What about the person who pulls the trigger and uses the first white man's words as justification for doing so? This is who we're talking about, not the racist who hasn't heard the joke.
Like I said, there's levels.
The man who pulls the trigger using any other person's words especially when those words aren't in any way inciting violence should not be made equivalent to the person whose words are being used.
THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS.
I just don't think that anyone could make a good faith argument in support of the normalization of behaviors that are harmful to some people.
The problem here is you're using the word 'behavior' when talking about both a person that says something and a person takes another's words as what? orders, motivation, the proverbial push over the edge to commit a violent act. There's speech and there's actions.
That's what, where, and why I'm trying to make the distinction between the two.
Cuz I do not believe Dave Chappelle's standup is hate speech. I don't believe it's bigoted. I do not think Dave Chappelle's standup is violent. I don't even think what he says necessarily leads to violence.
Dave Chappelle isn't doing his version of a white pride youth rally against the trans community. He is not saying they are less than or that they deserve to die.
I also don't think that we can pretend in good faith that arts and culture exist in a vacuum separate from socioeconomic and demographic issues, and as such, assert that one doesn't have any sort of influence on the other. We're all familiar here with "Birth of A Nation" and "Gone with the Wind." We're all familiar with how the depictions of the West in John Wayne's movies reshaped the popular perception of the Old West by erasing black cowboys from popular culture, elevating the white ones, and turning every native into an evil savage.
Art definitely has its influence and impact on society but we shouldn't pretend like it is the deciding factor in behavior.
The thing about all of your examples is they were basically the icing on the cake that is institutional racism. The racist laws were passed first. The discriminatory acts happened first. That's what dictated the attitude and behavior.
People are not just citing the last part to criticize; they are citing both parts and saying that they are contradictory, and Dave thinking that you can be both shows he doesn't understand what he's talking about; it's like supporting the civil rights movement as a member of the KKK (how the **** does he not see it?).
Again, you can either point this out and come up with he doesn't know what he's saying or come to another conclusion yourself; Dave didn't do all his homework on the topics cuz you know this was a standup bit not a peer reviewed report or Dave knew full well what he was saying and purposely contradicted himself or Dave said one thing, forgot, and then said something that was the complete opposite of what he said earlier.
But hey even if you're right, so what? He was telling a joke. Show me the future murderer that watched The Closer agreed that bathroom bills shouldn't be passed and is also team terf.
The people who love to hear him say the second part are counted in the millions, and they don't care to tell the difference because he validates their feelings.
Dave Chappelle can not be held responsible for those stupid ppl's actions.
If the whole or part of your point is that more bigoted ppl will be attracted to one part of what he said and ignore the other, that's not new. That's just a perfect example of their stupidity if they can't or won't even raise the same questions themselves or point out a possible contradiction. Cuz with or without Chappelle bigoted ppl will find reasons and ideas and bull **** sayings and anything else to support their bigotry.
Chappelle aside, if we're really saying the person that said something is as bad as the person who commited a violent act due to what that person said I don't see a path moving forward on the topic.
This is why I said before I have more of a problem with a Shapiro twisting words to fit his stance than an idiot who didn't even properly comprehend the entire message. I don't have any ideal naive dreams that those types of stupid ppl will one day come around. Ignorance breeds bigotry and a bunch of other bad ****. However, I think there's a better chance at exposing the so called "intellectual" that tries to put some high minded spin on their bigotry/hatred.
