Here is my take on the Rodeo Clown mess. There is nothing that tells me that this incident is racially motivated or meant to bait racial tensions. It does represent a disgusting case of poor judgment and tasteless humor that should not be celebrated or supported in any fashion no matter who the President is and what you may or may not think about him. There are several things here that need to be noted. One the wearing of an Obama mask is not racially insensitive or inappropriate on its own. Adding the broom stick up the back side makes it less appropriate and more distasteful. Moreover, the other clown, the one with the microphone, clearly used poor judgment when in the arena with the other clown, he began to incite the crowd into wanting to harm the President of the United States vicariously through this clown wearing an Obama Mask. To me it is the same as burning the flag, or burning the president in effigy. It is protected speech in one sense, but clearly bad judgment and inappropriate not to mention just un-American. This is not the same as comedians using political humor in my view, although I do feel the clown was trying to be funny and most likely using his political views to inspire it. So, people are banned and others quit and now there is so much rhetoric on facebook blaming everyone from the various rodeo agencies, to the State Fair, and of course the so called liberal media. In reality, lets remember who used poor judgment and start there. This negative attention started with those clowns and both started this mess by using very poor taste. Many years ago, the Dixie Chicks angered many Republican leaning, conservatives in this country by expressing their opinion at a concert in Great Britain saying they were embarrassed by the decision of then President Bush to go to war in Iraq. The nation was outraged. Country music stations banned them and have still banned them to this day, people burned their CDs, and all three members of the band had verifiable death threats requiring protection. I think their judgment in opposition of war was far more responsible in the words they used as it relates to dissenting speech. They never incited the crowd by using a Bush dummy, or some skit that included a violent act or song or stunt. They used simple words and the outrage was excessive. Here, it seems the outrage is confused. Seems a bit off base. We should strive to come together and support us all. No matter who the President is, we should treat the office with respect. These stunts, whereas, I do not believe are a racial issue, do see how people can perceive it as such. That is part of the problem. More understanding is needed in today’s world so that people just simply won’t find these lapses in judgments funny or be quick to support them. If they apologized, that is good for me. That means something if he is the man people are saying he is, and then I would expect his words should be taken seriously. In any case, those involved should also be held accountable for that lapse of judgment in whatever manner their employers see is justified. That is life, we are responsible for our actions.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 04:14:24 +0000