Poor Clint Eastwood bemoans the fact that he can't tell racist jokes anymore

[Hugabear]

http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20090227/906/ten-eastwood-thinks-political-correctnes.html

<snip>
Acting legend Clint Eastwood , 79, apparently believes that political correctness has rendered modern society humourless, for he accuses younger generations of spending too much time trying to avoid being offensive.

The Dirty Harry star insists that he should be able to tell harmless jokes about nationality without fearing that people may brand him "a racist".

"People have lost their sense of humour. In former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth or you will be insulted as a racist," the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

"I find that ridiculous. In those earlier days every friendly clique had a 'Sam the Jew' or 'Jose the Mexican' - but we didn't think anything of it or have a racist thought. It was just normal that we made jokes based on our nationality or ethnicity. That was never a problem. I don't want to be politically correct.
<snip>


Yes, Mr. Eastwood, and back in "your earlier days", black people had to drink from separate water fountains, ride in the back of the bus, had to eat in separate sections, etc. Japanese people were rounded up and put in camps simply because of their ancestry. Mexicans were routinely portrayed as lazy, shiftless, and slow. Movie studios would paint white actors to portray Native Americans.

Oh, the good old days. :sarcasm:

[EraOfResponsibility]

1. what an asshole n/m

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I'll believe this claptrap

when I hear him give an example of a joke based on HIS nationality or ethnicity. Oh, there aren't any.

[Political Tiger]

41. That's the thing, for bigots it's always funny as long as it is about

someone else's nationality or ethnicity!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

96. Yep, I've never ever heard a joke about the Irish

No one's ever made a joke about Irish or British people before EVER!!!

:eyes:

[Lost in CT]

3. Well I invoke the Andy Rooney rule...

Once a person gets to a certain age... (I'm looking your way Jerry Lewis) I tend to give them a bit of a pass on shit like this.

[tekisui]

Thankfully bigots are dying faster than they are being born.

[Lost in CT]

8. This is very true indeed. nt

[Captain Hilts]

23. When you look at how views towards gay rights have shifted in the past 20 years...

you see that things ARE changing. For the better.

[Captain Hilts]

20. Me too. In the company of his friends he can say whatever he wants. Clint's not a racist...

by any standard. Just an old crank.

[ShortnFiery]

57. Yeppers, ya can still feel free to be racist amonst one's own kind.

:puke: :eyes:

[Captain Hilts]

71. There's no evidence Clint is a racist. To the contrary, there's more that he isn't. nt

[ShortnFiery]

78. I know plenty for "good old boys" and enjoy a good action movie along

with many other military veterans. I can say with confidence that sadly, yes, "Clint" harbors many racist sentiment. Hey, he may be cool in other circles, but he has "issues" that are inappropriately explained away by his age.

My beloved father grew up in South Dakota where the only racial mix in his area was different flavors of German and English, but as he aged he became less like "a swaggering" Clint Eastwood and more like "a loving elderly man" with the heart of a social worker.

Unlike Clint Eastwood, my father served his country in the Combat Engineers and was Battlefield Commissioned in Italy during WWII. I guarantee you that dad didn't earn his commission by spewing beautiful bullshit one liners such as "Do you feel lucky punk." My late beloved father LIVED the life of an hero, not only in WWII but afterward helping others who were less fortunate than himself, i.e. owned and highly maintained Section 8 housing units.

Like John Wayne before him, Clint Eastwood is a pathetic PRETENDER. It's sad to be genuine and actually *see the real world* in all it's harshness?

Most of our true heroes are either dead or unsung. :(

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

81. Your dad WAS a hero

A true hero. Thank you for his service to our nation.

[Sequoia]

91. Your father sounds like he was a pretty cool guy.

But, wouldn't there also have been Lakota in his area of S. Dakota?

[hlthe2b]

45. Yeah... that's sort of the truth... It is very much generational

[zagging]

69. Me too

I'll bet Clint would eat his cheese samich and shut up about it already.

[Lilith Velkor]

98. ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7X2_V60YK8

[Cha]

100. Yeah, give Clint a pass 'cause

he's too old to know any better.

[marmar]

4. Why do people feel the need to tell jokes about someone else's race or ethnicity?

Insecurity about their own race or ethnicity? ..... I've never understood why, or why anyone thinks such bullshit is funny.

[RedCappedBandit]

86. Because they're too stupid to come up with any worth while humor.

[tularetom]

5. I thought he did a good job in Gran Torino - maybe he wasn't acting

He was an equal opportunity offender in that movie.

[patrice]

16. Thanks for the tip. I will not watch that movie.

[Lost in CT]

32. You should very good movie and not racist. nt

[Subdivisions]

44. It was a good film. n/t

[Kalyke]

6. Or, Mr. Eastwood, it could be that younger people don't find racism

particularly funny anymore.

:shrug:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lost in CT]

17. I already have a guru... He is out trimming the bushes and scaring away the deer as we speak.

What I need is a weekly guru that can do a decent car detailing. I want it to smell nice. I don't smoke in the car but the third hand smoke from my Australian Duster seems to permeate the Detroit Vinayl...


Thanks in Advance.

[graywarrior]

18. I'm selling bridges located on the top of Mt. Washington in NH

[Dr. Strange]

22. What I really need is a guru who understands the binary language of moisture vaporators.

Do you speak Bocce?

[TZ]

30. Thats not the guru you are looking for...

:)

[Midlodemocrat]

26. Guru? Oh, I thought you said tofu.

[mtnester]

28. Will you be spamming all the threads then?

or just this one?

My call...just this one

[YOY]

46. This really isn't the site to spam

One thing I love about our Mods. They take care of shit like this.

Also, perhaps you should market to India? I mean you already have most of our decent IT jobs. Why keep marketing to us? We don't have any more fucking money. That happens when most of our decent jobs are outsourced due to our executives greed.

[madinmaryland]

66. Hey buddy! I got a copy of this exactly as you wrote it in an email

yesterday.

Nice cut-and-paste. Now go back to your classes in middle school.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

67. mainly because half the people I was with believed it until I explained the situation to them. nt

[LynnTheDem]

9. "In earlier days" black Americans were slaves, freely raped, beaten, murdered.

"In earlier days", Native Americans were legally hunted down.

"In earlier days" racist jokes were "funny".

Now is not "In earlier days", rightwingnut.

[Donnachaidh]

10. his last movie was chock-full of racist crap

Yeah, that old white dude who spent time *schooling* that *dumb chink* next door on how to shine up an American made car. I guess he figured it was okay to throw all the nasty stereotypical BS in, as long as his character pulled an *ultimate John Wayne* at the end to make it OKAY.

STFU Clint. Go play golf and bitch to your friends about how unappreciated you are.

[Lost in CT]

34. Bullshit. The film wasn't racist crap it was a good film. I'm sure you think

Blazing Saddles is racist as well.... nt

[Donnachaidh]

39. ahh yes, as long as Clint calls them chinks and gooks it ain't racist.

:eyes:

[Subdivisions]

47. I thought it was a very good movie. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

58. His character was a racist bitter mean nasty old man

who transcended his racist bitter mean nasty self, despite his worst intentions. Or at least that was the movie I saw.

[Captain Hilts]

73. You don't 'get' it. nt

[NYC Liberal]

87. Wow did that movie ever go RIGHT over your head.

Bet you thought Swift really wanted to cook and eat babies to help with the hunger problem too.

[tangent90]

89. You do realize a movie isn't real, yes?

...

[tanyev]

11. That's odd. His wife is multi-racial, primarily Hispanic, I believe.

Maybe he's cheesed because she won't let him tell his jokes at home.

[seabeyond]

24. it is the white privilige thing. they really dont see the offense. and i dont think it makes them

racist. i dont think he is racist.

[ShortnFiery]

60. No it makes him an asshole and a bigot. See, that's much better, isn't it?

:crazy:

[ShortnFiery]

63. Which "wife" is that ... I think he must be on Number 3?

On Edit: OMG, so is Lou Dobb's wife! And we know what a "fair and balanced" man he is?!? :rofl:


Signs of being a misogynist as well as a racist. Cool! :crazy:

Clint Eastwood in the Nursing Home

"How many wives have I had? I think it was only three, but I might have forgotten in all the excitement. Do ya fell lucky ... well do ya liberal commie punk!" :crazy:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

83. Why does it matter how many wives he's had?

[patrice]

12. "younger generation spending too much time trying to avoid being offensive"

Apparently Eastwood has not spent ANY time with real young people, on their own terms, or he'd know about their use of the word "Fuck", by means of which they are making a semantic and political point of their own.

Lack of consideration for other people's feelings is PRECISELY why this country is in the mess that it's in. It is NOT necessary to be rude in order to be Honest.

I have watched my last Clint Eastwood movie.

[Bandit]

13. I don't understand his rationale at all.

If you know a joke is offensive how can you pretend no harm is done?

Acting legend Clint Eastwood , 79, apparently believes that political correctness has rendered modern society humourless, for he accuses younger generations of spending too much time trying to avoid being offensive.

The Dirty Harry star insists that he should be able to tell harmless jokes about nationality without fearing that people may brand him "a racist".

[Lost in CT]

14. There is a salient point to this though.

Show Blazing Saddles to a gaggle of twenty somethings nowadays and you will find many of them are more offended and aghast then anything else. And that inability to understand the nuance between racism and making fun of racist thought is truly lost among the new generations. If that is the price of progress that isn't all bad.

Whether Eastwood was actually making that point however is quite debatable.

[patrice]

19. True. Good point.

[Goblinmonger]

40. Satire has always been problematic.

People were appalled at A Modest Proposal. People thought All in the Family was dead-on right about the races. Blazing Saddles had plenty of people when it first came out that thought it was offensive. It isn't a sign of the times; it's just a sign that most people don't get satire.

[flobee1]

42. That is a good point

and a great movie

It also reminds me of an episode of the show Iconoclast with Dave Chappelle and Maya Angelou
They started talking about his comedy routines compared to Richard Pryor and the use of racist language. Her comment was "If you take rat poison, put it in a gold container, covered with jewels, is still doesn't change the fact that it is poison". She was saying that even if you manage to take the bite out of racist language or turn it around to make light out of it, its still racist.

I do think Mel Brooks nailed it in blazing saddles tho......

[Donnachaidh]

43. Blazing Saddles didn't have a main character spitting out racist names in damned near

EVERY shot.

No comparison.

[Lost in CT]

48. Your kidding right? nt

[YOY]

50. Young people "don't get" Blazing Saddles?

I can't think of one person who wouldn't be able to recognize its screaming satire.

[NashVegas]

61. AMC Was Running Blazing Saddles A Couple of Weekends Ago

I saw a promo and wondered how many people would understand how screamingly funny it was, in the 1970s when racist fears were still pretty up there, to hear Cleavon Little go, "hey! Where the white women at?!"

[dysfunctional press]

65. i wonder how cut up it ended up being...?

:shrug:

[Lost in CT]

75. AMC massacres everything... I really don't know why they bother. nt

[spoony]

104. Yeah, to me it started downhill with commercials

Then adding films like "Hot Shots" to their "classic" lineup. It's like Spike TV with a pompous and ill-fitting name (AMC my arse!).

[KittyWampus]

84. Good heavens, remember the New Yorker cover that satirized the idiots attacking Obama?

A huge number of DU'ers didn't get it.

[NashVegas]

85. Oh, No. *We* Got It

We just got upset because we feared offending the poor little dears who didn't.

Or something like that.

[Lost in CT]

88. Good lord don't bring that up again...

That was an embarrassment and a diving road to the humor impaired (and the impaired in general)

[iamjoy]

54. Exactly Right - Blazing Saddles

There is a nuance - that movie was a spoof. So, things like "(Oh my God,) the sheriff is a n----" were funny because you know that's pretty much how people in the 19th century would have reacted. And it was controversial at the time, but Brooks insisted on keeping that offensive word in there. Besides, when you have a Jew making a movie and playing a Native American chief - of the Sioux nation no less - speaking Yiddish, well, it's obviously not meant to be taken too seriously.

You can still make ethnic jokes - look at Howard Stern, Carlos Mencia and Sarah Silverman - but you have to be good.

[Lost in CT]

59. You can still make ethnic jokes - look at Howard Stern, Carlos Mencia and Sarah Silverman - but you

have to be good.

Okay so how do you explain....Howard Stern, Carlos Mencia and Sarah Silverman

[NashVegas]

70. Stern

I didn't hear it myself, but years ago a newsgroup I was part of - soap opera watchers - was in an uproar because Stern had Wayne Gretsky on and was high fiving him for being a god in the one sport that was still all-white. Totally went over their heads ...

[david_vincent]

15. Slight correction

People of Japanese ethnicity weren't rounded up "simply because of their ancestry." The historical fact is that among the Japanese residents of the Hawai'ian islands, several secret societies had been formed and were active. The US government understood that it would not be able to infiltrate these secret societies in order to monitor their activities, given that we were going to war with the Japanese. The decision was made to round up all of them as an alternative. The Pentagon clearly, and with good reason, did not want to have people running around Hawai'i spying for our enemy.

PLEASE understand that I'm not defending that decision. I'm just saying that what happened was not motivated by any kind of racism.

[Warren Stupidity]

27. So they interned all the Japanese people in California

in order to protect Hawaii?

Oh and by the way, Germans and Italians each had 'several secret societies', and quite a few not so secret societies (e.g. the Bund) and yet Germans and Italians were not rounded up en masse. Why was that?

[david_vincent]

31. I don't know, I'm not a historian

My point being that I would ascribe what happened to the government having a rare flash of insight into its own incapacity to handle the situation in a better way. I'm certainly not arguing that racism didn't, or doesn't, exist !!! On the other hand, a secret society can, of course, communicate with members located at a distance, so I think the geographical argument that you invoke doesn't hold water.

[ret5hd]

35. Maybe you can supply links to such assertions so we can judge for ourselves.

[Warren Stupidity]

51. Huh?

Your argument was that because of the danger to Hawaii posed by alleged secret societies of Japanese people in Hawaii the Japanese people needed to be rounded up. I pointed out that all the Japanese people in California (and elsewhere) were also interned, and wondered how that fit into your 'defense of Hawaii' rational. The water problem is well held here. How exactly were the Japanese people in California a threat to Hawaii? Were these secret societies going to organize an invasion of Hawaii from California?

And Germans? why no internment?

[iamjoy]

64. It Was So Racist

The very justification (however logical it sounds on the surface) is itself rooted in racism

It was "These people don't look like us. We can't understand them. They must be a threat."

Don't you think that's kind of like what they said about the Jews in Europe? Jews have their own language that they speak in their "secret societies" (we usually call them synagogues). You know, people might have figured the Jews could be plotting against them and must be locked up...

Don't you think we do there's a tendency now to do that with Muslims?

We fear what we can't comprehend. It's understandable, but still racism.

[ShortnFiery]

68. "what happened was not motivated by any kind of racism ..."

Pure unadulterated BULLSHIT!

My father was 40 years older than me and passed on from this world a couple of years ago. HE told me repeatedly that ALL Japanese Americans were "persona non grata" by the USA people to put it politely.

My first *best friend* who I attended grade school with in Singapore (Malaysia-The Americas School) committed SUICIDE by throwing himself in front of a bus. Why? He was half JAPANESE and half BRITISH. As such the kids (all US and British contractor children) teased him mercilessly about his "Jap" traitor ancestry and he couldn't cope.

There's your GRAND TOLERANCE by humanity for you. :nuke:

[Gormy Cuss]

76. And they rounded up all the Japanese-Americans on the West Coast because of it?

Japanese-Americans who were American citizens by birth? Who were sansei?
See how hollow that correction of events sounds?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

95. That's the moral equivalent of holocaust denial.

Utter, ridiculous bullshit.

If I wanted to see racist bullshit I'd go to a Clint Eastwood movie, not go to DU>

[seabeyond]

21. leave the gays and ethnicity alone but can still tell sexist jokes.... so rejoice. n/.t

[Captain Hilts]

74. People don't even recognize sexism when they see it. nt

[seabeyond]

77. no. and then even if they do it is just biological and they cant help it

:shrug:

[Captain Hilts]

79. Stop bitching about it! Ooops!

[seabeyond]

80. bah hahha. and that is the next answer. thread after thread in defense towards ethnicity

or gays

but a stop bitchin about it with sexism.... next comes more degrading insults to humiliate or put me in my place

lol lol

you are cute. and fun. thanks....

[BlooInBloo]

25. Nothing pisses us off more than not being able to be racist.

[Mari333]

29. actually, Gran Torino was a damned good movie

even tho I dont agree with Eastwood in his real life need to use stereotypes. otherwise the movie was more about an old man coming to terms with his own guilt. its still worth watching.

[zagging]

52. WHat guilt did he come to terms with?

I didn't get that at all from the flick.

[Mari333]

93. his role in the korean war

and he subsequently gives his life for that kid to have a life.
spoiled the ending now for people.

[zagging]

97. I didn't get that

I think the point of the confession was that he didn't feel guilty about the war. When he finally did confess, he didn't say anything about Korea or his involvement in the war. He pretty much said he should have been a better father. In that respect, I think Eastwood was trying to convey his take on what a lot of men his age feel about the wars of that era. The bloodshed and killing may have given him nightmares, but not guilt. He was sent there to do a job, and he did it.

And I think it would not have mattered who his neighbors were, he would have done the same thing regardless. He was coughing blood the whole movie. The implication was that he was pretty sick, and dying already. A sacrifice, but it's not like he was young and healthy. It was a calculated move based on his impending death, and possibly his pain. He chose his way out. What was the alternative?

Of course, this is my interpretation only.

[Mari333]

105. I got that he knew he was dying anyway

so he decides to use his own death to help someone...and puts himself in the line of fire on purpose..and its how he pays for his guilt about what he did in Korea..a secret he carried thru the entire movie..at the end, he makes a grand apology and release of guilt by sacrificing himself...I got that clearly...I guess everyone sees it differently...

[ShortnFiery]

53. The mere fact that it's adored by "conservatives" ... gives one pause.

Is it for Authoritarian loving kind of folks? :shrug:

[Lost in CT]

62. Well it is a Dirty Harry sequel of sorts... but still an excellent film. nt

[Mari333]

94. I liked it a lot

and I am so far left Im off the radar.

[Paladin]

33. Shut Up And Direct, Clint....... (n/t)

[patrice]

36. I think the difference is that the Young have their own points to make and CE just doesn't recognize

what those points are.

[Forkboy]

37. I've said it before...great director, good actor, dipshit everywhere else.

[Deep13]

38. What's stopping him?

He can say whatever he wants. What he really means is that the public will not find it funny.

[Hugabear]

55. Maybe he saw what happened to Mel Gibson?

Methinks Clint is just one drunken outburst away from that sort of infamy.

[ShortnFiery]

49. "A man's got to know his limitations." wins out over "Get off my lawn!"

Know it! Live it! Love it!

What a buffoon. :eyes:

[Pavulon]

56. Equal opportunity

like the Army is fine by me. Being confronted with race makes you an adult about it. Having your balls busted for being southern, rich boy, whatever is part of the drill. I cant remember if they were "allowed" to say racial or religious shit, but they did.

It has no place in the workplace and obvious common sense constraints. But fuck living your life worrying about someones feelings.

If a diverse group of friends want to break each others balls for being different more power to them. I work with guys from all over the world and it is common practice.

[Johonny]

72. You can as long as the joke is self deprecating

Which leads to the funny office episode about the Chris Rock joke... Sexism on the other hand seems alive and well in comedy. Go figure.

[Annces]

82. I just saw his Dirty Harry movie

last night, or passed by it. There was a lot of racism in that movie, and he was so perfect. He doesn't get it apparently.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

90. Gee whiz, who'd have thought Clint Eastwood was a racist?

:eyes:

[dana_b]

92. older generation

that was the norm at one time. He seems to be having a difficult time keeping up. He's also a Repub and although not all Repubs are racist, it seems they are more inclined towards it.

Maybe he really does see them as "harmless jokes" and he doesn't mean harm, but being a white, successful man he just doesn't get it.

[Cha]

99. Well, he supported mccain so

this comes as no surprise..

I know he's brilliant in other areas but he has a real problem with ignorance.

I remember he told Spike Lee to shut his face..

<Snip>

UPDATE:
"First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either," Spike Lee told ABCNEWS.com about Clint Eastwood. "He's a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn't personally attack him. And a comment like 'a guy like that should shut his face' -- come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there."

<More>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/05/clint-eastwood-spike-lee_n_105584.html

[leftchick]

101. isn;t his wife of Hispanic origin?

wtf?

[Greyhound]

102. Yes. I think this is the combination of class and generational issues.

I've met him several times (his daughter was a neighbor) and I just can't reconcile this comment with the man I've talked to.

OTOH, he is also 79 and a decade can have a profound effect on us as we get to that age.

[lukasahero]

103. "'Sam the Jew' or 'Jose the Mexican' "

Why is it always "Joe the White Guy" who so longs to return to those days?

[KamaAina]

106. Or in this case, "Clint the Douchebag"

:P