3.7
August 4, 2010

Louis CK: Being White.

If we’re looking for political correctness and sensitivity in comedy, we’re gonna have a bad time. That said, comedy often manages to raise issues of equal rights decades before the mainstream, serious folks. Louis is a great, good, raw, deliciously horrible and fair-minded, sweet voice for love. ~ Waylon

Comedy: where uncomfortable truths and harmful prejudices are aired, and laughed at.

Feministing, I like. It’s long been a featured site on our Blog Roll on our Front Page. But they missed the point on this one, imho:

Louis C.K.’s unfunny sketch about race

This sketch by Louis C.K. on white privilege made me really uncomfortable…the major issues at hand here are how delusional some whites can be about present-day racism and the logical implications of white privilege. First, the notion that a black man would feel comfortable traveling back to the 1980s is the only laughable moment that can be extracted from this sketch. Reaganomics, anyone??

Further, C.K. presses the knife with, “For now, Weeeeee!”  The thing we have to remember about whiteness is that it is a privilege that inherently disadvantages other racial groups. So really, C.K. can’t celebrate his whiteness without him celebrating the effects his white privilege has on people of color: racism.

Nothing to laugh at in that conclusion.

Uh, watch the video again? He’s not saying white is better. He’s acknowledging that white crackers have historically had a leg up, exploited others (“owning land and people…”), and will get theirs in the future.

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