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This week’s Iranican Live program is all about the PC-ness. Should you really censor yourself so you don’t offend people? Or is there something more, a greater good, to this? So I thought I’d chime in about this particular phenomenon.
Personally, you could say that I have drank the Kool-Aid of being PC (I hope the phrase “drank the Kool-Aid” is not offensive to cult members). I am so PC that I hate Thanksgiving because I think it is deeply offensive to the experience of Native Americans. I mean I can’t even watch an old episode of Speedy Gonzalez or eat an Eskimo Pie since they are too racist for me to enjoy. I think that Columbus Day should be abolished because Columbus was just a slave driver that didn’t actually find America. Every time I watch a Washington Redskins or Cleveland Indians game, I make a comment about how there mascot is messed up. I can’t watch the Unforgivable YouTube clips or the one about that Leprechaun in Alabama because they are too racist. I must be the only guy in the world who doesn’t like cheerleaders because the concept is demeaning to women. That is the same reason why I hated the show Deal or No Deal because it is sexist to have those girls who open the suitcases (even though one of them is Persian). When Iranian-Americans like my parents refer to Latinos as “Spanish”, I always remind them that a Spanish person is someone from Spain and Latinos are different. I will never buy Aunt Jemima pancake syrup and always hated Juan Valdez that Colombian coffee guy since they are just caricatures. It always pisses me off when anything is named after Southern Civil War Generals like Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson. I could go on all day, but i think you get the picture.
But seriously I am a pretty big fan of being PC because I think it is an attempt to rectify past and present wrongs. I guess as an Iranian-American, I can look into American history and culture with a bit of outsider perspective. Considering America’s long history of ethnic cleansing of Native Americans to slavery to institutionalized racism, I think it is better to error on the side of being too PC.
To be fair, America is not unique in the world of cruelty to people of color, but it was not so long ago that this country lacked enough PC. When the current President of the United States was born, his parents could not even be married in many states. We have made a lot of progress in improving these problems of the past, but there is still a lot of work to be done. So I don’t have a PC problem.
In other news, check out our Facebook Page, where we’ve posted up pictures of the “Rally to Restore Sanity,” where Iranican attended in full force and helped to organize the Iranian-Americans who wanted to show their solidarity with the message of the rally. ZEiman was there and speaks about it on this week’s radio show.
Iranian State TV Anchor Goes Crazy:
[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYRkyw_s8bo&feature=player_embedded]
The words that got Juan Williams fired:
[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm4hZaEqawk]
Jon Stewart’s Rally Speech:
[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JzGOiBXeD4]
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