The United States Supreme Court will consider a suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, seeking to ban public schools from issuing “Perfect Attendance” awards to students as unconstitutional, as such honors discriminate against children who miss school due to religious holidays and illnesses, including the flu, the measles and the mumps.
Nah . . . but I had you there, for a second, didn’t I?
Ever figure that one morning you’re going to wake up to find that common sense has been banned, eliminated, ruled illegal?
Recently, Jerry Seinfeld has had to confront accusations that his show, “Seinfeld,” last produced in 1998, engaged in a form of self-evident racism in that it featured few black characters. Aha! And so, a brilliant comedy — “the show about nothing” — actually was about plenty.
This charge struck me as wishful, inflammatory and absurd thinking, given that “Seinfeld” was loaded with characters of just about every race, ethnicity, religion and color — and all of these characters took a comedic hit as misfits.
Had the show included more black misfit characters, no doubt Seinfeld and co-creator Larry David would have been condemned as blatantly anti-black bigots.
Secondly, the show was in large part based on people from Seinfeld’s and David’s high school days. Apparently, there were no omnipresent black kids in their mix; thus if they’d invented one or more they’d have engaged in rank racial tokenism.
And again, the main characters surrounding Seinfeld — George Costanza (and his parents), Elaine Benes, Cosmo Kramer and one known only as Newman — were socially flawed misfits and comical losers.
Although the accusations against Seinfeld were ridiculous, they had legs because they were racial accusations. Seinfeld, flabbergasted, actually was placed in a position to answer such a charge.
The accusations brought to mind the broadside fired by African-American poet Maya Angelou, who criticized “Jeopardy!” She claimed that the show lacked racially diverse contestants.
First, having long been a “Jeopardy!” fan, I knew her claim to be both dead wrong and a hideously irresponsible abuse of her standing as a famous and respected author.
Second, had “Jeopardy!” engaged in a type of affirmative action for black and all minority contestants, what would have been accomplished? A contestant who made it on the show due to race rather than ability having his or her doors blown off, finishing dead last in every appearance?
What good end would that have served?
Anyway, this is the bag we’re in. Common sense has become so uncommon that it will soon be practiced only behind closed doors between consenting adults.
The slow but steady death of broadcast journalism is impossible for intelligent viewers and listeners to miss.
From Sochi, where he was sent to shill for NBC’s Olympics, NBC’s lead news anchor, Brian Williams, “reported” what viewers would see on that night’s NBC Olympics telecast, then followed that with more “news”:
Seth Meyers’ NBC “Late Show” has added Fred Armisen, a former series regular on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” as its bandleader. That morning’s NBC “Today” show was little more than an NBC and MSNBC infomercial that seemed to have finally ended, until NBC’s Hoda Kotb appeared to discuss her new book.
Why bother with waterboarding when suspected terrorists, if forced to watch ABC’s “The View,” would spill their guts in 10 minutes? That show should sign an exclusive sponsorship deal with a headache remedy.
In fact, the State Department should add “The View” as a form of prisoner interrogation before it is banned by the Geneva Convention.
Help me on this one: Why and when did it become essential for America to know what Kanye West thinks about anything and everything?