Celebrity Disaster

I do like my yardbird. I've even reviewed several local yardbird distribution establishments, here and here. I keep going back for more. It's yardbird, for crying out loud. But don't expect me to defend this:

What we don't like is the lingering racist connotations that are associated with eating poultry (don't even get me started on swine), which is probably the real reason some black folks are upset by a controversial KFC ad that has some claiming the company is perpetuating racist stereotypes.

The KFC ad depicts a frustrated, white Australian cricket fan sitting among a crowd of black people who are happily dancing to the beat of steel drums while rooting for their team, which is apparently from a Caribbean nation. How does he get them to see things his way? He offers them a bucket of chicken and they quickly change their tune. As they grab pieces of chicken from the bucket, he looks at the camera and says, "Too easy."

Wow.

More racist than I would have believed, actually. So racist I can't do anything but look away in embarrassment. What were these people thinking? Ouch. Then, you have to consider the plight of the young actor who now becomes the face of KFC's Australian racism. That is not how you want to be remembered.

Glenn Beck is not going to seduce the ladies and build his own harem, sir

The Los Angeles Times is one of my favorite places nowadays. I love their format, their forums, the comments are always moderated, and the bloggers there are West Coast, baby, West Coast.That means, relaxed, smart and happy. Read any East Coast bloggers lately? Morose, frightened, lugubrious and horrified at the idea that anyone in Booneville, Middle America might call them on their shrill nonsense.

This article gets a little hysterical, however:

Recently Times columnist Steve Lopez went in searchof fans of Glenn Beck, the Fox News personality who has garnered a large viewership since moving from CNN but has lost dozens of sponsorsafter he called President Obama a racist.

Lopez found a Santa Clarita group on the Internet that claimed to have 82 members, most of whom were united through Beck's TV program, which served as a rallying call against the Obama administration. Of that group was a 20-year-old woman who promised that they "will win this fight against radicalism."

Another woman wrote on the group's website, "I love my God, family and country and want to save this country from ruin."

Lopez met a man named Jason Hole, the Beck meet-up group's organizer. Hole has his differences with the Beck, but is more concerned with what he feels the Obama administration has in store for conservatives like himself. "I'm a hard-working American guy that wants to be able to worship Jesus Christ, go shooting, say what I want and enjoy life," Hole wrote.  He added: "Our government is preparing for civil unrest right now. I've seen documentation that states people will be considered terrorists if they wear blue jeans and talk excessively about the constitution. You're thinking I'm a kook, right? Look it up and you'll find it to be true."

So are you thinking that Hole and the Santa Clarita members of the meet-up group are kooks? Do you think, as Hole's uncle believes, that America is on the road to socialism? And if you are a Beck fan, do you think the people interviewed in Lopez's column reflect your beliefs?

Also, what do you think of Beck? Do you think that this is all an act for TV ratings? Or do you think he truly believes that the mixed-race president is a racist who has "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture"?

Oh, it's all an act.

How many people actually realize that this is a man who, like Sean Hannity, like any number of "conservative" talk show hosts, came up through radio and adopted a "conservative" viewpoint in order to fit the format of the station they were working for?

If you trace the origins of any of these media personalities, you discover that, all of a sudden, one day, almost entirely out of the blue, they became political, and conservative, and experts and respected--and that the only reason why you know who they are today is because their transformation was followed by enough ratings success to propel them out of whatever podunk rut they were in.

These men and women are broadcasters. You know their names because they survived to move on to higher positions and better jobs within the media. To a person, they are not "conservatives" or even "Republicans." People like myself who have worked all of our lives and actually voted Republican and donated money to Republican Party politicians and organizations can tell you, categorically, that real Republicans don't go to work in the radio business--it doesn't pay enough. We work on Wall Street or in banking or finance or as managers. We don't spin records and yap into microphones all day.

People like Glenn Beck are laughing at you, because no one gets it--they're playing a part. They don't believe anything they say. The men with wives--trust me on this--the men with wives would never get away with saying such things in the presence of a woman--they'd be thrown out the door.

Relax and have a good laugh at Beck's expense. If it were up to him, he'd rather make a few million a year talking about his encyclopedic knowledge of war atrocities, Dutch ovens, umbrella stands, bootleg Steely Dan records, his ant farm or antique cars made of butter.