Is not rape.  Is not murder.  It's a white man using a racial slur in public.

Last week, comedian Michael Richards —— famous for his role as Kramer on the hit TV show Seinfeld —— went on a "racial epithet—laced tirade" after his stand up routine at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood was interrupted by two black hecklers in the audience.  The incident has been treated as a major news story by most of the nation's news outlets.  At Jerry Seinfeld's urging, Richards appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman last night via satellite to issue an apology for his behavior.  Despite this act of public contrition, Richards' behavior has been labeled a "career ruiner" by Hollywood insiders.

While I deplore the racist statements made by Richards, I think this incident (like the earlier incident involving Mel Gibson) is being blown completely out of proportion and reveals the twisted morality at the heart of the contemporary "multicultural" mindset.  For a multiculturalist, the worst crime of all is to be "insensitive" towards non—whites.  Merely uttering a "bad word" or expressing a negative opinion based on another person's sex, race, ethnicity, etc., is deemed a greater offense in the public mind than, for example, assault and battery, drug dealing, drug addiction, drunk driving, spousal abuse, rape, tax fraud, robbery, bribery, embezzlement, even murder —— all of which have been committed by athletes, entertainers, politicians, and other public figures.

Incredibly, the thought crime committed by Richards is considered by many people —— especially the liberal elites in the media and entertainment industries —— to be a worse offense than if he had actually caused harm to another person (so long as, in doing so, he was not motivated by any "invidious" animus, of course). 

A society that considers Michael Richards a worse person, based on last week's incident, than the scores of true criminals that litter the celebrity world is a society that has truly lost its sense of right and wrong.

Steven M. Warshawsky   11 21 06