Spot the clown
George Takei, who enjoys fame and a certain degree of fortune for his portrayal of a character in the original Star Trek, was apparently one of many homosexuals eager to avenge the victory of same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court. Not content with winning, the victory must be ground into the faces of all who disagreed with the court’s decision. This anger-in-victory phenomenon is unusual, though it is certainly not unique to the gay left.
However, in his anger, Takei forgot his position in the hierarchy of victimology. He chose to attack Justice Clarence Thomas on racial grounds, not realizing that blackness trumps even the combo of homosexual and Asian (specifically Japanese) American. Now he has apologized, but he still misses the point. CNN reports:
"When asked by a reporter about the opinion, I was still seething, and I referred to him as a 'clown in blackface' to suggest that he had abdicated and abandoned his heritage," Takei said in a Facebook post. "This was not intended to be racist, but rather to evoke a history of racism in the theatrical arts. While I continue to disagree with Justice Thomas, the words I chose, said in the heat of anger, were not carefully considered."
Takei apparently took particular offense at these words of Justice Thomas:
"Human dignity cannot be taken away by the government," wrote Thomas, who is black. "Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved. Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them."
But Takei, a Japanese-American who is openly gay and was held in an internment camp during World War II, blasted Thomas's remarks in an op-ed published Wednesday on MSNBC.com entitled "George Takei to Clarence Thomas: Denying our rights denies our dignity."
"For many, (being interned) was indeed a great loss of self-worth and respect, a terrible blow to the pride of the many parents who sought only to protect their children from coming to harm," he said. "To say that the government does not bestow or grant dignity does not mean it cannot succeed in stripping it away through the imposition of unequal laws and deprivation of due process."
It was after writing this that he made the “clown in blackface” comment.
Takei thus places himself in the camp of those who allow government oppression to define their own self-worth, as opposed to Thomas, who sees dignity as a concept that arises from within. And Takei gives no sign of understanding what he has revealed here about his superficiality and lack of internal values.
And speaking of clowns, consider this juxtaposition, as conceptualized by Carolina Punk and executed by Big Fur Hat: