Am I Black Enough For You?

Yuppie/Milquetoast comedienne Janine Garaofalo tries pretty hard to keep up with the trends. Recently the trend among upcoming comediennes is to add a little edge to their routine. One of the first things the co star of the film Cat's and Dogs did was to get a bunch of tatoos all at once. But brand new tattos at her age wasn't quite edgy enough. It's pretty common among most soccer moms and cougars hunting young studs at Applebees happy hour.

So I applaud her for trying her hand at good old fashion racism. Here is a transcript of Garofalo in an exchange with the famous Boston Market pitch man Keith Olberman discussing African American GOP leader Michael Steel attempting her new racist persona:

JANEANE GAROFALO: She dated him, so either she suffers from Stockholm Syndrome – a lot like Michael Steele, who’s the black guy in the Republican party who suffers from Stockholm Syndrome, which means you try and curry favor with the oppressor.

KEITH OLBERMANN: Yes, you talk about self-loathing.

GAROFALO: Yeah, and there’s, any female or person of color in the Republican party is struggling with Stockholm Syndrome.

Wealthy white liberals that come from priviledged backgrounds are so good at stereotyping folks!

White Liberals are also good at determining who is a "real black". Clarence Thomas, Michael Steele, etc - they're not real blacks. Why? Because they don't fit into people like Janine's stereotype of what blacks should be. To someone who is not a typical white liberal it might sound insanely demeaning to take away the accomplishments of a successful black person by insinuating that they have somehow sold out or got their position by turning their back on their heritige. A normal person or non elite liberal may suggest they have gotten to where they are because of their hard work and intellect. Liberals like Janine and Keith know that not selling out requires that one perpetuate a stereotype imposed upon blacks by whites in the first place. That is the old stereotype that blacks are perpetual victims not capable of succeding without the assistance of noble white people or goverment.

So my advice to Janine is you're getting there, but you still sound a tad typical.

May I suggest a role in another awesome PG-13 controversy generating film like Reality Bites?