Can Everybody Stop Being So Damn Politically Correct?

My son told me that one of his friends got in trouble at school, and he cannot believe that the other person did not get in trouble too.  So my son is about 4’9” and weighs about 80 pounds.  He tells me that is average.  I believe I was much smaller at that age, but nowadays kids are way bigger.  So his friend has to be about four inches shorter and probably weighs 50 pounds soaking wet.  But he is so tiny, you just want to sneak him in your pocket and take him home.  Actually you might just take him back when he opens his mouth because he doesn’t take flak from ANYONE.

Anyway some other kid called him ‘Scrawny’.  As someone who was constantly called that name growing up, I totally understand how he felt.  And even though I only appreciated being a skinny kid after I got older, that is neither here nor there.  When you are in your thirties and are finally gaining weight, you can appreciate a high metabolic rate.  However, it doesn’t matter how small or how big one starts out, unless something is medically wrong or the individual obsessively works at keeping the weight down, EVERYBODY gains weight with age.

So the little, scrawny kid tells the other kid. “You are fat.  You are so fat that you can be a contestant on The Biggest Loser!”  He gets recess detention.  The other kid gets NOTHING!  When did it become a federal offense to call someone fat, but it is nothing to call someone else skinny?  And what kind of nonsense is this?  It is okay for one child to insult another child, but the other child cannot retaliate because he might go too far?  I imagine if a black child calls a white child ‘hunky’ or whatever slur is used in 2014, and the white child retaliates by calling him the n-word, he gets into trouble.  Look, zero tolerance should be just that: ZERO!!

The other day at the Golden Globes, Gabourey Sidibe was ridiculed for the dress that she wore.  When I was much skinnier, I NEVER wore fitted clothes.  Personally, I find fitted clothes too revealing.  I don’t like wearing tights either.  One may as well go out naked.  Now that I’m a little thicker around the waist, you won’t catch me wearing certain outfits because I’m self-conscious of my new muffin-tops.  Yes, they are smaller than the average muffin-tops, but they’re muffin-tops nonetheless.  I’m conscious of my tires.  Yes, they are bike tires, but I’m still very much aware of their existence.  So who the hell told Precious it was okay to go out in public, on the red carpet at that, in a form fitting dress when she is almost 500 pounds?

I know it’s no longer politically correct to make fun at fat people, but come on!  Look, I have fat friends (equivalent of white closeted racists saying that they have black friends); and if I had a morbidly obese friend, and she went out in public like that, and I didn’t say anything, then I just admitted to setting her up.  That girl looked a hot mess, and the fact that nobody was allowed to laugh is ridiculous.  Give me a break!  I’d laugh at me too if I looked like that at the Golden Globes.

Lately, Sherri Shepherd has been in the news for being anti-gay.  To make a long story short, she was raised in the Jehovah’s Witness ‘organization’.  In a recent interview, she said something about being raised with the impression that homosexuals are going to hell, and if someone tells her that he is gay, she will still love him, but she doesn’t believe that he was born that way.  Of course, in a few days, she had to apologize for ‘causing any hurt to anyone’.  You know when you get an apology like that, it is not really an apology.  It is just something to keep everyone off your back. 

Let me say this:  Sherri Shepherd is not someone anyone goes to for wisdom.  I like Sherri.  She is funny, and she is sweet; but she is no Einstein.  So for people to be ‘all hurt and upset’ because she said what she said is really disingenuous.  I used to watch The View, so I can talk.  I finally stopped watching it for good when Joy left.  Joy is the bomb.  She is funny; she is practical.  I just love her.  Most times she quips something, I’m saying the same thing at home.  How could I not love her?

Of course I don’t like Elizabeth.  Nobody can convince me that she believes the manure that she spews.  And if she does, then she is a bigger idiot than I gave her credit for.  The only time I appreciated Elizabeth was when she and Rosie had that awkward blowup.  That was some good TV.  I’m indifferent towards Barbara.  She is annoying, but if I was 100 years old and still relevant, I probably would be too. 

Then there is Whoopi!  Her face has this permanent look that states, “I USED TO BE BIG!  EVERY GOOD DIRECTOR HAD MY NUMBER ON SPEED DIAL! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?”

Sherri is allowed to have an opinion in this country.  Sherri is allowed to have a stupid opinion in this country.  Why does Sherri have to apologize for believing what she believes?  Why does Sherri have to apologize for believing what she was brainwashed into believing?  All of a sudden, nobody can say anything negative about homosexuals.  Don’t get me wrong!  I’m very much pro-gay.  I believe that we should all be allowed to live our authentic lives.  I don’t believe the nonsense about hating the sin and loving the person because, and let me make this clear, I do not believe that anybody’s life is a sin.  And I do not call it a lifestyle.  I’m not on this earth to tell somebody that who he is, his being, his very existence, is wrong.   But at the same time, I’m all for equal rights and justice.  I know it sounds cliché, but it is the truth.

In 2007, when pressure from black groups caused Don Imus to be fired, I thought it was ridiculous.  I’m making another long story short because if you don’t know about this scandal, then you’ll just have to Google it.  But in a nutshell, on his morning show, Don Imus was commenting about the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, and he said that players from the Rutgers University women's basketball team were “rough”.  Apparently some of them had tattoos.  Then his executive producer said that they were "hardcore hos" to which Imus added "nappy-headed hos". 

Before his ridiculous comments, not too many people in the black community knew who Don Imus was.  Not too many people outside of the redneck community knew who Don Imus was, I’m sure.  Not too many people of average, above average or high intelligence care who Don Imus was or what he had to say.  During the controversy, I was fortunate to see those girls and let me tell you, save for one or two of them, those chicks looked real rough, and yes, a bunch of them had nappy hair.  Now to call them hos, I definitely draw the line right there because I don’t know anything about their sexuality.  And even if I did, who would I be to judge their hoish ways.  And for grown men like Don Imus and his producer to call these young ladies hos is not only unprofessional and misogynistic, but disrespectful.

But for him to lose his job for that is ridiculous.  He was making so much money that for the time that he was off the air, he was not suffering.  And in eight months he was back on air after sealing another multi-million dollar contract.  In those eight months, those girls, the protestors and the media could have accomplished so much more if they were focusing on the real problems plaguing this country!

There are 300 million people in this country.  There are 7 billion people in this world.  It is IMPOSSIBLE for all of us to agree on what we want for lunch on any given day much less agree on values.  Some people are very uptight and sensitive about EVERYTHING, then there are people like me on the opposite end of the spectrum who think that everything is fair game.  A person doesn’t have to be crass about it, but there is nothing wrong about chuckling at something that a person finds funny.  And there is nothing wrong with having completely different opinions and values about issues.

And that my friends, is why it’s all perspectively speaking.