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View Full Version : Adam Carolla: At What Point Do We Quit Calling Ourselves Racist?


Dusty
05-17-2011, 09:27
I love this guy. One of my favorite movies is "The Hammer"...

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/05/17/adam-carolla-sounds-girly-guys-celebrities-psas-fantasy-football-killing/?test=faces

Adam Carolla has some pretty bold opinions when it comes to everything from the feminine state of males in America to the banning of nuts in schools across the country.

(We're talking peanuts and cashews, not wack jobs.)

We caught up with the television and radio personality to chat about his latest controversy, a collection of his thoughts all rolled into one new book: “In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks.”

FOX411: Overall, are guys becoming more girly?

Adam Carolla: Well sure, we’re shaving our bodies and we’re spray tanning and putting piercings everywhere. Nobody changes their own oil. Dr. Drew showed up late to Loveline (the radio show they hosted together) one night and I asked him what the problem was and he said he had a flat tire and he had to wait for AAA. I asked him where did he get the flat tire and he said he was at home. So he called AAA to come fix his tire – at his house. That’s not a good sign.

FOX411: And in the book you seem very upset that schools are banning certain foods…

Carolla: The easiest sandwich to make is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, my son loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but he’s not allowed to bring them to his preschool. He cannot bring anything that resembles a nut, no cashews, no almonds, no anything and you realize as a parent if your kid likes something--and my kids like nuts---and they are healthy and there’s a lot of protein in them and you can dump them easily into a Ziploc bag that is a gift from God. But when they outlaw it on the school campus then it complicates your life. But we have crafted a society where a child cannot eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at school and I don’t call it progress.

FOX411: You also aren’t a fan of celebrities doing Public Service Announcements.

Carolla: I just think if you’re going to do one, do one about something that can add something to society – not one that has David Schwimmer saying ‘talk to your kids.’ Of course we’re going to talk to our kids. We have real problems, we have people driving around I guarantee that 80% of the people on the road have their tires under inflated, horrible mileage and they are wearing out their tires and it is dangerous – we should do PSA’s where David Schwimmer says ‘Hey! Put some air in your tires!’ not ‘talk to your kids’. That doesn’t even mean anything.

Or we get some model like Molly Sims saying ‘beauty comes from inside, you should love yourself.’ What kind of nonsense is that? Really? Molly Sims, do you really think you’d be where you are today if you were just beautiful inside and not only on the outside!? There are other ways and it’s insulting.

FOX411: Switching gears, you’ve said before you don’t believe, contrary to popular opinion, that America is a racist country.

Carolla: Well, it’s never going to be an issue that goes away as long as there are people who don’t want it to go away. So as long as there’s a group of folks that profit from it or believe to gain power and popularity from it or damage other people by calling them a racist, it’s never going to go away. We can have people say this is a racist nation, but we have a black president – the most powerful person. The richest person on television, Oprah, is a black woman, the second most powerful star on television or in the media is probably Will Smith, and he is a black man. The richest athlete on the planet, at least pre-divorce, is a black man – Tiger Woods. And the highest paid singer is Beyonce. At what point do we get to stop calling ourselves a racist nation? If we are [racist] we aren’t doing a very good job at it.

FOX411: Speaking of bad jobs, fantasy football was a bad invention?

Carolla: I don’t like fantasy football, I usually refer to it as fairytale football, it’s not something a guy should be wasting his life doing. Once you have kids you really should be getting off the fantasy football. More time is wasted messing around with fantasy football than hurt backs and missed work days, and its killing this nation of ours.

FOX411: And lastly, something that all girls should know about guys?

Carolla: We don’t care nearly as much as you’d like us to care. We approach life a little bit differently than you do and you see everything through your filter. Meaning if the guy forgets your birthday or something because, to you if you forgot his birthday it would mean something. If you look at it through the wiring of the guys eyes you’d realize you probably shouldn’t be as hurt or maybe take as much offense to three quarters of the stuff that ruins you in a relationship.

Barbarian
05-17-2011, 10:42
Hilarious AND completely true. I mean heck, I don't even KNOW anybody besides myself that changes their own oil anymore.

Well, it’s never going to be an issue that goes away as long as there are people who don’t want it to go away.

Aye-freakin'-men!

1stindoor
05-17-2011, 10:48
I used to love to watch the "Man Show." One of my all time favorite bits was when Adam used to dress like a cop and then correct children for wearing base ball caps wrong. He used to instruct kids on how to roll the bill and take off the foil tag.

I agree with his musings 100%. One of the other QPs said to me once before, we'll never be able to outsource our plumbing. There's a lot of truth there.

Auditor
05-17-2011, 11:30
I highly recommend his book "In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks". It's been a long time since I have read a book that actually made me laugh out loud. I was on an airplane and people were wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

mugwump
05-17-2011, 11:31
I think this is the first time that there has ever been a post I agree with 100%!




Agree! Including The Hammer.

have_gun
05-17-2011, 14:26
Carolla: Well, it’s never going to be an issue that goes away as long as there are people who don’t want it to go away. So as long as there’s a group of folks that profit from it or believe to gain power and popularity from it or damage other people by calling them a racist, it’s never going to go away ...



Sounds an awful lot like this:

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well." -- Booker T. Washington

Sigaba
05-17-2011, 15:41
Sounds an awful lot like this:

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well." -- Booker T. WashingtonDid comments such as this reflect Washington's inner most views on race relations or were they tailored to advance his professional and personal agenda in an era of withering racism?

Surgicalcric
05-17-2011, 16:14
Did comments such as this reflect Washington's inner most views on race relations or were they tailored to advance his professional and personal agenda in an era of withering racism?

Does it matter? The truth is still the truth regardless of a persons motivations for speaking it.

Sigaba
05-17-2011, 16:30
Does it matter? The truth is still the truth regardless of a persons motivations for speaking it.Yes it does matter. Washington remains one of the most controversial figures in modern American history. Did his approach to race relations reflect acquiescence to white supremacy or pragmatism in response to it? Was he selflessly devoted to empowering African Americans within certain fields of endeavor or was he selflessly devoted to himself?

Does the study of Booker T. Washington (as well as other leaders in the civil rights movement) allow for a better understanding of race and racism in American history or, as social historians have long argued, are such topics better understood "from the bottom up"?

kgoerz
05-17-2011, 16:51
Racism ended the day a Black Man became President. I mean really, the most powerful man in the world is a black man. But your going to bitch about how your parole officer treated you. Give me a break.

Richard
05-17-2011, 17:01
The world is fraught with all sorts of 'isms' whose degree of influence varies from country-to-country; to know that and to think they do not also exist in America to some degree is a ludicrous proposition.

Richard :munchin

Surgicalcric
05-17-2011, 17:33
Yes it does matter. Washington remains one of the most controversial figures in modern American history. Did his approach to race relations reflect acquiescence to white supremacy or pragmatism in response to it? Was he selflessly devoted to empowering African Americans within certain fields of endeavor or was he selflessly devoted to himself?

Does the study of Booker T. Washington (as well as other leaders in the civil rights movement) allow for a better understanding of race and racism in American history or, as social historians have long argued, are such topics better understood "from the bottom up"?

Again, I must contend that the truth is the truth regardless is the messengers motives.

Sigaba
05-17-2011, 17:43
Again, I must contend that the truth is the truth regardless is the messengers motives.IMO, context always matters else there is no history. As for truth, it is a construct--at best a consensus interpretation among careful observers. <<LINK ("http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/road.html')>>, <<LINK2 ("http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/2/78.02.02.x.html)>>

My $0.02.

Sigaba
05-17-2011, 17:46
Racism ended the day a Black Man became President. I mean really, the most powerful man in the world is a black man. But your going to bitch about how your parole officer treated you. Give me a break.IMO, the 2008 presidential election was more a comment on the state of gender relations in America than on race relations.