that is the rub right there. There are all sorts of tv/film franchises that use massive stereotypes in there character portrayals. There is some grey area in which one person finds XYZ portrayal offense and someone else doesn’t. Who are we to ever decide where the actual line is?
Ripping Cuomo for his behavior in light of the situation (out with your kids/family) is fine by me. Ripping him for being offended and defending himself verbally speaking against someone harassing him…I’m rather ok with that.
Now what he said is another matter entirely. Funny how some people just slip into that type of insult skin so easily.
I am a second generation Italian American and neither I nor any Italian American I know considers Fredo to be an ethnic slur, let alone the “equivalent of the N word”.* It’s a reference to a fictional character, not an entire “race” of people. If this one dude has a problem with it, that’s on him.
*we’re white, end of story, and we very much benefit from white privilege. Sure, maybe people from Minnesota or wherever think we’re swarthy, but most places we’re just generic white people. Especially in New York City.
Oh, and speaking of white privilege, one way of dealing with ethnic slurs is to not fucking escalate. Especially if you’re an actual racial minority and the cops will kill you if they show up.
Spoken like a white male, with all privileges and entitlements thereof.
As satisfying as it is to watch that gentleman getting punched in the face, I don’t condone or support that behavior. I believe he should have been arrested for that, and would be shocked if “can I get arrested for this” did not enter in to his mental calculus at all.
And even if I did condone it, let’s review:
Someone of indeterminate race (probably black) punched a gentleman in the face who was being interviewed on a news show about how he is normalizing white supremacy. Which is the greater evil, punching someone in the face or giving an evangelist for ethnic cleansing a platform to recruit others?
Some rando calls another gentleman a name and the gentleman is moved to violence and threats.
You would need to make a lot of assumptions for me to justify Fredo’s actions here.
You don’t get do decide what is and isn’t a slur when it’s used on someone else. And Cuomo family Italian ≠ white. It’s Italian. You may be white. But Cuomo family is Italian. They have every right to take offense when people call them racial/stereotypical slurs, especially targeted ones like Fredo. It can be his own personal N-word.
If I was speaking like an entitled/privileged white male (at what point did I ever declare I was white?); I’d have stated shove me and I’ll shove you back and I would be justified for it and face no consequences thereof.
Which I did not say, nor would I think. I was illustrating that “violence” is an acceptable response to violence against oneself. If one of my kids were being physically assaulted, I’d expect them to fight back like hell regardless of the consequences.
Additionally using the defense of “Well I’m XYZ and neither I nor the XYZ people I know take that as a problem” is NOT a valid defense. Great, you and the 5, 10, 1000 Italian Americans you know aren’t offended by it. You do not speak for all Italian Americans everywhere. Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. I am from RI…lot’s of Italian descendants here. So you have your 100 that say “nope not offended by it” if I find 101 that say “YUP! totally offended by it” do we then reverse the decision around what is or isn’t offensive?
As to the rest…Let me give you an awesome real world example. My oldest son is on the bus coming back from a field trip. A white kid turns and asks…“Yo nigg*, how much longer til we get back?”. My son replies “What did you just call me?” kid replies “It’s ok, I have a pass I can say that.” My son replies “No, you don’t. Don’t call me that.” the kid presses the issue and starts teasing about my son being offended. To which my son (and I am supremely proud of him for this) says “Don’t talk to me” and ignores him the rest of the way and then goes directly to the Principal’s office and reports the incident.
All 3 of my children have been called the N word along with other racial epithets at all 3 school levels in our town (elementary, middle, and hs). This sparked a meeting with my wife and I with the Superintendent and principals of all 3 schools to discuss steps to deal with this ongoing issue.
It doesn’t matter that every other kid may have not found it offensive when one kid threw a banana at my son and said “Here, this is for your mom”. The fact is he was offended and we as parents were sickened.
There are things to roast Cuomo for here…lashing out against someone because he felt offended isn’t one of them in my book. That’s the completely defensible action here.
The thing is, if I felt that that word was meant to insult an entire ethnic group, I would be offended. I would be especially offended because this particular group includes me. But I’m not offended at all, because it was an insult directed at Chris Cuomo and only Chris Cuomo.
Did you read what I wrote? I am a second generation Italian American. I consider myself white because what in the hell else would I be? Besides, the Cuomos are from New York City, where Italian Americans are the dominant ethnic group by far. So, he’s not only white as in caucasian, but he’s the most common type of white person in his city.
You tell a nice anecdote, but your kids didn’t fire back with worse slurs.
Calling someone a “punk bitch” in response is completely defensible? Fuck that. By your logic, the original guy had a perfect right to call him Fredo or worse because he was offended by Cuomo in the first place.
And calling someone a “punk bitch”, that’s not offensive?
No, silence isn’t the only answer. What your kid did was pretty damned awesome and a great way to handle being called a racial slur. If Cuomo handled the situation with a quarter of the maturity your son displayed, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
Out of curiosity- did you watch the video? Cuomo starts out ok- explains he considers Fredo a racial slur and that the person shouldn’t use that. A little too many cuss words for de-escalation, but I get he was angry. The person who insulted him starts to back track- though he doesn’t actually apologize. Then Cuomo proceeds to escalate the situation and then moves onto physical threats. So yeah, I am totally judging his actions. He chose to handle the situation badly.
The claim that Fredo is equivalent to the n-word is laughable and probably damned insulting to anyone who is ever called that word. I get the guy thinks fredo is an insult and a racial slur- but it’s no where near as damaging or offensive as the n word.
Dude, you link your Instagram account in your profile. There are pictures of you there. You are white.
Essentially, that is what you’re saying. If someone were to shove you, would you shove them back if you believed you would wind up jin ail or dead as a result?
Even if it were 250 to 100 on your side, or 2500 to 100, or whatever, it pales in comparison with the N word. When they show The Godfather on TV, does Fredo’s name become [bleeeeep!]? Is there a pseudo-debate about why Italians can call each other Fredo but nobody else can? Do teenagers try to be edgelordy by throwing the “other F word” around? Most importantly, is it a word used explicitly to piss off Italian Americans? The fact that there’s some controversy, any controversy, over this and none that the N word is taboo leads me to believe that no, it’s nowhere near the same.
Although you have a point. I am glossing over the centuries long and deeply racist and dehumanizing history of the N word, and how not only does Fredo not have that history, literally nothing does. I can think of a half dozen slurs at the top of my head that are actually offensive to Italians, and none of them even comes close to the offensiveness of the N word.
Good on him!
… for doing the exact opposite of what Cuomo did and you think is okay
I did. And that is right where my point has been. what we are criticizing Cuomo for shuold be specific and intentional. His words, his tone, his escalating the situation…sure. But the blanket and generic “Someone calls you a name/word, you just walk away otherwise you are the asshole” is a bit double standardish for my tastes.
Nostradumbass routinely verbally fights back and gets into the name calling war (He starts most of it ofc). We roast him for his petulance and thin skin. But when my kids has been called the N word in school and he just can’t turn the other cheek it would be applauded? I dunno if I am ok with it.
Again, I am not going to decide what does or doesn’t offend another person. Because plenty of things that do offend person X don’t offend me and vice versa. I’ll support Cuomo or anyone else deciding their own line in the sand when they just can’t turn the cheek anymore.
If someone called me that, I would probably just think of some bichon frise with a mohawk and start laughing at the mental image as well as the person saying such things since it shows a lack of ability to properly communicate their grievances.
Fuckin’ A. THIS IS NOT THE PERSECUTION OLYMPICS, AND CUOMO IS NOT A “VICTIM.”
But this ain’t that, IMO.
It was dis against hi apparent lack of intellect, as there are many “historical” slurs for Italian folks that are very well known, (just as there are for every group) which I won’t bother listing here.
The claim that it’s “ethnic” seems like a bullshit deflection.
And if my son had done the same as Cuomo I’d have defended his right to do so tooth and nail. In fact I expressly told the vice principal I would have been perfectly fine if my son had beaten the other kid so badly he’d have always remembered the feeling of my son’s fists breaking his jaw.
I actually agree that it just is silly to react the way Cuomo did for the one word given that small context we see. But we don;t know how often he’s heard that or similar. Was he having a good day or bad? Was that dude someone who has harassed him more than that one time, a dozen, a hundred times?
Cuomo should not have made the comparison because inherently people will differ on their perspective of said comparison. He should have just said “Dude, was getting on me while I was out with my family. He offended and insulted me and I wanted him to back off” I think that we’d all have said “good on you”
Yes, I am a white male, but you called me out as such without any reference to seeing my IG or having any familiarity with me to know that. On the surface it seems like an assumption, no? And to answer your question…yes. I would lash out physically if the situation called for it regardless of the consequences. Calling me names isn’t going to get it done. Calling my family names isn’t either. Put your hands on them and you might not ever use those hands again, I really don’t care what the repercussions are.
