Point one: I've already posted once today, so this one isn't too heavy on teh angery. I went to see "I Heart Racism", one of the shows at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. I mentioned this show earlier in the week, it's directed by an old college friend, Adrian Calear. I knew this was a popular show so I booked online during the week. I showed up to the box office and found out Ticketmaster had screwed up the booking - it definitely wasn't me who screwed up the booking, no matter what the evidence suggests.
So there is actually some angry in this post because I was pretty pissed off. The situation was defused when Adrian found me a seat, even though the show was sold out. It's a good show, proving to be a big hit with the audiences during the festival. It's interesting to me that the folk putting on the show spend so much time pointing out that it's "offensive" and "R-rated". Personally, I could survive a lot more on the offensive front but that's hardly likely to surprise anyone who reads this blog.
I think a lot of what they were guarding against is that the show is written by two young white boys. Approaching racism from a humourous perspective is certainly an exercise in skating on thin ice and it's quite hard for white boys to joke about racism without someone accusing them of being racist. If you want someone who's unrelentingly in your face on issues of race while being mind-bendingly funny, try watching Dave Chappelle.
Point Two: I note from the site stats that I passed the 100 comments mark, a little milestone I'm quite happy about. Admittedly, a lot of them are from me but this blog is all about dialogue, not preaching. Okay, it's about preaching first but I'd lose interest without dialogue. Humble thanks to my readers and commenters. No angry at all here.
Point Three: Jason suggest I go nuts on the topic of inappropriate apostrophe use. I agree with him that this is a crime against humanity, but I couldn't do it any better than this:
Bob the Angry Flower on Apostrophes
Enjoy!
4 comments:
Mr Angry I would have been disappointed if you had any post without "angry".
But more on the honesty perspective of racism: if whites use the "N" word it is perceived as a racist crime, while it is the common lingo amongst blacks.
I hear an "N" word several times, everyday - what with my name and all!
And of-course terms like "paki" are derrogratory, but the South Asians have plenty racist comments of their own.
In zimbabwe there is a general notion there about the Australians being racists - ironic considereing non-indigenous (non-blacks)farmers are murdered savagely or told to "go back home" at gun-point.
Yes racism is deplorable but there is that case about the kettle and the pot ...
I am now inspired to blog further about racism.
On a much lighter note, you actually do have a growing fan base - I am not just speaking about myself - so Anger on!
(notice - I used not even one apostrophe in fear of causing anger :-))
Love the poster...my husband is almost finished his education degree for early elementary...I want to buy him that for his class
I know I am a newer follower of yours and I kind of feel like a misfit among them but I believe I share their spirit when I say...'anger on...dear brother...anger on'
Happy 100th!
i hope you will enjoy this intro to a column from 'The Nation', which offers up "gutting" in addition to your favorite - decimating!
"The challenge we face today in the United States is how to engage in the global economy without decimating our own middle class and gutting our social regulatory system."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060417/forum/2
It's nice to think I'm performing a public service more my angriness. I have to admit, the initial intent was very self-centred: get it out of my system. Good to see I seem to be helping others get angriness out of their systems too.
Dr Nazli: looking forward to your take on racism - different perspectives broaden the mind.
Beatnik: Ohhh, don't I wish I could spend some time at a galz college, don't think I would be bored at all!
Evi: I've only been blogging slightly over a month so you're hardly behind the pack :)
And Tom takes the proactive approach to keeping me angry! Showing me that the evils against which I battle are everywhere. Damn 'The Nation'. Mind you, I like their use of gutting, very colourful word if not particularly accurate in the dictionary sense. Brings to mind other colourful metaphors like 'eviscerate', 'disembowel'... maybe even ritual seppuku.
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