Do you think Kramer (from Seinfeld) is racist?

I don't see that it matters *why* someone apologizes
 
I do see that it matters that the person's apology is GENUINE, and not an agent's attempt to save a career or dodge a bullet. I got no sincerity from his apology...he couldn't even do it face to face with the people he offended!

Yes I think he's racist. You can get angry without using those words or sentiments, and the fact that those things pop into his head when he gets upset is quite disturbing.

ORIGINAL: jones
And the point I was trying to make is not only is it nearly impossible to determine such a thing (is or isn't one), why would we? What difference does it make?

 
I agree.  It makes absolutely no difference if he is racist or not.  I really don't care.
 

 I don't think it works that way.

 
Are you debating with someone?

ORIGINAL: rwbeagles

I don't see that it matters *why* someone apologizes

I do see that it matters that the person's apology is GENUINE, and not an agent's attempt to save a career or dodge a bullet. I got no sincerity from his apology...he couldn't even do it face to face with the people he offended!

I'm not sure that we were watching someone who was completely rational afterward.  Didn't you think he was a bit, for lack of a better word, frantic?  When I saw him on Letterman, I thought I was looking at a mentally ill individual - kinda like the wife abuser suddenly caught with his fist up in the air ready to bring it down on her, but also shocked that he was doing that to someone he loved.  I don't think it makes what either person does right, I just think we need to understand that violence and racism are often intertwined with other aspects of a human being that are not sane.  He looked like he belonged in a psychiatric care facility, frankly, for his own safety. 
Apologies may come later, once the synapses fire properly again.  That is also a time when treatment may have an effect. 

Funny, no one seems much angered at the continual actions of corporations, government, or individuals that deny people their rights, but when the words that CEO's never say, just think, come out of someone's mouth, we jump all over that.  Think about it - almost half the native population living on reservations in the US are doing so in poverty - and *we* are the illegal aliens, living the American dream while they can't heat their hogans.
When my dad was young, he graduated at the top of his class as a CPA from a prestigious institution, but none of Boston's best banks would hire the son of Lithuanian immigrants - any more than they hired the Irish when they first came.  Humans have a distasteful way of creating "us" and "them".  We even do it within our own families.  So, racism is really nothing more than "us" versus "them" in a particularly ugly form.  It isn't right, and we shouldn't tolerate it, but, just as with other sins, we need to allow those who are truly repentant to be forgiven.  None of us know this man - and it's too soon to judge.  Besides, it really isn't our job - that belongs to the Creator.

Personally Anne I think all that frenetic energy is an act. One that's made him a lot of money...one that he's carried on so long that he can't NOT be like that. I don't feel any sincerity in him thru the idiot box at least....sincerity that he is CRAZY or sincerity that he is NORMAL. lol...
 
Personally any apology from anyone, who's entire JOB is making people believe things that are not true...is suspect. That goes for polictician, or actor.
 
He owes those people a face to face apology as real a one as he can muster...and he owes himself some counselling to help him remember how to be a real person.

Funny, no one seems much angered at the continual actions of corporations
 
I think PLENTY of people are angered every day....but pray tell how does one "act" on what one only can "suspect" is going on? Where is the proof? where is the blood spatter or DNA evidence that someone is judging you on color? There's the rub! You know it...they know it...but prove it...to JQP. Not easy!
 
People jump on these things as you put it...because AHA! At last! finite evidence....something we can sink our frustrated teeth into! Someone stupid enough to show publicly...what they really think, and affirm all our suspicions about 'those people' all hating 'these people'. Sad....both sides...truly sad!
 
The Native experience is something I am not familiar with and I will just tell you that outright. I go to OK often enough that I can see the Chickasaw's are in charge of the entire town we visit, from the mayor down...and thru their various ventures they own almost 80-90% of the land in it. They run a hospital and pay college tuitions for anyone holding a card that says their Chickasaw.
 
I believe it is the same with the Choctaw's. I do not know what all that is about...if it is good or if it is bad or indifferent. I would tend to side with "good" myself but what do I know? Not the same the Nation over I am sure, going by your reference to it.

I see drugs all over this guy.  The way he keeps repeating himself and just being nonsensical-yeah.  Drugs. 
 
Don't know if he's a racist, but I'd bet $20 he wouldn't pass the pee test.

Are you debating with someone?

 
Not at all, just expanding the discussion a little....
 
As to Richards specifically... I don't think the heckling is any kind of excuse for his outburst. Comics are heckled all the time, people talk over their acts alll the time... remember the people in a comedy club are mostly drunk, they're not sitting at the opera. I saw Dave Chapelle do his act once, and just as he was starting a long joke some wasted guy in the audience started hollering over him until finally Chapelle had to stop and tell him to shut up - but he didn't lose his temper, he seemed annoyed but also used to it. Recently I was listening to the Howard Stern radio show where they were talking about an Andrew Dice Clay show where Artie Lange opened up for him - Clay could barely do his act because the crowd was booing and calling for Artie through the whole thing. SOP in those situations is for the comic to humiliate the hecklers, but even Andrew Dice Clay didn't really blow his lid. Heckling is a normal occupational hazard for comedians.... Richards definitely seems mentally ill or unstable in some major way. But weren't there always rumors that he was... not a nice person?

That's the consensus of the talk radio show I was listening to as I was stuck in the parking lot known as s.h. 121. When upset, we draw upon words we normally use when our guard is down. So, he's used those words before and it was all too easy for him to use them in anger.
 
ETA:
When someone uses the "n" word, that is racist. It has its origins in the slavery in the history of this country.
 

i about crapped when i saw that video.
 
while michael richards was wayyyy out of line, i have to admit i was quite dissapointed that the guy in the crowd felt compelled to spew racial remarks as well. coming from a very racially diverse state i can tell you from experience that racism is present amongst every race and nationality. i get really angry when no one thinks twice about the racial slurs that are said to or about a white person, yet all it takes is one person saying that ambiguous "n word" and people go crazy, i honestly dont understand that concept.....

ORIGINAL: gaylemarie

i about crapped when i saw that video.

while michael richards was wayyyy out of line, i have to admit i was quite dissapointed that the guy in the crowd felt compelled to spew racial remarks as well. coming from a very racially diverse state i can tell you from experience that racism is present amongst every race and nationality. i get really angry when no one thinks twice about the racial slurs that are said to or about a white person, yet all it takes is one person saying that ambiguous "n word" and people go crazy, i honestly dont understand that concept.....

I completely agree with that.  No one should take it upon themselves to slur anyone's race, religion, gender, etc.  It is just in poor taste and reflects a lack of character. 

Aw come on, nobody here ever used that word. I have. I have many black fiends and even they use that word. I`ve used it in anger in reference to the dirt bags and gangbangers. To me there is a big difference between a black person and a nigger. PS: I guess Kramer being called a cracker is OK though.

hdkutz I have never in my life use the "N" word I don't know about anyone else. I have family members that are biracial and I take offense when people use that word. My nephew is half black and half white and my own extended family has used that word when refering to him, he is 2 years old! There is no excuse IMO for using any kind of racial slurs.
 
Oh and do you know what the original meaning of the "N" word was bigot which should actually be used towards the people that use that word. I don't think anyone should use racial slurs towards members of their own ethinicity or others. I am a citizen of US, but my parents were both born in Italy. Dago is a racial slur for Italian, and I won't let anyone Italian or not call me it.

ORIGINAL: hdkutz

Aw come on, nobody here ever used that word. I have. I have many black fiends and even they use that word. I`ve used it in anger in reference to the dirt bags and gangbangers. To me there is a big difference between a black person and a nigger. PS: I guess Kramer being called a cracker is OK though.

 
No, I have never used that word. Not outloud and not in my head. I take extreme offense when I hear that word. My family is very interracial and when I hear that word used it burns and feels like I just got slapped in the face. I can only imagine how it would or must feel to my bi-racial cousins when they actually get called that word.

No, I have never used that word. Not outloud and not in my head. I take extreme offense when I hear that word.

 
Ditto.