The Michael Richards Thing

I guess I'll chime in on the Michael Richards thing, since everyone else is.

Have you ever been so angry that you just wanted to hurt someone? I mean angry in a way that you'll say anything to hurt, and so you pick the thing that you know will hurt that person more than anything else. You may or may not mean it, but you say it, because you know it's the absolute best thing you can say if your intent is to upset.

I have.

I think this might be what initially happened with Richards. He said it, and then his anger spiraled, and he said it some more. That's kind of how rage happens: Pretty soon it's just controlling, and you keep doing something that you know you shouldn't, and, in most cases, you wouldn't do if you were thinking logically. Being under the influence of rage is a lot like being under the influence of a drug.

I watched the video and I was a little shocked myself, surprised to hear the lovable Kramer so very mad.

I just watched his awkward and heartfelt apology on Letterman. It was sincere, and if people can't accept apologies and allow forgiveness, the racism that lies just beneath the surface of much of America will never go away... It will just exist, until there is some kind of eruption.

If you watch the video you also hear efforts to fight racism with racism. Richards' anger is answered with words like "whitey" and "cracker," which, while perhaps not as insulting, were thrown out as a means of answering racism with more racism. This seems bad.

I forgive people everyday for ridiculing Christians, and there's never really an apology. How do you think I feel when famous people like Jesse Ventura describe Christians as weak-minded, or when Elton John says our religion should be outlawed?

I know it's a comparison of apples and oranges (or is it?).

Richards apologized and he looked and sounded about as sincere as sincere can be. Accept it.

[Technorati: Michael Richards]
[Youtube: The Tirade]
[Letterman: The Apology]