Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has come under recent fire for a tweet she posted of herself riding on the back of the fastest man in the world, Olympic gold medal regular Usain Bolt, with the caption, "This is how I'm running errands from now on."
This led to her getting blasted on Twitter, as many proclaimed her post to be racist. I'm sorry, but this is another example of the PC-police going too far. I'm typically all for political correctness, as I think every person, regardless of their age, gender, skin color, creed, or orientation, should be treated with respect. However, when a joke is at the expense of a person's actions and not their race, yet we find a way to insert race into the equation, that's political correctness gone too far. The common denominator in this post was the athlete's speed, not his/her race. Usain Bolt is an incredible runner, arguably the best in the world, and after he won his 3rd consecutive gold medal in the 100 meter, Ellen harmlessly posted this tweet on her Twitter account. It wouldn't have mattered if Bolt was white, black, brown, or purple, Ellen was simply joking about his speed. If Ellen had added the caption, "Riding on a black guy is so much fun," then she would have deserved the backlash, for the post would have revolved around his race. However, that wasn't the case. She was simply having fun with a joke regarding a man's amazing athletic ability and speed. Political correctness overall is great, in my opinion, but it does a disservice to the cause if we take things too far, which then angers more about political correctness, and could very well damage the cause long-term.
I ran into this same situation the other day regarding a tweet I posted after Donald Trump announced he'd be hiring Roger Ailes as an adviser leading up to the presidential debates. For the record, Roger Ailes has been called out by at least 20 women for sexually harassing them. So, keeping that in mind, I posted this tweet:
"Actual headline: 'Donald Trump hires Roger Ailes as an adviser'
Coming headline: 'Donald Trump replaces running mate Mike Pence with Bill Cosby'"
I'd say approximately 99.9% of the commentators responded positively to the post. There was, however, one individual who called me racist, saying, "There are hundreds of white boogeymen out there, yet you chose the one black scapegoat."
This post wasn't about race. It was about two men violating women. It was about how despicable the Trump campaign is to hire a man who has been called out by 20+ women for sexually harassing them to advise him for debates with the first woman presidential nominee in this country's history. Like it or not, Bill Cosby has been called out by 60+ women for taking advantage of them sexually. The commonality these two men share is sadly their history of sexually violating women. It doesn't matter what a man's skin color is, what their name is, how famous or popular they are, sexual harassment and rape is wrong. Period.
Again, I'm all for political correctness, but if we take it too far, we only get ourselves into trouble in the end. When a person makes an insensitive joke at the expense of a person's age, gender, race, creed, or orientation, we have every right to call them out on it. However, when the joke has nothing to do with those characteristics and we have to force what's not there, it only makes us look bad.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/08/17/ellen-degeneres-accused-racism-over-usain-bolt-tweet.html
This led to her getting blasted on Twitter, as many proclaimed her post to be racist. I'm sorry, but this is another example of the PC-police going too far. I'm typically all for political correctness, as I think every person, regardless of their age, gender, skin color, creed, or orientation, should be treated with respect. However, when a joke is at the expense of a person's actions and not their race, yet we find a way to insert race into the equation, that's political correctness gone too far. The common denominator in this post was the athlete's speed, not his/her race. Usain Bolt is an incredible runner, arguably the best in the world, and after he won his 3rd consecutive gold medal in the 100 meter, Ellen harmlessly posted this tweet on her Twitter account. It wouldn't have mattered if Bolt was white, black, brown, or purple, Ellen was simply joking about his speed. If Ellen had added the caption, "Riding on a black guy is so much fun," then she would have deserved the backlash, for the post would have revolved around his race. However, that wasn't the case. She was simply having fun with a joke regarding a man's amazing athletic ability and speed. Political correctness overall is great, in my opinion, but it does a disservice to the cause if we take things too far, which then angers more about political correctness, and could very well damage the cause long-term.
I ran into this same situation the other day regarding a tweet I posted after Donald Trump announced he'd be hiring Roger Ailes as an adviser leading up to the presidential debates. For the record, Roger Ailes has been called out by at least 20 women for sexually harassing them. So, keeping that in mind, I posted this tweet:
"Actual headline: 'Donald Trump hires Roger Ailes as an adviser'
Coming headline: 'Donald Trump replaces running mate Mike Pence with Bill Cosby'"
I'd say approximately 99.9% of the commentators responded positively to the post. There was, however, one individual who called me racist, saying, "There are hundreds of white boogeymen out there, yet you chose the one black scapegoat."
This post wasn't about race. It was about two men violating women. It was about how despicable the Trump campaign is to hire a man who has been called out by 20+ women for sexually harassing them to advise him for debates with the first woman presidential nominee in this country's history. Like it or not, Bill Cosby has been called out by 60+ women for taking advantage of them sexually. The commonality these two men share is sadly their history of sexually violating women. It doesn't matter what a man's skin color is, what their name is, how famous or popular they are, sexual harassment and rape is wrong. Period.
Again, I'm all for political correctness, but if we take it too far, we only get ourselves into trouble in the end. When a person makes an insensitive joke at the expense of a person's age, gender, race, creed, or orientation, we have every right to call them out on it. However, when the joke has nothing to do with those characteristics and we have to force what's not there, it only makes us look bad.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/08/17/ellen-degeneres-accused-racism-over-usain-bolt-tweet.html
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