Whoopi makes a mess

[Jersey Girl]

I just want to get this out of my gut here. I do watch the View but only clips of it (depending on who the guest is) and not every day. I guess you could say I'm a so-so fan of the View. I like to hear differing perspectives and opinions. Like it when they ask tough questions during a guest interview. That sort of thing.

I am sure that everyone here has learned by now that Whoopi Goldberg made a total mess out of a segment when she claimed that the Holocaust wasn't about racism. (There's not enough emoticon choices to fill the space needed right here, use your imagination.)

There is no question that Whoopi Goldberg is a talented comedian and actress. There is no question that she is a generous person.

There is also no question in my mind that she is not equipped to intellectually handle the topic of the Holocaust.

The Holocaust wasn't about racism it was about man's in humanity to man?

Okay wait. Whoopi was obviously trying to go all philosophical in the points she wanted to make and I understand that. But...she proved herself in short supply of critical thinking skills and damn, just the ability to synthesize information regarding the Holocaust.

She somehow thinks that the Holocaust requires only one explanation? One explanation suffices to cover the events leading up to, during, and after the Holocaust?

I get where she was coming from when she talked about how those were white people fighting with each other but...it wasn't about racism? Tell that to the proponents of the Aryan Race.

She does a relatively good job of covering Civil Rights Movement history. But this? She was so far out of her depth I couldn't even believe it. Maybe her BFF Billy Crystal will take her aside and set her straight.

Anyway...she's a great creative comedic and dramatic talent. No question in my mind. But a good thinker, she is not. I get not being a good thinker. I get that it's hard to keep competing thoughts in your head while trying to sort out an event, topic, or even a single issue. I struggle with it all the time but I don't have a huge public platform on which to screw it up like Whoopi does. All I got is this little message field box compared to her giant bullhorn that had already managed to send her message around the globe before I ever opened my eyes this morning and more likely well before that.

Two week suspension for this. I wonder if they'll can her altogether or give her some way to try to redeem herself? She's got like 2 weeks to yank her foot out of her mouth.

We'll just see how that goes...

[Binger]

I thought Ms. Goldberg was Jewish.

[Jersey Girl]

I thought Ms. Goldberg was Jewish.

That's her stage name.

Her name is Caryn Johnson.

[Binger]

I thought Ms. Goldberg was Jewish.

That's her stage name.

Her name is Caryn Johnson.

Have a good time with my ignorance, I earned this one. I truly had no idea and never bothered to look it up or find out. I really thought she was Jewish.

[Res Ipsa]

I wondered where this idea came from. After a little digging, I think it’s a failure of some proponents of critical race theory to properly consider intersectionality and anti-semitism. That results in a fairly superficial treatment of Jews.

I think part of the problem is classifying bigotry as racism only when it is directed toward a disfavored group. I thought of that way for a while. I was persuaded to change that view by a critical race theorist: Ibram Kendi in How to be an anti-racist. He talks about racism by black folks toward other black folks. He addresses harm caused by racism separately. I’m convinced that makes more sense.

And I think it’s probably required if critical race theory is to adequately account for Anti-Semitism. If we include the notion of power or harm in the definition of racism, it’s easy to say that Jews are just part of whites folks and so they cannot be the target of racism. The hidden assumption is that, in terms of socio-economic status, Jews are more like whites folks, so they should be lumped in with white folks.

But that’s way oversimplified. Members of a racial group can be harmed by racism, regardless of socio-economic status. The Holocaust absolutely was a horrific example of racism, and critical race theory shouldn’t claim that it isn’t. Anti-Semitism still exists in the US today, and still causes harm to Jews. If critical race theory is a valid theory, it has to take that fact into account and not blithely dismiss it as “not racism.”

Anyways, I thinking Whoopi’s statement stems from something she read or heard in the context of critical race theory. She was repeating what I think is bad take on critical race theory, which likely contributed to her inability to explain herself.

[Jersey Girl]

Here's her explanation on Colbert last night. I think she screwed up again. It's not that I don't understand where she is coming from or that I don't understand WHY she is coming from that place but the thing is, she has essentially a global platform and I think she has a public obligation to inform herself before speaking. It's not like this was a red carpet question. This was a topic raised for discussion on a major news network. It's her job to be informed.

Maybe I ask too much of a mere human.


How Whoopi Became Today's Hot Topic On "The View"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdkhVQZGSSU


FTR: I like Whoopi Goldberg. A lot.

[Jersey Girl]

I wondered where this idea came from. After a little digging, I think it’s a failure of some proponents of critical race theory to properly consider intersectionality and anti-semitism. That results in a fairly superficial treatment of Jews.

I think part of the problem is classifying bigotry as racism only when it is directed toward a disfavored group. I thought of that way for a while. I was persuaded to change that view by a critical race theorist: Ibram Kendi in How to be an anti-racist. He talks about racism by black folks toward other black folks. He addresses harm caused by racism separately. I’m convinced that makes more sense.

And I think it’s probably required if critical race theory is to adequately account for Anti-Semitism. If we include the notion of power or harm in the definition of racism, it’s easy to say that Jews are just part of whites folks and so they cannot be the target of racism. The hidden assumption is that, in terms of socio-economic status, Jews are more like whites folks, so they should be lumped in with white folks.

But that’s way oversimplified. Members of a racial group can be harmed by racism, regardless of socio-economic status. The Holocaust absolutely was a horrific example of racism, and critical race theory shouldn’t claim that it isn’t. Anti-Semitism still exists in the US today, and still causes harm to Jews. If critical race theory is a valid theory, it has to take that fact into account and not blithely dismiss it as “not racism.”

Anyways, I thinking Whoopi’s statement stems from something she read or heard in the context of critical race theory. She was repeating what I think is bad take on critical race theory, which likely contributed to her inability to explain herself.

I think it may have come from something simpler than that. I think it may have come from a lack of education.

[Binger]

Did she make the appearance on Colbert before or after the network handed her the suspension? This is getting curiouser.

[Binger]

I wondered where this idea came from. After a little digging, I think it’s a failure of some proponents of critical race theory to properly consider intersectionality and anti-semitism. That results in a fairly superficial treatment of Jews.

I think part of the problem is classifying bigotry as racism only when it is directed toward a disfavored group. I thought of that way for a while. I was persuaded to change that view by a critical race theorist: Ibram Kendi in How to be an anti-racist. He talks about racism by black folks toward other black folks. He addresses harm caused by racism separately. I’m convinced that makes more sense.

And I think it’s probably required if critical race theory is to adequately account for Anti-Semitism. If we include the notion of power or harm in the definition of racism, it’s easy to say that Jews are just part of whites folks and so they cannot be the target of racism. The hidden assumption is that, in terms of socio-economic status, Jews are more like whites folks, so they should be lumped in with white folks.

But that’s way oversimplified. Members of a racial group can be harmed by racism, regardless of socio-economic status. The Holocaust absolutely was a horrific example of racism, and critical race theory shouldn’t claim that it isn’t. Anti-Semitism still exists in the US today, and still causes harm to Jews. If critical race theory is a valid theory, it has to take that fact into account and not blithely dismiss it as “not racism.”

Anyways, I thinking Whoopi’s statement stems from something she read or heard in the context of critical race theory. She was repeating what I think is bad take on critical race theory, which likely contributed to her inability to explain herself.

I think it may have come from something simpler than that. I think it may have come from a lack of education.

She was very clear on her logic. She sees race exclusively in terms of skin color. This is not about education, as much as it was about her standard for who is part of a race and who is not.

Her explanation on Colbert is problematic. Colbert is not much better.

To me, this was really simple. Whoopi basically said that she can be a victim of racism but the Jews, even including victims of genocide, can't. Her victimization, specific to racism, is real but the Holocaust victims were victims of something else, not racism. This conversation has been developing for a long long long time. All Whoopi did was light the match, the gas was already poured.

I wish Whoopi had not said what she said, because it hurt people and she got hurt. I think this conversation that is happening around the topic and her comments is long overdue.

[Marcus]

I think it may have come from something simpler than that. I think it may have come from a lack of education.

Agreed. She's an actress, playing the part of a critical thinker, on a show where the dialog is improvised. What do we expect? I love hearing from groups of friends at dinner parties, because they are friends first, and not necessarily expected to be experts, but hearing from actors on a talk show is a poor imitation of events like that. Actors and athletes are known for their craft or sport, it's no surprise they regularly get into trouble over improvised critical thinking. Or, for the exact opposite of critical thinking, stuff they post on tik tok and (mostly) twittr.