Stop Apologizing

Too much of our public discourse today is focused on taking offense and forcing apology, and it’s time for people to quit apologizing.

The latest public figures to beat their breast and beg forgiveness are the executives of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, which put pieces of fortune cookies into its Taste the Lin-Sanity frozen yogurt. Lin-Sanity refers to New York Knicks player Jeremy Lin, who came off the bench to become a basketball sensation. He’s a much-needed piece of good news for the often-suffering New York Knicks and a punishing pun prompt for tabloid headline writers.

That Jeremy Lin is an Asian American in the N.B.A. is part of what makes him unique. I can count the number of Asian-American Harvard graduates in the N.B.A. on one finger. Being Chinese is what made former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming an advertising commodity when he was playing in the U.S. That the fortune cookie pieces reference his being Asian isn’t an insult to Asians. He’s Chinese-American, so are fortune cookies. You can argue that it’s hokey, common and simplistic, but offensive? Maybe in Harvard Square, but not by New York standards.

And did anyone really think that the ice cream company was trying to make an ethnic insult? If there’s a corporation with more progressive bona fides than Ben & Jerry’s, I haven’t heard of it.

If they named an ice cream after me, they’d have to put chunks of Irish cheddar cheese in it; and while that would be an insult to ice cream lovers, it would not be an ethnic insult to me or Irish Americans. And even if Ben & Jerry’s came out with an Irish writers’ ice cream that played to ethnic stereotypes and was filled with whiskey swirls and Guinness-infused chocolate chips, we really shouldn’t get offended. Whiskey and beer are what we Irish are known for (even if some of us don’t drink) and the ice cream would be delicious. It would also sell out in about five minutes.

I’d like for once to see someone under attack for being offensive to refuse to apologize. Ben & Jerry’s was clearly not trying to insult Jeremy Lin, Chinese people, or even New York Knicks fans. It would be great for a tie-dye wearing hippie from Vermont to be the first to come out and say, “I don’t apologize. Fuck you if you don’t like it.” I won’t hold my breath.

Multiculturalism As 21st Century McCarthyism

After ten years of being a regular commentator on MSNBC, Pat Buchanan was officially given the boot on Feb. 16. It marks a new low in the witch hunt against “racists” that marks “anti-racism” and multiculturalism as the resurgent McCarthyism in today’s political climate. The mass hysteria that once had the Wisconsin Senator looking under every rock for communists is now looking under every rock for racists.

I once liked MSNBC. While they have a definitely slanted point of view, they used to encourage dissenting opinion. Years ago liberal Ron Kuby and conservative Curtis Sliwa hosted a show together on the network and it was interesting to see two people with so diametrically opposing viewpoints discuss the news of the day. Buchanan was a once regular on the liberal Rachel Maddow show, where he and Maddow would debate the issues at hand with vigor but mutual respect. She even referred to Buchanan as “Uncle Pat.”

I don’t agree with many of Pat Buchanan’s views, but he’s always presented them in a logical way with an insightful knowledge of international affairs and the workings of the U.S. political system.

Thinking people of all political persuasions should make it a point to read and listen to people they strongly disagree with; you’re cheating yourself if you don’t do so. If you refuse to listen to opposing points of view, you risk turning your head into a useless echo chamber.

The mélange of groups that called for Buchanan’s head didn’t do so because he is a hatemonger, they did so because he isn’t. If he was a hateful blowhard, he would be easily discredited and his views would have no chance of catching on. (Observe the same smear tactics recently used on Presidential candidate Ron Paul).

And when MSNBC fired Pat Buchanan, they didn’t do so because they were offended by his views. His views have been public for more than 30 years. MSNBC fired Buchanan out of fear. They were afraid of being branded as racist or as giving harbor to racists. Many times in our political discourse, particularly in our discussions of race and multiculturalism, people are acting out of fear. Criticizing anything not in line with left-leaning policies risks being branded as a racist in today’s world, and people do not want to see their careers destroyed by being branded with the scarlet ‘R.’

When you have large groups of people acting or failing to act out of fear, our political discourse suffers and our democracy is diminished.

Joseph McCarthy started with a premise that most people could agree with: totalitarian Communism was bad and if there were agents of the Soviet Union infiltrating the U.S. government, they should be found out. But Joseph McCarthy’s name is on the same ash heap of history as Soviet Communism because he became a tyrant. His quest to destroy Communism blinded him to the very reason Americans ought to oppose Communism.

So it is today with issues of race and multiculturalism. Efforts to fight racism have blinded people to the very reasons they should oppose it. It has brought us mind-numbing fanatical nonsense such as the slogan “Hate speech is not free speech,” the branding of conservative critics as “white supremacists” or “white nationalists” and even physical assaults on critics of illegal immigration and affirmative action.

Self-appointed anti-racists have become every bit as dogmatic and intolerant as the “racists” they claim to be fighting. They have lost sight of the reasoning behind their cause and reason has left them, and it shows.

Super Bowl Sunday: A Celebration of Sloth and Decay

There are much, much better investments of your time than watching the Super Bowl if your favorite team isn’t in it. Nonetheless, millions with no civic pride at stake will watch hours of generally boring sports and just as many hours of commercials and nonsensical blather. That it has managed to make itself a cultural event that has a large chunk of its viewers more interested in the commercials than the game is a testament both to the business acumen of the National Football League but also the endlessly hyped and televised state of America.

I’m no exception. For me, the Super Bowl is nothing more than an excuse to sit on the couch and eat and watch television. These are things Americans excel at. I’ll also feel culturally out in the cold if I’m not tuned in. This is the big news of the day today. It is the epicenter of our country’s consciousness for better or worse.

As a New York Jets fan, I hate both teams but hate the Patriots more. They are documented cheaters led by an underhanded coach and a Prima Donna quarterback. They managed to screw two cities in different states when they blackmailed their way into a new taxpayer-funded stadium years ago. If those aren’t enough reasons to root against them, they recently released veteran player Tiquan Underwood on the eve of the Super Bowl.

And as a measure of our culture and the state of the U.S.A., it’s a sad commentary that the program will show us as a people who would rather do something safe and routine than new and interesting. Madonna would be a good halftime show choice if this was the 1985 Super Bowl. There was a time when Madonna was considered risqué and adventurous, but those days were already over when Eli Manning was still in grade school. As a general policy the Super Bowl halftime show should be performed by artist’s who’ve had a record in the Billboard top 10 within the past year. Certainly you can find someone in that group that’s not going to take off their clothes.

I’ll be impressed if the Super Bowl actually produces a good football game. It’s usually a lopsided snooze fest in between commercials. Either way, here’s hoping there will be some quality television to keep me company while eating.