Friday, November 1, 2013

". . . for the Gander"

You're watching TV and a white-skinned young woman  appears on the screen.  Her straight brown hair is flat about her head except for four or five 1-inch knobs of hair sticking out, and she has blackened her pretty face.  She wore the disguise, imitating some black guy who's an entertainer on a TV show, to a masquerade party.

You'd think that the guy being an entertainer would be grateful to the pretty young woman for the publicity.  But no, she's being sued for imitating his hairdo and black skin.  You think of black-skinned people who've been giggling, snarling, and rapping the "N" word at each other for years, but the moment a white-skinned person -- thinking that black people like the word -- uses the word he or she gets sued.

Then you think:  What if white-skinned people should begin suing non-white skinned people for imitating them by straightening their tight hair and dying it blond?  And what if the Spaniards, the English, the French, Portuguese, and Arabs start suing non-white skinned people for imitating their respective identities by using their names, languages, religions, and customs?  And these cowards who say:  "These political, economic, and military problems; these problems with drugs and violence and terrorists -- all problems must be put in God's hands."  What if their God decides to sue them for making IT responsible for problems that we humans created and run from?

"Good for the goose, good for the gander."