For those of you who don't know, the "oppression olympics" are, essentially, when various oppressed groups discuss (or, more often, argue about) who has had it worse. Is it women, LGBTQ folks, blacks, Native Americans, Jews? And there's no definitive answer so we all just end up mad when it happens.

I don't like the oppression olympics. They are dumb and counterproductive. And they don't provide any kind of practical or useful solutions.

And I'm not going to bother to engage in them today, or on any other day.

But it seems they're being played out anyway.

Let us take the nasty little case of Mad Max. Go Google his litany of sickening comments yourself – or read this funny little kitten-infused rundown of his worst statements – but it seems to be the case that his career is, having already been tarnished by his first brush with bigoted insanity, now seriously done. But, but, and here's the kicker, it's only because he went with the whole “raped by a pack of niggers” line, and not because of the whole repeatedly-threatening-to-kill-and-admitting-to-hitting-his-girlfriend thing.
Lookie here.

As a black man, and a conscientious person, of course I find his little quote to be just about the worst possible use of the N-word imaginable. I mean it's got violence, sex, a comparison to animals... you couldn't dream up something worse than that. And if there's a reason to not want to support a person based on their words – an entire argument we've already sort of had, but I'm sure we'll venture there again because Kurt just can't quit him – this would be a fine one.

But in no way do I believe that nasty verbal bigotry is worse than what appears to have been legitimate threats of serious violence (and actual admissions of past violence). I'm glad we've long since reached a point where it's not accepted to spout off racial slurs. Yet it seems to me that, at the very least, the violence he may well go to jail for was not going to harm him as much as his epithets, and this is just evidence of those silly olympics being played on in a way that is ultimately ridiculous.

Should we never forgive anyone who says racist things? I could accept a sincere apology from someone I knew who appeared to be humble and sorry. We're raised in a racist society, after all, which is no excuse, but certainly doesn't help people avoid being fed racist ideas as they grew up.

But ultimately, as poisonous as these words are, we'll survive being called niggers a lot more easily than a person will being killed and buried “in a fucking rose garden” (a punishment Mel with which threatened his ex).

In terms of the legal system, they seem to have their priorities together in this case, and his potential punishment will be for his (admitted) sticks and stones and not his ugly choice of words.

But it troubles me that, before he went back to the well of bigotry, he might have gotten off the hook for real, dangerous violence. It is, after all, the same week Roman is officially free (in Switzerland...) for a violent crime, and we needn't have more of that.

And that's it from me for the week.

Peace and love,
Justin PBG