Bigotry and Immaturity
A word on Rick Sanchez, the CNN anchor canned for saying, well, this:
I'm telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like [Jon] Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority? Yeah.
At HuffPo, MJ Rosenberg ventures this explanation for the outburst:
I feel bad for Sanchez because his attack on Stewart and Jews was not the adult Sanchez talking but the hurt Latino immigrant child who has always felt (rightly or wrongly) that white America looked down on him. That is how it must have been for him at 6. And he still can’t get over it.
He thinks that when people like Jon Stewart see him they see a dumb Latino who should be cleaning tables. He’s wrong. They see a smart, provocative and movie-star handsome guy who has it all, and got it through hard work (and luck too, like everyone).
What penetrating insight into the mind of Sanchez. Since bigotry is faulty by definition, we're prone to search for reasons why bigots would hold such faulty ideas. Rosenberg's foray into speculative psychology is illustrative of the common approach today, in which bad behavior is the product of immaturity. Judgment is parceled out on the basis of shared legitimate victimhood. Rick Sanchez lashes out because some central part of his personal development was flash-frozen by moral cruelty; therefore, we're told, he deserves our sympathy. Those whose immaturity shows forth in a false sense of victimhood -- certain characteristic tea partiers, for instance -- deserve our unsympathetic condemnation, including, if Stewart is any guide, high ridicule.
From where I sit and type, there are any number of reasons and nonreasons why Rick Sanchez said what he said. Rosenberg's account may be accurate. But his choice of speculations is so emotionally self-serving that I'm left thinking of Rosenberg as indulging in his own ethic of immaturity. If he's looking for sympathy, toward Rick Sanchez or toward the Rosenberg Theory, he'll have to do better than that.
(via Andrew Sullivan)
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Comments :
Jun '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
Very often, stupid people believe stupid things. That's my entire Sanchez analysis. Where do I send the bill?
Sep '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
A year ago I was at my 50th high school reunion. I remembered some of the hurts from all those years ago. I noticed that many who were not part of the in crowd were not in attendance. Guess I'm still not mature. And worthy of ridicule.
Edited on Oct 3, 2010 at 9:33amSep '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
Maybe, just maybe, Sanchez really does hold bigoted views about Jews. My belief based on experience is this: many more people who call themselves democrats, which I now lump into the liberal camp for all practical purposes, have whispered more disparaging remarks about Jews, gays and blacks into my ear than my known Republican friends. Maybe it's how he was brought up. Jews to him are selfish and part of some conspiracy, which was fomented by what he heard around him as a child. There is something to the immaturity argument, but it has no excuse. He is immature because he was too lazy to really analyze the truth about Jews. They are an influential minority to be sure, but no more so than say Episcopalians, which have also held many high offices in this country.
Jun '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
I dislike Rick Sanchez, and I am happy he was fired, but the reason for his firing troubles me. Our societies, I'm Canadian, have become so hyper-PC that we can no longer just write someone off as an idiot and move on. What used to be empty and ignorant blather now has consequence, which lends it import that lifts it beyond blather. Sometimes it's just best to forget that a guy that rattles off thousands of public words per day might combine nappy and headed into one sentence. Silence is not always a sign of acceptance; it is often the very best response to the unacceptable.
Edited on Oct 3, 2010 at 11:33amJul '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
I would comment on this, but my Jewish Masters won't let me.
May '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
Obey the Jew Kenneth. Repeat after me - Obey The Jew.
"Hurt Latino immigrant child" what the hell is that, Sanchez is a man, and completely responsible for his absurd actions and opinions. Huffington Posters please take note.
I am sure Rev. Wright has some room in the pew for Ricky during his retrenchment.
Edited on Oct 3, 2010 at 10:57amSep '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
I know little about Sanchez or Stewart but my sense is that Sanchez’s comments, though they were bigoted, were probably prompted more by envy than bigotry. The heart often produces such reactions. I find HuffPo’s comments to be standard Huffpo.
Aug '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
I've watched Sanchez's gaffs, and it's clear he is genuinely, relatively, dumb; i.e., no stellar IQ. Combined with arrested emotional development, it was only a matter of time before he imploded.
Sep '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
If an unwatched show is cancelled, does it make noise?
Truth is, more people are reading about Sanchez's firing than ever sat through an entire one of his news broadcasts.
And just to fair, I bet Seinfeld reruns get better ratings than Stewart's Daily Show in most markets.
May '10
Re: Bigotry and Immaturity
Sanchez was simply noting that Stewart should lay no claim to anyone's sympathy based on his ethnicity. He grew up upper-middle-class and now is wealthy and famous. But I've never heard Stewart play the role of victim so am not sure where all of Sanchez' vitriol was coming from. Did Stewart make fun of the guy? Were his feelings hurt?