Grey’s Anatomy – The “Side Story” That May be a Relevant Cultural Main Story
Those hip to the Grey’s Anatomy ‘faggot’ name-calling incident are probably aware of the back story, but for those who are not familiar: One of the African American lead actors allegedly called one of the homosexual actors a ‘faggot’ in an argument on set.
While many may see this as purely tabloid fodder and ‘non-news,’ I respectfully disagree. The cultural story I see and interpret as indicative of a possible cultural paradigm shift is this: This is one of the first major public incidents I’m aware of where in response to a homosexual being called a faggot in the workplace:
a) There appears to be at least a large portion of the population that sees this as an offense. In the past, this type of hateful slur may have been largely seen as benign, not worth addressing, or ‘deserved.’ And I suspect, many people who are still uncomfortable with homosexuals, transsexuals and bisexuals probably don’t see much harm in this current incident.
b) The ‘entertainment news’ issue is: Should this person be fired? - an unlikely and ill-conceived response in my estimation, but nevertheless that headline itself suggests that editorial decisions didn’t see the question as so beyond par as to be preposterous to assert.
c) An African American man, a man who has personally lived with racial prejudices and slurs his whole life, is being attacked for exhibiting similar hateful prejudice against another ‘group’ of persons. This is interesting to me. But more interesting and revealing of both his personal character and cultural morals is this: His chosen response has courageously been to publically state that he may have a prejudice that deserves treatment.
It is poetic that someone who has lived with the negative effects of hateful and stupid prejudices would be willing to concede he too may be exhibiting similar prejudices to others.
So let me weigh in that I hope he does see his prejudice and adapt his behavior. But let me also praise his courage. It is ironic that a victim of prejudice would be so prominently critiqued by the press for his act of prejudice. Hopefully the press will equally praise, what at first appearances, appears to be his very intelligent and well-considered response to recognize his thought processes and reconsider what may be better thinking going forward.
- – - -
Most Recent Artworks All the Artists’ Artworks Index my43things
My first reaction to the coverage of this story was annoyance, because of the fact that so much attention was drawn to what Isaiah Washington said at the Oscars. What he said, of course, was a recitation of what allegedly happened for explanation purposes. Excluding the fact that he was lying, which was incredibly moronic, the news reacted to it as if he had done the exact same thing again, drawing no distinction between the first incident and the second.
I agree with you that the public’s reaction to this incident illustrates a huge social transition. Isn’t it funny how sometimes the way a story unfolds becomes much more interesting than the story itself?
Correction: What he said at the Golden Globes, not the Oscars, duh.
i worked with a dark skin woman (a “black” woman, my father would call her). she’s a wise and kind person, yet she has a distaste for asians. her husband left her for a japanese woman half his age. she admits this contributes to her problem but does not fully accept that she could possibly be racially “in the wrong” with her negative feelings about asians in general. interestingly, she has spent more time around “whites” than “blacks” throughout her life, has dealt with much discrimination and racism, and the experiences have actually lead to her seemingly being negative about her own “race” situation, much like my feeling of “men being largely scum” negatively affects my feelings about my own masculinity.
But social intolerance is so old. It is a human trait called xenophobia that causes the majority of this. Fear of “differentness.” When we were primitive creatures, it was a good thing to fear those who were “not of your tribe.” Today, it is an antisocial handicap.
i cite Kenneth Johnson’s “V” and “Alien Nation” television series wherein he demonstrated very wisely that racism and discrimination are deep seeded traits; the central features of human behavior that bring us to the same place every time: exclusion.
In “V,” when facing the incoming “visitor” workers at a factory, a man commented to his “white” co-workers “Man, we had to fight you honkies for our jobs… now we have to compete with some damn aliens too?”
In “Alien Nation,” a “white” police officer, formerly a bigot prior to having a “black” man for a partner (and then an extra-terrestrial, after his partner was murdered), confronts a mixed race mob of town people who are loudly opposing an alien “newcomer” family’s presence in their town. They are trying to block a young “newcomer” girl’s access to the school bus. The police officer turns to a “black” man and says “Shame on you…” Someone in the mob of people admits they don’t want to hurt anyone, but “we just want them to go back to where they came from.” A simple minded refusal to confront differentness. They wanted the “newcomers” to go back to “Slag Town” in center city LA. The ghetto for the Tenctonese alien people. Just like we see with “white” town people who think the neighborhood is going to hell because “the mexicans are moving in.” They wouldn’t care if their sheltered little mental space wasn’t being confronted with differentness. Telling them to “go back to where they came from” is just the same as saying “I’ll tolerate them as long as I don’t have to see them and they stay in their place.”
In “V,” the alien “visitors” were split, politically, into two factions; one wished to conquer and consume all of Earth’s resources (water and food, including the humans) while the other faction, the “third column,” was trying to enact a “regime” change in their society.
In “Alien Nation,” the alien “newcomers” had come to Earth when their slave-masters’ ship crashed in California. They were former slaves, emancipated by their accidental arrival on Earth.
In both cases, the racism went both ways. You could hear a human, or a “newcomer” saying the same stereotypical cliches. “Describe him how, officer? They all look the same.”
One last forward-looking and somewhat OLD science fiction citation: James Cameron’s “Aliens.” In the business meeting with “The Company,” the protagonist is called to account for the loss of her ship and crew (from the former film, “Alien”). On the projection screen behind her, you can read the personnel files for each of the lost crew members. Notable is the category for “Sex.” It is indicated as “Natural Male” or “Natural Female.” Clearly there was a forward looking recognition of the variability in sexuality becoming a social norm.
Like satirists, science fiction authors often have an eye for the true human sociological attitudes that we still have yet to grow beyond and rise above. Nationality, race, gender, sexuality…
Until the xenophobia instinct is expunged, the human race is constantly at risk of self destruction. This threat of self-extermination has never been more real than in “the era of nuclear weapons.” Through bigotry, elitism, religious convictions and other narrow minded behaviors, the human race could literally wipe all life from the face of the planet with a few casual launches of dooms-day weaponry.
It is good to see that group social attitudes have shifted somewhat over the last decade, but we are still in our infant stages. “Political correctness” and “group mind behavior” make us appear more tolerant, but the individuals still lack true tolerance on a large scale. They can act and perform for the public eye (haven’t politicians made this an art form greater than the stage and film actors?), and, maybe, these individuals can learn to change via public exposure and embarrassment… but the attitudes of individuals still reveal, daily, the delay in any real accomplishments for global social tolerance.
i haven’t even initiated the concept of “neurodiversity” in this comment… the race war has some age to it, gender is getting more fluid… but the final frontier is to see those of us who “seem like they SHOULD be like us” … but are not… it hasn’t even begun.