Those on the left routinely twist the words of their opponents and lodge the accusation of “coded racism,” a technique mainly employed to generate controversy.
The racist accusations seem to fly in one direction only, however. They are generally lobbed according to political ideology and/or party affiliation, i.e., liberals against conservatives, Democrats against Republicans.
Racist material may sometimes go unnoticed when hidden within comedic remarks, with an implicit cover of “it’s only a joke,” as if things said in a humorous manner or within the context of a parody don’t really count.
Recently, “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart made Herman Cain the butt of his unimaginative jokes, and his patter about the GOP presidential contender turned out to be not so coded.
Stewart aired video footage of Cain. The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and current GOP presidential candidate was addressing the issue of the thousands of pages of Democrat legislation that admittedly was not read by them prior to passage. Cain said that bills should be limited to three pages.
After showing the footage, the Comedy Central star displayed a billboard that read: “Herman Cain 2012 — I Don’t Like to Read.”
The racist threads woven into this comedic sketch are that the black man has difficulty reading and lacks intelligence. Neither Jesse Jackson nor Al Sharpton saw fit to call a press conference.
Bill Maher also used Cain as comedy fodder for the “New Rules” segment of his HBO show.
While giving mock advice to GOP candidate Newt Gingrich, Maher said, “Let me put your unpopularity in context for you — you're a Republican and you're polling behind a black guy.”
The not-so-coded racism in Maher’s skit is that Republicans are hated, but if the Republican individual is also black, he or she deserves even more scorn because of his or her skin color.
There have been volumes written on liberal hypocrisy, but sadly it seems that we have indeed reached a new low.
James Hirsen, J.D., M.A. in media psychology, is a New York Times best-selling author, media analyst, and law professor. He is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court and has made several appearances there on landmark decisions. Hirsen is the co-founder and chief legal counsel for InternationalEsq.com. Visit Newsmax TV Hollywood: www.youtube.com/user/NMHollywood