, and white people smearing shoe polish on their faces to mock people of color means something different now. The meaning has changed, and so have we.
But have we, or is it just the rules? There is the undertow to progress, the Devil’s advocate who tallies the score and judges this all as political correctness. The Devil’s advocate says the rules have changed, but we haven’t, that we’re the same ignorant bastards who, left to our own devices, would happily paint ourselves with shoe polish to amuse girls at parties. Seriously, look at that picture. Trudeau painted his hands but left his nails clean. It takes work to be that racist. Did changing mores really change him, or is he just following new rules?
The Devil doesn’t need a lawyer, though. He’s doing fine on his own. Shane Gillis was hired, then fired, by Saturday Night Live after what he said on a podcast came out. It’s easy to blink and make this disappear as yet another example of political correctness, so let’s read what he actually said about Chinatown on his own podcast:
“Let the f—ing ch-nks live there,” says Gillis. He later recalls a restaurant being “full of f—ing Chinee [sic] in there.” …
During the same podcast recording, Gillis comments that their conversation is “nice racism, good racism.”
In a separate podcast, “Ep 144 – A.I. is Racist,” Gillis and McCusker make fun of Asian accents about 22 minutes and 20 seconds in, referring to the video game “Clash of Clans” as “Crash of Crans” in a mock Chinese accent.
A little more than 21 minutes into “Ep 146 – Live from Shane’s Parent’s Basement,” while talking about the Battle of Gettysburg, Gillis refers to soldiers yelling as “so gay.” About 29 minutes into the podcast, Gillis uses the word “retard,” and “f-ggot,” and shortly afterward he and McCusker joke about “hot Southern boys” being raped during the Civil War, comparing it to “having gay sex in jail.”
That he was fired by SNL after these remarks came out is beside the point. What makes this worth noting is that comedians rose to his defense. Norm Macdonald said the job had been “snatched away” from him. Rob Schneider tweeted sympathy to Gillis, blaming his firing on “this era of cultural unforgiveness where comedic misfires are subject to the intolerable inquisition of those who never risked bombing on stage themselves.” Said Jim Jeffries, “This is just cancel culture.” Bill Burr brought it full circle by asking, “We’re not running for office, when is this gonna fucking end?”
Good question, except things don’t end. Change doesn’t stop. We don’t get to a point where we all agree that we’ve achieved progress, thank you very much, and now we’re done, so let’s get cake. Even Star Trek imagined a world in which humans had progressed past nationalism, poverty, and money and still explored strange new worlds, still sought out new life and new civilizations. We will always boldly go, if sometimes blindly, backwards, losing the horizon in a slow spiral into the sea before righting ourselves. We’re really just hairless monkeys throwing poop at each other. Frankly, we’re doing quite well in the scheme of things, but we’re never done.
That’s what comedians, or at least those pushing back against this new sensitivity, don’t get. The urge to push boundaries, which is what Gillis said he was doing by mocking the Chinese for being Chinese, is laudable and a necessary function of comedy. Comedians are supposed to find the funny in what we don’t see about ourselves. There is a necessary cultural function in Jerry Seinfeld asking, “Didja ever notice…?” But to do that, to measure the distance between how we see ourselves and where we actually are, you have to first find sea level, and that changes. Comedians insisting upon an inalienable right to offend people misjudge not just where their audience is plotted on the arc of progress but their own jobs as well.
The rules have changed. We are more sensitive now. I’m more aware of my behavior at the office around women than I was before the #MeToo movement. I’m more aware of what it’s like to be Black in America than I was before Ferguson. I’m sensitive to the enormous advantages that have been heaped upon me as an educated, married, upper-middle class white man in the United States. But for that, it would not have been legal for me to marry, let alone twice. But for that, the state trooper would not have told me to drive straight home. If the time in which women would smile and nod when I said something irredeemably stupid has passed, that doesn’t mean we live in an era of “cultural unforgiveness” as much as greater honesty and awareness.
The funny thing about comedians complaining about “cancel culture” is that corporations have done a much better job adjusting to the new world we live in. Larry Fink, the world’s biggest investor, writes an annual letter to CEOs that has more influence in business than the Ten Commandments. Last January, he wrote that he expected businesses he funded to make “a positive contribution to society.” Last month, the Business Roundtable, which includes the heads of all the biggest companies, issued a statement saying the point of business was no longer just making money. Now, they were in the business to also make life better for “stakeholders,” which in this case means, well, everyone: workers, customers, suppliers… basically everyone. “We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country,” they wrote.
You could discount this as a window display meant to win over millennials, and you’d be wise to reserve judgment until those nice words are followed by action. But the change we seek is happening all the time now, such as CEOs pressuring the Senate to pass gun control, Walmart not selling assault weapons ammunition, and Nike dropping Antonio Brown and supporting Colin Kaepernick. There is, in the rooms where people wear muted business clothes, an acceptance that we all need to adapt to a world in which most new hires are women of color. This isn’t some marketing scheme. This is the world. Yes, companies want to make money, but that doesn’t mean their motivation makes their adaptation to societal shifts any less sincere. Everybody wants something. Politicians want votes. Companies want money. Comedians want attention.
And now we live in a time in which Walmart gets it and comedians don’t. The people trying to sell us shoes are willing to walk a mile in our moccasins, but comedians are indignant that society has moved on from racism as a comedy trope. Maybe if comedians were running for office they would, as Trudeau says he has, change. It’s easy to provoke outrage, as old blackface pictures do. It’s harder to provoke awareness, and surprise, and the laughter that comes from that, which is what I thought comedians were supposed to be doing instead of boo-hooing that we don’t have time for racism masquerading as jokes.
What I’m reading
M.M., who does such a good impression of German guided meditation that I nearly insisted that she go into stand-up comedy, would be hilarious talking about the completely messed up way Russians are doing marriage proposals.
Y’all, Charles Pierce is showing how fair and balanced is done over on his blog on the Esquire site. He does this thing where he writes down what you say and then evaluates the actual meaning of it. Crazy, I know. Also, one time he ate my wife’s brisket off her plate, and now they’re friends, but that’s another story.
As pot becomes legalized, you end up smelling it in unexpected places. This startup wants to make odorless marijuana.
Judging only by social media, this was the biggest line of any of the five Democratic debates.
There’s not a lot of polling by state or district on liberal issues such as free college, employee governance, red flag laws, or marijuana legalization. And even well-funded congressional races wouldn’t poll on ending money bail and automatic voter registration, because these aren’t top priorities. But now someone did.
America’s CEOs are “tapping the breaks” on optimism, and there is some evidence that they are talking themselves into a recession.
Chess is physically taxing. Really.
This was the third paragraph: “Almost 7 percent of women surveyed said their first sexual intercourse experience was involuntary; it happened at age 15 on average and the man was often several years older.”
Nope. Nein. No. Ghobe.’ Hет.
You know how the average menstrual cycle is 28 days long? Well, it isn’t, and you can blame bad science.
Can deliberative polling help Americans actually express informed opinions instead of emotional reactions based on tribal sorting?
What does your expense report say about you? (Mine says I was in New York City. Oof.)
Did you know there was a loophole in the 25th Amendment? Funny thing: Apparently the only thing from putting Mike Pence in the Oval Office is… Mike Pence.
Recent Studies Indicate: Putting women on corporate boards makes male CEOs less over-confident. Most honeybees are total a-holes. Also, people with low emotional intelligence tend to hold right-wing views.
News Nerds: Joe Pompeo explains how The New York Times botched the latest Kavanaugh story, though there’s a bit too much activist blaming for my taste. Said one source, “The most charitable read is that the Times sometimes twists itself in knots with weird internal rules and traditions.” TV news is covering climate change more than ever before. Letting conservative politicians bully you into taking down a fact-check because they conflate expertise with bias is not a good look. This is so interesting: To deliver news to teenagers, you need to think backwards and first ask whether it will be shared. A new survey says that Americans think journalists abuse their power.
Last Word: This is the only financial advice anyone under 40 will ever need. (h/t L.K.)
What I’m watching
I’m in the middle of watching The Spy, Sacha Baron Cohen’s Netflix series about a real Israeli spy. Here’s the backstory if you’re into that, but I was able to jump in all ignorant and had a good time.
What I’m listening to
Andrew Combs is stretching his legs a bit on Ideal Man, and “Stars of Longing” is a pretty good song.
A Giant Dog, the Austin punk band, did a note for note remake of Neon Bible. I guess.
I featured Brittany Howard in an earlier newsletter, but that was before her whole album dropped. Attention, y’all, must be paid.
What do you think of today's email? I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback. I might even put ‘em in the newsletter if I don’t steal them outright.
Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Unless of course you were forwarded this email, in which case you should…
The Stanford Newsletter is a finalist for best local blogger in the Austin Chronicle’s Best of Austin poll. Vote here by searching for “local blogger.” You can only vote once per email address, and you don’t have to be from Austin to vote. It would be a big help if you not only voted but shared the ballot on your own social networks. Honestly, it doesn’t matter at all if I win, but it’s an election, and after spending a couple decades as a political consultant campaigning is written into my muscle memory.
If this newsletter is of some value to you, consider donating. Honestly, I’m not doing this for the money. I’m writing this newsletter for myself, and for you. And a lot of you are contributing with letters and by suggesting articles for me to post. But some of you have asked for a way to donate money, so I’m posting my Venmo and PayPal information here. I promise to waste every cent you give me on having fun, because writing this newsletter for you is some of the most fun I’ve had. Venmo me at @Jason-Stanford-1, or use this PayPal link.