With the rise of the New York Knicks’ Jeremy Lin, I’ve been hearing a lot about racism, specifically about journalists and other media being admonished and celebrities being reprimanded for comments, “colorful” headlines and off-color jokes made to describe Mr. Lin. But soon after these comments are made and everyone’s had a good laugh, there’s a fast break and mad scramble to retract and back peddle, accompanied by overreaching apologies for offending Lin’s ethnicity with claims of racism towards Lin and his Asian heritage.
What the apologies are being issued for – I’m not sure. In most cases, the entities issuing the apologies don’t even know what they are apologizing for. It’s sad that some people are so quick to shout racism nowadays. I think they may have forgotten what racism really is. First of all, just because someone makes an off-color joke or a joke in poor taste about another race, doesn’t make the person who told the joke a racist. Perhaps it just makes them insensitive or ignorant. It might even make them guilty of stereotyping.
For sure, it’s not acceptable to stereotype either, but let’s face it – there is a difference between being insensitive or ignorant, and being a racist. Racism is when the landlord won’t rent to you because of your race, or when you get steered to a certain part of town to buy real estate because of your race, or when you are offered a higher mortgage interest rate because of your race, or when you get mistreated by your neighbor because of your race.
But celebrating the unlikely rise of a young man’s basketball talent with colorful (maybe even stereotypical) headlines is not racism.
This country has become too politically correct; it’s time to make a few adjustments to the left and stop the madness. Otherwise, there is going to be a whole lot of – well–insanity!