When is blackface acceptable? Judging from the initial reaction to tonight’s 30 Rock episode, it can be received as entertaining and edgy when deployed ironically. Here’s the formula: place a popular white Hollywood actor in (partial) blackface and Afro wig and give him permission to talk in a stereotypical “black” accent. Make sure there is an angry black character onscreen signaling to the audience that the performers know that racism is wrong, while also giving them permission to enjoy the transgressive thrill of laughing at blackface (See also Tropic Thunder). Most important of all, set the skit in the past, so that people recognize that we are condemning a period of ugly racism in showbiz that is now safely behind us.

When is blackface unacceptable? Judging from the consensus response to Makode Linde’s “racist cake” performance, blackface is wrong when a black artist dons it, in the service of an anti-racist performance. Linde showed that blackface still has a sickening, visceral power, and that it can be used to reveal the ugliness of racism and white liberal voyeurism in the present day.

30 Rock proved to some that “blackface could be funny in 2012” only when the mostly white audience can be comforted that they themselves are not racists. Where the “ironic racism” of white Hollywood is concerned, truly nothing is beyond the pale.

In fact, another helping of Hollywood’s ironically racist cake is on its way.

Sacha Baron Kony

TAKE ONE

German woman flees partner who demanded way too much sex

BERLIN — A desperate woman in Munich fled onto a balcony and called police for protection after her insatiable companion for a one-night stand refused to let her leave his flat, police said Thursday.

The 43-year-old woman had met a man four years her senior in a bar in the southern German city on Monday and he took her back to his apartment for sex, a police spokesman said in a statement.

“There they had sexual intercourse several times,” the spokesman said.

“When the 47-year-old wanted even more, his partner said no.”

The woman then attempted to leave the apartment but the man prevented her from escaping and demanded she sleep with him again.

“Because the 43-year-old saw no other alternative, she complied with the man’s wishes another few times so she could finally leave the apartment,” the spokesman said.

“But when he continued to refuse and demanded even more sex from her, she fled to the balcony and alerted the police.”

The man “then tried to talk the dispatched officers into similar activity but was unsuccessful.”

He is now facing possible charges of sexual assault and illegal restraint.

(Original here.)

TAKE TWO

Woman Flees Man After Too Much Sex

We’ve all been there.

Agence France-Presse reports that a German woman in Munich allegedly had to flee to the police after a man demanded too much sex.

After several amicably agreed upon rolls in the hay, the woman reportedly tried to leave the man’s apartment. But he wouldn’t let her exit and instead allegedly insisted on more sex. That’s when the woman ran to the cops for help, according to authorities.

Perhaps the man in question was unaware of a study reported on by Forbes that found that, while men can, for the most part, never have too much sex, women can.

From Forbes:

“Vaginal tissues, if given too roistering or prolonged a pummeling, can sustain damage. In cases you’d just as soon not hear about, permanent damage.”

And the German woman might not be alone in her desire for a bit less sex.

Reuters reported on a study that found 12 percent of women aged 16-24 wanted sex less often. It’s not a perfect comparison though, since the German woman was 43.

(Original here.)

*It’s worth noting that the creepy stock photos accompanying these stories work better with my genderswapped narratives than they do in the original versions.

 

 

I have no idea if MoveOn.Org’s ”99% Spring” is a Democratic Party attempt to co-opt Occupy Wall Street, but three little words in this slick video sure sound familiar.