Have you posted enough black squares?

I have not written for a while, but for a change, this time it is not because I have been too busy or been feeling lazy. I just really wanted to express what I thought about the current situation in the world, without coming across as a racist. Which I suspect, is virtually impossible in the current climate. 

 

Yet, when something bothers you, and your main channel for expressing your thoughts is your personal blog…you cannot simply bury it, and talk about something else. It doesn’t work. 

 

So I know it will not be easy, but I am going to try.

 

I was watching an old interview of Morgan Freeman. I always liked Morgan Freeman. What I would like to point out here is that I am not proudly claiming that I like Morgan Freeman because he is black. 

 

Because right now, in the way the media is, everything turned black all of a sudden. Every advert has a black person in it. Everyone who is anyone is urgently hugging a black friend and taking a photo of it. Every single celebrity is virtue-signaling. What a great expression. Every magazine seems to be shouting: Look! Look! We have put black people on the cover! Aren’t we so Woke! Please don’t dislike us, please keep following us!

 

Is so fake. It is so forced. It is done under such aggressive, relentless pressure. 

 

It makes me feel very uncomfortable, and the fact that I cannot even explain why, makes me even more uncomfortable. I feel that this forceful feeding the world with the anti-racist stuff is going to backfire, badly. I feel it is probably creating a deeper divide based on skin colour. 

 

Which brings me back to Morgan Freeman. I like Morgan Freeman not because he is black, or not. I like him because he is a good actor. I honestly don’t care what colour he is. And, as this interview demonstrates, he thinks the same way about race issues. 

 

How do we illuminate racism? He asks. Stop talking about it.

 

In this interview, the guy asked him how he felt about the Black History month.  Morgan Freeman replied that he thought it was ridiculous. Black history is American history, he says. You want to relegate my history to one month?

 

Do you have a white history month? He asked the interviewer. No, the guy replied. I am actually Jewish! 

 

Fine, Morgan said. Do you have a Jewish history month?

 

No, says the guy. We don’t. 

 

       -Do you want one? 

-      No. I don’t.

-      I don’t either.

 

Now, I appreciate that I don’t know enough about America. I never lived there. I of course know they had serious racism issues in the past, and I am sure some of it is still present. But I also suspect it is a lot better these days. Please watch this video, where people who do know, talk about it. In a much better way than I can. 

 

I also loved this Denzel Washington’s interview about Fences. The way he said things are better. “You and I are sitting in Four Seasons. Things are better.“ And the way he said…you can’t legislate love. You can change laws, but you can’t legislate people into loving you. 

 

And that’s just exactly what I feel is happening right now, as I watch all this sudden over the top focus on black people on social media. The more obviously they do it, the less believable it becomes. I don’t believe you are fighting for racial equality if you apologize for a movie filmed years ago, loudly support some idiots defacing a statue, or simply post a photo of a black model. I think you are just doing what you are pressured to do, or feel you would, in some way, benefit from doing. And those who are racist are not going to change because you are plastering more and more photos of black faces on social media. 

 

Now, I don’t have an answer how to get rid of racism entirely, because I actually believe humans will always dislike each other for one reason or another- whether it is religion, skin colour, economic status, white privilege…you name it. Some people will always find a reason to hate. My Jewish friend is convinced Jews are hated more than anyone else. What about Muslims? You think they don’t suffer from racism these days? I would be curious to see a worldwide anonymous poll on who is most hated right now. I am sure the data collected from such research would be quite fascinating. 

 

Of course I feel appalled that anyone- no matter what colour - could have died like Floyd did. It is awful.  However, I can’t help but notice that this whole huge uncontrollable wave of protests is slowly turning into something disturbing and worrying. 

 

The fact that the media who, as my other favorite celebrity, Tim Minchin pointed out, has a “penchant for hysteria”, has gone absolutely insane with the accusations of TV shows, books and people who may not have posted quite enough supporting images of BLM, is crazy. 

 

Emma Watson got criticized for not posting enough about black lives. 

And wait, also for making some esthetic changes to the black square. Not for posting something racist. Not for posting nothing against racism. Nope. She was chastised for not posting enough, and not doing it in the correct way. 

 

Is that normal? Is that the way to fight racism?

 

Friends didn’t have enough diversity in it? What the actual fuck. 

 

Which TV show will be next, I wonder. Desperate Housewives I seem to recall, is very white. What about Modern Family? Sex and The City? How far will we go? Oh and by the way, SATC has a whole storyline about reverse racism in it, where Samantha was not allowed to date a black guy because his sister didn’t approve. Based on her skin colour. I am surprised that episode hasn’t been erased from the series yet. 

 

You must be realizing that the world is turning into a crazy circus. Surely, some of you must feel that when the Vogue editor apologizes for not giving enough opportunities to black editors in the past, she is just saying it because she feels she has to be quick and say something before getting attacked, or sacked? 

 

How much of what people are in a hurry to announce now is based on a genuine desire to fight injustice? How much is done because people feel they have no other choice but put some picture on Instagram? Does that not bother you? Perhaps because I grew up in a Soviet Union, a country which was built on severe censorship, forcing people to say only what they were allowed and dictated to say, this situation really worries me? I wanted all my life to escape the Soviet structure and move to live in a free speech Western country, where I expected people to be able to express their opinions- popular or not. This, now, is not really the case. 

 

It is outrageous that people should be worried that they would be labeled racist and lose their jobs if they question whether Floyd should have been turned into a martyr he got turned into, and whether he really was such a "gentle giant".  

And the fact that we live in the society where you feel you might get in serious trouble for asking questions like that is by itself, I think, is a huge problem. I do not believe that by putting everyone under all that social media pressure you can get rid of racism. You are only going to make racists hide better, but hate deeper. More violence will come, and will be met with even more violence. Where does this stop?

 

And humor…Dear god, what is happening to our sense of humor? It is being smothered by the political correctness. I posted a Chris Rock video on Facebook. I knew I would be judged for it. But it was hilarious. Moreover, I think Chris Rock was being very clever in that video, shining light on some serious issues but in a humorous, smart way. But nope. Not one, and I repeat not one person liked it. 

 

Now, lets just be honest here. Did people not comment and not like it because they didn’t think it was funny? Were they truly appalled by it? Or did they not like it because they were afraid to be judged and attacked should they dare to laugh right now, when the world is so busy going absolutely crazy? 

 

Watching Faithless concert the other night on TV, I reminded myself what normal should look like. That band, with a cool black singer, with talented white and black people working and making great music together, that’s how things should be. Natural. Not forced. And mostly, they actually are. Lets not forget that in this mass hysteria.  Meghan Markle became a princess of England. Obama became a president. Of the United States. We don’t live in 1950s. And we don’t have to humiliate and abuse all policemen, including the ones in England, burn books, or be told what to post , what to watch or what to say to prove we are not racist.