When Archie Bunker made commentary it was with the intent to poke fun at bigotry and not the race vehicle to make the comment. Racism on television seems to have a subtle appearance with comments elusive except to certain nationalities. Recently, two consecutive television programs "Two And A Half Men" and "The New Adventures Of Old Christine" both featured anti-german comments. In mid January of this year, Charlie Sheen's character in "Two And A Half Men" reminded his mother about calling his Mercedes "a German killing machine ". "Huhhh?" I thought. Mercedes' are well made cars. Next show. Julia Louie-Dreyfus in "The New Adventures Of Old Christine" went to a party with her younger brother where she tried to mingle. One guy she met was speaking German and made two comments about the "guy speaking german, oooooh".
So what is really going on here with subtle anti german comments? Awhile back out with some friends, one's daughter saw an original VW Beetle and remarked how cute it was. One friend who is jewish responded; "It was designed by Hitler and Hitler killed jews." To which the little girl and her mother were taken back and did not quite know how to respond. As she is currently a "mesianic synagogue attendee" or "jew for Jesus" I promptly commented "It's nice to know that jews are exempt from the Christian spirit of forgiveness.
If Mel Gibson makes racial remarks, he is chastised by Hollywood and "Law & Order" has Chevy Chase portray a maniacal character spouting the same sentiments. Meanwhile, anti-german comments just roll by imperceptably except to a small group of viewers that have issue with them.
Isn't it time that even subtle racial inferences not be tolerated? Barbara Walters will attach Muslim's on open antisemetic teaching but TV allows the reverse to continue. As a german, I noticed the comments and figured out their source and found them to be in poor taste. Perhaps the next time Mel Gibson opens his mouth, I'll post bail.
