“Opie And Anthony” Host Goes On Racist Tirade On Twitter After Alleged Attack

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No he probably hasn't met enough black people. But you're right, isolating him will make it all better.

He interacted with plenty of black people, even Burr tried to explain systemic racism to him and he was too much of a dolt to understand. But you're right. We shouldn't challenge racists and we should definitely let them keep their soapboxes.
 

pj

Banned
He interacted with plenty of black people, even Burr tried to explain systemic racism to him and he was too much of a dolt to understand. But you're right. We shouldn't challenge racists and we should definitely let them keep their soapboxes.

He was challenged more on the opie and Anthony show than he will be on the Anthony cumia show. Racism has been drilled into his head since childhood. It's not an excuse for it but it's the primary reason.

Who said we shouldn't challenge racists? The entire reason I want them to be able to express their opinions publicly is so that they can be challenged.
 
He was challenged more on the opie and Anthony show than he will be on the Anthony cumia show. Racism has been drilled into his head since childhood. It's not an excuse for it but it's the primary reason.

Who said we shouldn't challenge racists? The entire reason I want them to be able to express their opinions publicly is so that they can be challenged.

he was challenged for years and shown too stupid to un-learn his ignorant shit.


To the bushes, no tears.
 
According to Opie, it wasn't even the racial aspects of the tweets that got him in trouble with Sirius, but the talk of violence. So they don't really seem to care if he rants like he did on the show about minorities as long as the violence isn't part of it.

Personally, I think Sirius made a big mistake and that if they just waited a couple of days, the outrage mob would have moved on pretty quickly.

It is a shame that he is part of such a violent culture. There is a real problem with that in the white community.

Are you saying not reporting a crime means it didn't really happen? Would you say that to a rape victim?

He didn't report it because it wasn't that bad. He never said it was vicious.

Does Opie get a cotton swab up his ass if he files a police report?
 

pj

Banned
he was challenged for years and shown too stupid to un-learn his ignorant shit.


To the bushes, no tears.

Acting like its that easy to stop being racist is like racists acting like black people should get over hundreds of years of repression. People who have been racist for 50+ years can't just stop it.

Sometimes he would concede a point when it was made well. I agree that he is too resistant to change, but he's not the only person involved. Id like to think some listener minds were changed when racial discussions happened. Those will be less frequent now, if they ever occur.
 

Timedog

good credit (by proxy)
Should an employee be able to get on Twitter and tweet a bunch of posts telling customers to stop to not buy the companies products because the company rips people off, without getting fired? At what point is it okay to fire an employee for making the company look really bad?
 
It would be if it wasn't true. Get a few beers into a white person over 50 and ask them about black people.

The most foolish thing to do is to believe that Anthony is an anomaly.

the two things you compared are radically different....like insanely. Makes sense that you're so determined to defend Cumia.
 

pj

Banned
Should an employee be able to get on Twitter and tweet a bunch of posts telling customers to stop to not buy the companies products because the company rips people off, without getting fired? At what point is it okay to fire an employee for making the company look really bad?

O&a have said essentially to literally the same thing on air for years. Trashing sponsors, trashing the company. The company really doesnt care as long as the truck drivers keep tuning in. This firing was short sighted and reactionary. If they had not fired him nobody would still be talking about this.
 

Timedog

good credit (by proxy)
O&a have said essentially to literally the same thing on air for years. Trashing sponsors, trashing the company. The company really doesnt care as long as the truck drivers keep tuning in. This firing was short sighted and reactionary. If they had not fired him nobody would still be talking about this.

This in no way answers my question. Try again.
 

jmood88

Member
Yeah, because when you're making up a story about someone attacking you, the first thing you do is run to Twitter and post their picture and open up the potential of someone seeking out their side.

I know the first thing I wouldn't do if I just got attacked by some savages who are out to hunt my race down is go on twitter to whine about it without filing a police report.

How is it outrageous? You can see in the picture she's wagging her finger at him. She hit him a few times for taking her picture. What is far fetched and what is his incentive to lie?

The severity of his response has nothing to do with the severity of the incident. He would drop the n bomb if a black guy took too long in a crosswalk while he was trying to make a right turn. No one says he isn't a loud mouth racist.

Because the attack, and his response, makes no sense. He's able to take a picture of a woman who has some random guys jump in and attack and he believes that the streets of New York are filled with savages who are out to kill him and other white people, yet the first, and only, thing he does is say some racist nonsense on twitter. That doesn't add up.
 

royalan

Member
Acting like its that easy to stop being racist is like racists acting like black people should get over hundreds of years of repression. People who have been racist for 50+ years can't just stop it.

Sometimes he would concede a point when it was made well. I agree that he is too resistant to change, but he's not the only person involved. Id like to think some listener minds were changed when racial discussions happened. Those will be less frequent now, if they ever occur.

His struggle is not my problem.

I think it's all well and good to have discussion about race on a meta level. A kind of "and the moral of this story is..." sort of way. But, I am frankly sick and tired, in 2014, of people thinking "we should discuss this as a society" is an acceptable 'Get out of repercussions for racism free' card. I'm sick of people asking me to "try and understand" why Anthony feels the way he does about black people. How he feels about black people is socially unacceptable. Period. Full stop. And he's more the welcome to continue feeling the way he does...but he does not get to escape the social consequences of being a racist piece of refried shit.

It's 2014. Racism is no longer something you get to claim ignorance on. At this point, you should know better. And if you don't...be prepared to learn when you find yourself made into a pariah.
 

Kraftwerk

Member
Acting like its that easy to stop being racist is like racists acting like black people should get over hundreds of years of repression. People who have been racist for 50+ years can't just stop it.

.


raymond-massey-PSA.jpg


*cue 1950's PSA music*

PSA Guy: Hi billy, what seems to be the problem?

Billy : Well, why are people racist?

PSA Guy: Well Billy, it's two simple reason;

(A) They are idiots

(B) They are uneducated

Billy : Well, can't we educate them? 'tilts head'

PSA Guy: Billy, we try all the time. A lot of the time they refuse to change, and say idiotic things such as "it's in them" and "it's hard to change old habits".

Billy: Couldn't that be true though? 'scratches head'

PSA Guy: Well Billy, the same folk who say it's hard to change old habits have changed a lot over the years. They have developed new tastes, learned new things, experienced so many new situations. At the same time they have let go of many things in the past. But for some fucking reason they are still a racist, and that's the one thing that is "hard to break".

Billy : I see, so fuck em? 'shrug'

PSA : Exactly Billy. T's 2014, they either get with the times or fade into oblivion. Fuck em! Now go play with Tommy next door.
 

royalan

Member
Acting like its that easy to stop being racist is like racists acting like black people should get over hundreds of years of repression. People who have been racist for 50+ years can't just stop it.

Sometimes he would concede a point when it was made well. I agree that he is too resistant to change, but he's not the only person involved. Id like to think some listener minds were changed when racial discussions happened. Those will be less frequent now, if they ever occur.

His struggle is not my problem.

I think it's all well and good to have discussion about race on a meta level. A kind of "and the moral of this story is..." sort of way. But, I am frankly sick and tired, in 2014, of people thinking "we should discuss this as a society" is an acceptable 'Get out of repercussions for racism free' card. I'm sick of people asking me to "try and understand" why Anthony feels the way he does about black people. How he feels about black people is socially unacceptable. Period. Full stop. And he's more than welcome to continue feeling the way he does...but he does not get to escape the social consequences of being a racist piece of refried shit.

It's 2014. Racism is no longer something you get to claim ignorance on. At this point, you should know better. And if you don't...be prepared to learn when you find yourself made into a pariah.

i think keeping a degenerate racist asshole on was short sighted personally.

Not to mention, I have asked multiple times in this thread for someone to post an example of Anthony saying something worse on the show. I know there are dozens upon dozens of clips of the show on youtube...and yet nobody has done so.

I don't think he has said anything worse on the show. Everything I've heard from the show has Anthony inferring something obviously racist and violent, but not saying it outright in the same way he did in thoae tweets. Frankly, I don't think he ever said anything worse on the show...and if he did, people have yet to prove it.
 
Cumia has had his hand held through some racial discussions and didn't learn...asshole won't even apologize...and we're supposed to think this grown ass 50 something year old just needs some more discussion?

He's a lost cause.
 
Like, uh...what? The attempts to make him irrelevant has only made him more relevant than ever. (And not because of any apologies.)

No shit they can fire him for whatever reason. No rational person would say they had no right to fire him.

My point is that his firing accomplished nothing except the internet feeling good about itself and Anthony getting more followers. He can repeat his exact same twitter rant tomorrow, the public will hate it and nothing will happen because he's now self employed. The only difference is that MORE people will see it because he's gained twitter followers since it happened.

Where are these "consequences"?

Edit: And it's not your job or twitter's job to police what I hear on the radio. I'm a big boy and I can handle someone saying racist crap.
I'm gonna quote what I wrote several pages back in this thread, as it has pertinence to this idea of consequences:

I don't quite understand your thought process here. So what you're saying is that if we ignore things that we don't like, they will go away on their own? Cause that's not how the world works. This is not like him saying that he doesn't like chocolate cake or something mundane. Racism (or sexism or homophobia, etc., you get the idea) is something that needs to be stamped out of decent society. Period. The only way to do that is to shine a bright light on it whenever it rears its ugly head, point out why it's wrong (in the hopes that those who are ignorant to it will be enlightened) and squash it out. If I simply ignore the racist, that will not mean that he will stop being racist. He will continue to be racist to others and they will suffer if I didn't do anything to show more people that he is racist when I had the opportunity to do so. That's why the stories with the gay couples going to a cake shop and suing them/crucifying them in the media for not doing it on grounds of their faith are so important. Other people can't know the cake makers are bigots if the people who found out they were bigots just ignored them and didn't do something about it (off-topic, but it's also why it's so imperative that a rape victim comes forth and reports the perpetrator; so he/she doesn't do it again to another victim).
While Anthony will continue to be a racist elsewhere, the hope is that others who are borderline racists, for lack of a better term, will think twice. We can't control everyone, not in a society that prides itself on having freedom. But we can institute change in ways that, over time, will benefit us all, especially those less fortunate.

To me the best option is to talk it out. Like we are doing about this situation. Exposure to other races also helps so you can see they're not the devil. Trying to ruin peoples lives is not the solution.

I don't think I'm racist. I dont find myself getting upset with black people or anyone else really.
This would only work if he was apologetic, willing to see the error of his ways and wanted to try to change. If he did all of this, then his being fired would seem like overkill. Sirius would've likely suspended him or given him some other light punishment and let him stay on.

He did not.

In fact, he did the OPPOSITE of this and doubled down. He deserves no sympathy. He put himself in this situation and he has to deal with the consequences.

No he probably hasn't met enough black people. But you're right, isolating him will make it all better.
I can't see how you could possibly think this is the case. He isn't in some backwater of a town somewhere in the middle of the country. He's a well known radio personality, who has been doing this for almost TWENTY YEARS now, and he was raised in Long Island, NY! I highly, HIGHLY doubt that he had little to no interaction with minorities over the course of his fifty years.

And even if that were true (which, again, I highly doubt) he has been in the entertainment industry for twenty years. He should be way more savvy than this. He's seen (and I'm sure made fun of) so many stars much more popular and bigger than him say and do things that are considerably less inflammatory than what he did. And they get crucified. He should've thought long and hard before he pressed enter after typing out those tweets. There is just no excuse for what he did.

Acting like its that easy to stop being racist is like racists acting like black people should get over hundreds of years of repression. People who have been racist for 50+ years can't just stop it.

Sometimes he would concede a point when it was made well. I agree that he is too resistant to change, but he's not the only person involved. Id like to think some listener minds were changed when racial discussions happened. Those will be less frequent now, if they ever occur.
Yes, we should have a dialogue about race in this country. But we need to stop having this thought that to have a discussion about anything you need two diametrically opposed "viewpoints" for equality's sake, or to seem less partisan. On some issues in which there is no correct path forward, and not an obvious, easy destination (like the peace talks in the middle east) I can understand having two different opinions arguing it out. But something like racism and sexism and homophobia, it's a pretty clear cut case of right and wrong. There is no need for me to listen to a racist's opinion in order to know that I shouldn't be racist. I don't need to listen to someone say that climate change isn't real, when the evidence is overwhelming in the opposite direction. At that point, I'm only giving an obviously wrong viewpoint exposure, when I should be doing the opposite.

So I don't want to give a racist a soapbox to stand on and spew his hate. Of course, so long as he isn't doing anything illegal, we can't force Anthony to not do his own show online. But we have the power to stop these racist people from getting a nationally aired show over radio/television. While that's not winning the war, at least one battle is done.
 

jred2k

Member
Not to mention, I have asked multiple times in this thread for someone to post an example of Anthony saying something worse on the show. I know there are dozens upon dozens of clips of the show on youtube...and yet nobody has done so.

I don't think he has said anything worse on the show. Everything I've heard from the show has Anthony inferring something obviously racist and violent, but not saying it outright in the same way he did in thoae tweets. Frankly, I don't think he ever said anything worse on the show...and if he did, people have yet to prove it.

Anthony on race in the u.s.: http://youtu.be/ZCEIpZ1y_g4


That's a pretty good summary of Anthony's feelings on race.
 
I've always thought Anthony was a gigantic douche, he's not funny, he's not even smart in any sense of the word (yet makes money and has followers...must be nice). He comes off as the typical racist idiot unaware of how dumb he sounds when he opens his mouth.

Then we have people both online at large and in the thread and on the internet at large who still don't understand what the first amendment actually entails; like damn it people I know you all finished high school. C'mon!
 
Anthony on race in the u.s.: http://youtu.be/ZCEIpZ1y_g4


That's a pretty good summary of Anthony's feelings on race.


Sadly Ive heard his exact same opinion from the mouths of multiple white people I personally know, it makes me cringe. Its a common opinion you'll also find online on far right sites as well.
Listening to his rant didn't shock me one bit, to be honest Ive heard many of the racist stuff he said come out of the mouths of my Latino friends..

I actually work with a handful of Vietnamese guys who too also act just like this.
These guys are immigrants and very clueless with much of America and all day long will ask what slang means and such and, I guess being their "Culture" interpreter, they ask me, the white guy.."Why are black people so *insert stereotype*"...but to be honest the question they ask most, repeatedly, is "Why are they so violent"
All I can say is "I dont know"...wish I could do more but their language skills make it hard enough to have small talk (I use alot of pantomime and short direct sentence which I talk slow)
I feel bad this is the interpretation they get and figure its shaped by where they live (Camden NJ) and what they see on TV or here in music.
 
It's totally within a company's right to do what they want, but things like this suggest quite a dim future for entertainment in the long-term. Won't be long before we live in a world of such stifling hypersensitivity that people are scared to ever push a creative-boundary again.
I'm curious what creative boundaries there are that now can't be pushed without using, say, the n-word. But I can see how that would be stifling if that was all one had in one's repertoire. And if we're going to take it that far, I don't see any consideration for the extreme argument in the opposite direction, either, where people are told to "grow a thicker skin" as a thinly-veiled justification for hatred, bullying, or violence-mongering that is masqueraded as a joke.
 
Well, this story seemed horribly misreported by a colleague of mine. She told me that a radio host got assaulted on the street, that he called the act "savage" and that people were getting their panties in a bunch for the use of the word when the context involved a black lady. I thought it was a little silly and moved on, as Opie and Anthony was something I had never heard of in my life.

Now I see this thread and it's quite eye-opening. Not only was he channelling some hardcore racism, the fact that he was assaulted is even under question? Not that the latter would change much though. If he was indeed assaulted, that would merely reflect poorly on the individuals involved, and doesn't excuse the tweets. He sounds like a massive arse and the fall-out of this is his own creation.
 

besada

Banned
It would be if it wasn't true. Get a few beers into a white person over 50 and ask them about black people.

The most foolish thing to do is to believe that Anthony is an anomaly.

Speaking as an older person, who knows many older people, I'd like to inform you that you are full of shit. The world is full of older people who aren't racists. And being old isn't an excuse to BE racist. There are certainly plenty of old racists, but neither their age, nor the time they came from, nor where they were born excuses their racism. To do so is to spit in the face of the millions of us that were born amongst racists and eschewed that abysmal behavior.
 
When a lot of people use the term "free speech", they aren't explicitly referring to the first amendment. More as a comprehensive idea or principle that everyone should actively aspire to.

No one's saying the company shouldn't be allowed to fire him, people are saying the company should realize the lack of propriety (and conviction) from the detractors and not give them the time of day - for the company's own benefit and most everyone else's. Cave in once, and a precedent will be set for outrage to follow even the most negligible offense. (On a radio station featuring SHOCK JOCKS, no less.)

It's totally within a company's right to do what they want, but things like this suggest quite a dim future for entertainment in the long-term. Won't be long before we live in a world of such stifling hypersensitivity that people are scared to ever push a creative-boundary again.

He said he wanted to shoot and smash the face in of an animal savage monster. That's not creativity, and it is not hypersensitivity to find the remarks absolutely abhorrent.
 

pj

Banned
Speaking as an older person, who knows many older people, I'd like to inform you that you are full of shit. The world is full of older people who aren't racists. And being old isn't an excuse to BE racist. There are certainly plenty of old racists, but neither their age, nor the time they came from, nor where they were born excuses their racism. To do so is to spit in the face of the millions of us that were born amongst racists and eschewed that abysmal behavior.

I said in another post it's not an excuse but a reason. Luckily my father isn't a racist and the only talk we ever had on the subject was when I was 5 and asked how black people are different and he said "just skin color". His father was extremely racist and a lot of my relatives on his side of the family remain so. I know that people can move past it, but I'm also aware that a lot of people are unable, or more likely, unwilling to.

You're right that I'm unfairly stereotyping old white people as racist, but it's hard for me not to when the majority I've met in my life are. I meant no offense to the non-dickhead old people in the world.


Anyway, I'm going to stop posting and keeping this thread on life support. I don't think society is going to collapse because Anthony got fired, but I maintain that it is not a win for the war on racism. He may not be on (national) satellite radio anymore, but he's still on twitter, still a regular on Fox News, and will soon have his own (worldwide) internet talk show. His soapbox has not been taken away, and at best maybe his next vacation will be a little less extravagant.
 
Anthony on race in the u.s.: http://youtu.be/ZCEIpZ1y_g4


That's a pretty good summary of Anthony's feelings on race.

Holy fucking shit. He literally sounds like he belongs to the Golden Dawn party or Jobbik. "Bedbugs by foreigners?"

New respect for Bill Burr.

Wow, Bill was literally walking Anthony through his balance of power arguement but he couldn't keep up. He's a genuine fucking idiot that somehow found a following.

That is Anthony in a nutshell. Really his race comments aren't even the most offensive things he's done.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Why is it worse to have a public stupid opinion than a private one? If every racist lost their job this country would have like 40% unemployment

No, the narrow world view is that this twitter/blogosphere victory means anything. Very few people really cared about this event and even fewer will remember it.

The last thing in the world I want is for the media and internet to be an echo chamber of opinions like mine. Some of the deepest thinking I've done on political subjects is when anthony says some republican line and I try to formulate a rebuttal that I'd give if I were able to respond (I don't listen to the show live, so my excellent thoughts can't make it on air :-( ). His racial stuff was less interesting because a lot of it was completely irrational, but sometimes he would ask reasonable sounding questions with racial undertones and I'd end up doing research to see why the answer wasn't his implied "because black people are awful"

What you don't realize is that an employer doesn't have to employee an open racist. If they dem it worse for their company to employee him or her, then they can can them.

And remember people can disagree with you without being a racist. It says alot about you that you are caping up for a misogynistic racist like this.


People who feel like they accomplished something by his firing remind me of jack black in King Kong. They think they have control of the situation when in reality they just turned King Kong loose. The shackles are off. And King Kong isn't going to die in the end in this story. This was a huge favor for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPjLQOfvsaQ

Then why is he going around talking about how he was wronged? Shouldn't he only be thanking Sirus for firing him for saying these things?

Thinking about this more, if anyone has a narrow world view it is you. I am white and have lived in towns with populations of: <1000, 10,000, 250,000, 8,300,000. I have witnessed (not been a victim of) racism in all of them.

Unless you are white, you do not know what white people say behind closed doors. I've heard the n-word said racistly more than a lot of black people. From friends and family of every age group, including most depressingly my own.

If you think the solution to racism is to shush up the loudest racists, you are sorely mistaken. Anthony's firing was in no way a victory against racism.

There's a lot of white privilege going on here again. I'm sorry bro, but seriously! So now being a racist on radio and on Twitter should be rewarded with a job that the the employer can't remove him from?

As a minority I can't promise you it was a small victory against racism. You don't let racism sit and fester. You remove it like a virus. Yes I know it will still exist in the country, but if he wants to talk this way with no regard for his sponsors or employer then the best thing for him is to start his own company. Which will be harder than working for Sirus.
 

Alienous

Member
There's a lot of white privilege going on here again. I'm sorry bro, but seriously! So now being a racist on radio and on Twitter should be rewarded with a job that the the employer can't remove him from?

As a minority I can't promise you it was a small victory against racism. You don't let racism sit and fester. You remove it like a virus. Yes I know it will still exist in the country, but if he wants to talk this way with no regard for his sponsors or employer then the best thing for him is to start his own company. Which will be harder than working for Sirus.

You can't just remove racism "like a virus". It isn't based on anything rational. Firing a guy because of racist comments is merely sweeping the problem under the carpet. "You said something we think is stupid. You don't get to speak". It doesn't reduce it, it just removes it from view. And the only effect of that is each racist outburst becoming more poignant. Losing your job doesn't make you more tolerant of people. The racism just festers, and spreads to that persons children in an unending cycle.

Although it is ripe for ridicule and punishment, that shouldn't the end of any discourse. Again I'll mention religion, because there are a lot of parallels. People who have their religion mocked, or who are insulted for being religious, don't tend to abandon their religion. "You're stupid, the Earth isn't 6000 years old" doesn't help. A constructive discourse has to occur. "Why do you think this?", "This study disproves your theory" etc. Racism is baseless, and when you discuss it point by point people who can have their minds changed, will.

Progress can only be reached that way.
 

ISOM

Member
You can't just remove racism "like a virus". It isn't based on anything rational. Firing a guy because of racist comments is merely sweeping the problem under the carpet. "You said something we think is stupid. You don't get to speak". It doesn't reduce it, it just removes it from view. And the only effect of that each racist outburst becoming more poignant. Losing your job doesn't make you more tolerant of people. The racism just festers, and spreads to that persons children in an unending cycle.

Although it is ripe for ridicule and punishment, that shouldn't the end of any discourse. Again I'll mention religion, because there are a lot of parallels. People who have their religion mocked, or who are insulted for being religious, don't tend to abandon their religion. "You're stupid, the Earth isn't 6000 years old" doesn't help. A constructive discourse has to occur. "Why do you think this?", "This study disproves your theory" etc. Racism is baseless, and when you discuss it point by point people who can have their minds changed, will.

Progress can only be reached that way.

So you're advocating that he shouldn't be fired because that doesn't change his views? I'm sorry but that is a poor excuse.
 

lednerg

Member
The company doesn't have to come up with a perfect solution which makes everybody happy and solves racism. It's not their burden. They just need to please their advertisers, their source of revenue.
 

Alienous

Member
So you're advocating that he shouldn't be fired because that doesn't change his views? I'm sorry but that is a poor excuse.

That's exactly what I'm saying. I pretty much said exactly that verbatim.

...

No, I've already said that I don't disagree with him being fired. It's the choice of the company. I'm just disagreeing that firing people, or advocating their firing because of racist remarks, 'stems the tides' of racism. It's just this public shaming thing that doesn't address any of the remarks. People should treat racist remarks seriously, address why they're invalid, then whatever punishment can occur. "You're a racist, say bye to your job" just pushes those feelings underground, when they're already out in public and addressable.

So, basically, while comments are out there I'd like them to be addressed seriously. Losing your job shouldn't be the stock, expected punishment. Tons of people believe irrational things, ranging from conspiracy theories to ghosts, to sometimes more harmful beliefs in some religions. But having a reaction of "Hey idiot, you don't get a job" is more likely to cause a person to double down than change their mind.
 

pj

Banned
I said I'd stop posting but I am weak..

What you don't realize is that an employer doesn't have to employee an open racist. If they dem it worse for their company to employee him or her, then they can can them.

And remember people can disagree with you without being a racist. It says alot about you that you are caping up for a misogynistic racist like this.

Have you read any of my posts? It has never been in question that sirius has the right to fire him. My position is that it is unproductive at best, counter-productive at worst. For both them as a company and society as a whole.

There's a lot of white privilege going on here again. I'm sorry bro, but seriously! So now being a racist on radio and on Twitter should be rewarded with a job that the the employer can't remove him from?

As a minority I can't promise you it was a small victory against racism. You don't let racism sit and fester. You remove it like a virus. Yes I know it will still exist in the country, but if he wants to talk this way with no regard for his sponsors or employer then the best thing for him is to start his own company. Which will be harder than working for Sirus.

The only white privilege I'm displaying is knowing first hand what a lot of white people say about black people when there are no black people in the room. Not a one of them would say those things on twitter. They still think racist things and say them to their friends, family, and children. How is it a victory to silence someone when the only thing that's happened is YOU no longer HEAR the racism?

In this case he wasn't even silenced, he can have a similar rampage on twitter tomorrow for everyone to see. He can't do it on sirius anymore, but you didn't listen to that anyway. His firing had no impact on his ability to deliver racist things to the primary outlet people are most likely to see and be offended by them, twitter.

Racism "sits and festers" when it's shoved into a dark corner by internet outrage-of-the-week activists. Sirius should obviously have the right to employ whoever they want, nobody here is saying they shouldn't. By the way, Opie was told by sirius that Anthony was fired because of the violent tone of some of his tweets, not the racism.

If sirius had chosen to keep anthony they would have taken a short term hit in public perception for sure, but people would forget about it pretty quick like any other radio controversy. Remember "nappy headed hoes"? That guy is still doing a show. Sirius' actual source of revenue, subscribers (not advertisers; most of their content is ad free and O&A's main sponsor has voiced support for Anthony and will probably sponsor his new show), would have likely not have been affected at all, and certainly they would have suffered fewer cancellations than they have from Anthony supporters.
 

Tarr

Banned
Please apologize Anthony so this thread will go away!!
never gonna happen in a million years

This is his whole stick. He's eating this shit up, standing for freedom, standing by his word, etc, etc....He preach this a couple a times on the show. No way he doing it.
 

Higgy

Member
This is his whole stick. He's eating this shit up, standing for freedom, standing by his word, etc, etc....He preach this a couple a times on the show. No way he doing it.

He just posted this on Twitter.

@AnthonyCumia: The really fun part of http://t.co/jx0vx4ug4s is going to be watching offended fuckers trying to find SOMEONE to get me in trouble with.
 
It's funny how he proudly stands by his racism and yet his friends and fans are acting like he didn't completely deserve what happened to him.

Joe Rogan, Corolla, Jim Norton etc keep trying to say how evil the media is for spinning and hyping the story and go as far to vehemently deny he's a racist....fine but he does have some very racist beliefs that were unsavory enough to get him fired.

The 'he says these things on his show tho!" is a funny excuse too, they're so quick to defend their friend they can't see that it's 100% his fault.
 

Higgy

Member
It's funny how he proudly stands by his racism and yet his friends and fans are acting like he didn't completely deserve what happened to him.

Joe Rogan, Corolla, Jim Norton etc keep trying to say how evil the media is for spinning and hyping the story and go as far to vehemently deny he's a racist....fine but he does have some very racist beliefs that were unsavory enough to get him fired.

The 'he says these things on his show tho!" is a funny excuse too, they're so quick to defend their friend they can't see that it's 100% his fault.

How about DL Hughley? He doesn't think Anthony should have been fired either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_7EFFHlns8
 
How about DL Hughley? He doesn't think Anthony should have been fired either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_7EFFHlns8

DL is a known moron.

edit: Jim immediately went to the media card which I have said is just a red herring. DL basically gave a pass to Ant because he's nice to him despite thinking he's very likely a racist....yea, known moron. Like many of O&A fans DL doesn't understand what free speech entails apparently.
 

ISOM

Member
That's exactly what I'm saying. I pretty much said exactly that verbatim.

...

No, I've already said that I don't disagree with him being fired. It's the choice of the company. I'm just disagreeing that firing people, or advocating their firing because of racist remarks, 'stems the tides' of racism. It's just this public shaming thing that doesn't address any of the remarks. People should treat racist remarks seriously, address why they're invalid, then whatever punishment can occur. "You're a racist, say bye to your job" just pushes those feelings underground, when they're already out in public and addressable.

So, basically, while comments are out there I'd like them to be addressed seriously. Losing your job shouldn't be the stock, expected punishment. Tons of people believe irrational things, ranging from conspiracy theories to ghosts, to sometimes more harmful beliefs in some religions. But having a reaction of "Hey idiot, you don't get a job" is more likely to cause a person to double down than change their mind.

There's only so much you can do to address a racist. You can say they are wrong but they will just either ignore you or trivialize your feelings. Most racist don't change their way no matter how much you confront them. But what you can do is to make them learn how to interact in normal society. By firing people like anthony, you tell them that there views should be kept to themselves because people will not tolerate hearing racist demagoguery. If the situation brushes their racist views under the rug, so what? At least it shows them that there are consequences for thinking like that and expressing that view publicly.
 

Alienous

Member
There's only so much you can do to address a racist. You can say they are wrong but they will just either ignore you or trivialize your feelings. Most racist don't change their way no matter how much you confront them. But what you can do is to make them learn how to interact in normal society. By firing people like anthony, you tell them that there views should be kept to themselves because people will not tolerate hearing racist demagoguery. If the situation brushes their racist views under the rug, so what? At least it shows them that there are consequences for thinking like that and expressing that view publicly.

Racist views aren't any less dangerous when swept under the carpet. Hiding it away, and not attempting to address or discuss the root of it, doesn't help get rid of it. That's what I was referring to in the post you originally quoted, you aren't removing any racism "like a virus" in just firing people.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
You can't just remove racism "like a virus". It isn't based on anything rational. Firing a guy because of racist comments is merely sweeping the problem under the carpet. "You said something we think is stupid. You don't get to speak". It doesn't reduce it, it just removes it from view. And the only effect of that is each racist outburst becoming more poignant. Losing your job doesn't make you more tolerant of people. The racism just festers, and spreads to that persons children in an unending cycle.

Although it is ripe for ridicule and punishment, that shouldn't the end of any discourse. Again I'll mention religion, because there are a lot of parallels. People who have their religion mocked, or who are insulted for being religious, don't tend to abandon their religion. "You're stupid, the Earth isn't 6000 years old" doesn't help. A constructive discourse has to occur. "Why do you think this?", "This study disproves your theory" etc. Racism is baseless, and when you discuss it point by point people who can have their minds changed, will.

Progress can only be reached that way.

You can remove publicly racist people from your employee rolls like a virus. That's what I was trying to say.

But honest question Alienous. Why do you think it's the job of the employer to fix racism in each racist person like Anthony Cumia? Aren't you asking someone that steals from the company to not be fired because it doesn't teach the employee to not steal anymore?

Can you honestly see why black people can see your post as white privilege?

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You're telling me that someone saying the things that he said should not only be able to keep his job, but also given the space and air time to talk about race issues?


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This is what us people of color see when white guys like Cumia complain about reverse racism and the lack of justice for the everyday white guy.
 
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