Odd how things happen simultaneously, but in the midst of the (admittedly tame) 'dialogue' about Porgy and Bess, the television show Blue Bloods has shown the most offensive, ignorant, racist hour I have seen on Network TV in decades. The main (conservative / saint) character--the Police Commissioner of New York City--is played by one of the most vocally conservative actors working: Tom Selleck. He is always right (pun intended) always fair, always infallible. His last name is Reagan. And here I thought CSI:NY was the top right-wing propaganda disguised as a crime procedural. Sorry, C-Y, you have been upstaged. Tom Selleck proves to the world that racism does not exist in the NYPD: he says so, so it must be true. He's tired of people (guess which group) attacking 'his' city's police force which is now completely integrated with all races and both sexes, leaving out gays and lesbians, of course, because obviously, they do not belong with the rest of the good people of the NYPD. Worse, there is a giant conspiracy of black men claiming to be Christians (not kidding), led by a popular minister (of course it's not based on life), who attack two innocent white cops then claim it was the other way around--just to create fake publicity to garner enough political power to have Selleck replaced(!) (He's the only thing standing in the way of their evil agenda.) This 'Reverand' always finds his face in front of a camera, is always screaming racism, but has to be corrupt, lest the audience question anything that is actually happening in New York today. The new Mayor is also black, but of mixed race (one guess who he resembles), and also a smooth politician rather than a 'true' defender of the good like Selleck. No use calling him 'Reagan'. (Unless it's to compare the current political ideas to the President's.) It's Selleck / conservative / GOP speak, so let's label it correctly. No one says African-American. That's too p. c. It's not 'real'. These are tough, tell-it-like-it-is patriots. 'Black' and 'white' is good enough for them. (It was good enough for Grandpa?) I'll go along with that: black and white is how they see everything, because they know their target fan base.
There were little details throughout the hour which would make an actual thinking New Yorker stare in disbelief. The 'bad' blacks are very dark skinned. The only (partially) 'good' black is light-skinned. (I've already suggested who he looks like.) The crotchety grandfather keeps spouting ludicrous lines about how unfair this 'Reverand' is ('he sure doesn't act like our good Catholic priests' are the implied lines) and how everything he says can't be trusted, etc. "When I was Commissioner... " I had the distinct feeling he said something about "our Negroes" in an earlier draft. And then he tops them all at Sunday dinner, when he says (I'm paraphrasing--I couldn't bear to watch it again) "White, black, brown or purple, we're all blue." 'White' seems to mean the truly good people like the Reagans. ' Black' must mean those people who do not question anything that's happening in New York--or American society--and thus, see everything like the Reagans. 'Brown' must mean Hispanics, though they were never shown or involved. And purple? Well, all I can think of is Barney. He is so discriminated against. I don't have to tell you that 'blue' means the police force, but I'd say he named the wrong color--the red states are the target areas, the desired fan base. Even the 'let's try to see both sides of the argument' conversations around the dinner table of the first season have been replaced with 'let's talk about the one, true, right side of every issue' conversations instead. On the surface, everything was completely 'fair.' Much double-talk was offered to clearly state that these were just some black people. And, of course, having the Mayor be black justifies everything. Having him be a slick, self-serving politician, gives the fan base what it thinks it already knows. And naturally, none of the white people have any kind of prejudice, well, except maybe toward faggots, but the writers/producers/actors take the 'love that dare not speak its name' literally. As I've mentioned, the 'fags' are never heard and never shown, so that issue never has to be raised. Along the way, no one confronts the reason(s) why those crowds of black people screaming for justice are so easily duped...because they are the true bigots? They only watch the news or read a newspaper when the 'Reverend' is on it, in it? They're just too stupid? They were the only people who showed up for casting?
Maybe if the last decade had not seen so many racially divisive, police-caused deaths (all ending in favor of the police) the show would just be ridiculous. But anyone living in New York during that time-- or is aware of what has been happening in New York--can only be appalled at such a despicable program passing itself off as a righteous one. The Commissioner even delineates a 'decade' as the time it took New York to miraculously become diversified. You half expect him to land on an aircraft carrier and declare, "The race war is over! Time for the 'real' Americans to take back popular entertainment." (No one gives a fuck about the 'higher arts.') Maybe they should have had a disclaimer before it started: "anyone resembling actual people who are not one-sidedly conservative is strictly unintentional." Yeah, I know, it makes up for aaaaaaaaaaalllll those horribly incorrect 'liberal' shows that flood the airways.
So, Suzan-Lori Parks, hurry up and 'fix' (if you haven't already) Porgy and Bess for all those 'good' people who would be offended by all those 'destructive stereotypes' perpetrated by two Jews and a white man in 1935. Because a large portion of America no longer sees other races as stereotypes: they have become the definition of 'enemy'. Any of them who do not fall in line. Even on innocuous TV. The sixties are with us again, it seems, full force. We're trying--and failing--to occupy Wall Street. A man named Cain is walking around in blackface. 'Segregation' has become a topic again. Really. 'Homosexuals', and their agenda, are destroying our families...when they aren't destroying our military. (A constitutional amendment is desperately needed to decisively defeat them once and for all.) Illegal intruders are bringing the pestilence of drugs, not to mention the destruction of the work force and decimation of our tax money. Please, Ms. Parks--come back to your own work. We need you now more than ever.
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