Churches are being knocked down for monstrosity skyscrapers. Supermarkets are being forced out because of high rent, and a walk on almost any block will show you empty storefronts. Phony psychics (there's no other kind) chain A-Frame signs on city lampposts and everyone shrugs (including Kallos) that there are no "laws" to clip those signs and remove them.
But, hey hey hey, let's have DRAG QUEENS come to the NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY.
That's a great use of taxpayer money and Ben's time. What a lesson it teaches us: that women are second rate and laughable.
BLACKFACE? Hey, Fred Armisen, no Obama impression allowed. Hey Billy Crystal, no Sammy Davis Jr. impression allowed.
YELLOWFACE? Nobody but an Asian should EVER play an ASIAN!
DRAGFACE?
DRAGFACE?
It's ok for idiots to dress up grotesquely as women on Halloween, or at parties year round, or in public and nobody's offended?
Why is it ok to make fun of gender but not race?
You know what DRAG is. It's the equivalent of MINSTREL BLACKFACE.
Shall we compare?
It's either ALL offensive or NONE of it. You either declare "freedom of expression" or you don't.
Right now, a man once called "The Greatest Entertainer in the World" is unknown to almost anyone under 40: Al Jolson. Why? Because, out of sympathy and because the Minstrel tradition still existed, he blacked up. He sang "Sonny Boy" and "Mammy" with sincerity, not mockery. He was joyful in singing "Oh Susanna" and "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy."
ALL or NOTHING AT ALL.
Megyn Kelly got fired for suggesting that MAYBE it would be ok to do Blackface at Halloween. Say, imitate Michael Jackson. Wear a super hero "Black Panther" plastic mask. Dress up in a leather skirt and be Kanye. NO. She got FIRED.
But Ben Kallos, who would NEVER stand next to a white man playing Charlie Chan in a neighborhood theater production, and NEVER stand next to a Michael Jackson imitator (even from his own Democratic party), stands cheerfully with a drag queen, and it's all aimed at children.
That's right, kids. And you know what's really good? You little boys, if you go to the men's room, and there's a DRAG QUEEN in there, don't be afraid. Let's learn the lesson of not profiling somebody who is so mental they have to dress up as the opposite sex in public.
We're not talking about a transsexual who IS or is transitioning. We're talking about a transvestite. Drag.
Would BEN KALLOS be standing next to a man in a diaper? "Hey kids, look, here's an Adult Baby. He's an INFANTILIST. He enjoys having a crib at home." How about a dominatrix in her finest leather: "Hey kids, she beats the crap out of masochistic males. Can you say...MASS-O-KISSED?"
When do we talk to kids about adult sexual problems?
Don't kids grow up fast ENOUGH with R-rated movies and the Internet?
Is BEN KALLOS going to tell kids that it's OK to weather a leather mask and terrorize people, as long as the people aren't killed? How about Freddie Krueger? Isn't it fun to be scared of a burn victim?
Would BEN KALLOS invite an actual burn victim to talk to the kiddies at the New York Public Library, so they learn not to be scared?
No, that might be traumatic. Let's book a DRAG QUEEN instead.
It's either ALL offensive or NONE of it.
Or is it? Funny, we make exceptions. Maybe our handsome young Benny is just making an exception because he's so gay-friendly, and bending over backwards for the gay vote. Excusable, no?
Here's an exception: you can be Black or Puerto Rican but play a White Founding Father in "Hamilton," and have the founding father jump around babbling rap songs. That's OK. Casting calls for the show can even say "No Whites Need Apply" and that's ok. You can have a black woman play Joan of Arc, too.
Some would call that reverse racism, but it's just, oh, affirmative action.
NOBODY is standing up for Al Jolson, or saying radio's Amos and Andy were funny and didn't tell hate jokes, or that the old 78rpm recordings of Minstrel songs didn't urge lynching (45's on "Rebel" record labels in the South have done this).
In a slight twist, the Cleveland Indians retired their mascot. SOMEBODY decided it was a caricature and offensive:
Again: REDFACE is out. BEN KALLOS wouldn't stand next to somebody portraying the Cleveland Indians mascot, or invite that person to talk baseball to the kiddies.
DRAGFACE is ok? When the purpose is to stereotype women and mock femininity?
I don't happen to think Fred Armisen did anything wrong. Or Darrell Hammond when he played Jesse Jackson on SNL. Or Billy Crystal. I also enjoy Warner Oland and Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan or Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto because they played their roles with dignity. I think Charles Pierce and Craig Russell were sincere and verged on comic genius when they impersonated Bette Davis or Mae West. They were satirizing certain women, NOT ALL WOMEN.
But if we're going to be politically correct, then it's ALL or NOTHING.
If we're going to be sensitive and be concerned about offending people, then it should apply to ALL people.
I don't think Ben Kallos would campaign in Chinatown wearing yellowface, or campaign in Little Italy speaking like Chico Marx. This guy didn't show up with the drag queen and ALSO put on drag. Gosh, why not, Ben? You'd make a CUTE WOMAN, and what's offensive about pretending to be what you're not?
How convenient it is, the way BEN KALLOS and others "interpret" what's offensive. On EBAY, for example, the "OFFENSIVE MATERIALS" rule means you can't sell a KKK item or a Nazi item, but it's ok to create a photoshop image of Emma Watson being raped and in bondage. The only way it would be removed is if Emma Watson's lawyer sent in a DMCA.
Here's a twist. It wasn't OK for a DRAG QUEEN to impersonate a BLACK WOMAN:
In this climate, BEN KALLOS can't find something better to do with his time?
He's a lawmaker who can't get together with his pals and write laws to prevent more monstrosity buildings from blocking the air and light from a residential district? His Upper East Side should NOT end up looking like the Wall Street caverns of darkness and greed.
His office ignores emails about other local issues. He shrugs that it would require writing a law to allow the police or sanitation to clip shyster Psychic A-frame signs from public property...and HE WON'T DO IT BECAUSE IT'S TOO MUCH WORK.
Right, a lawmaker doesn't have the time to get a law passed, but he can smile next to somebody making fun of women.
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