Opinion of Bill Cosby

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

Brilliant entertainer, but his views on race are, alas, sorely lacking. (And no, I don't give a damn about him being black. Racist crap is racist crap regardless of whether the person saying it is white as the driven snow or black as the darkest night).

[Simfan34]

lol

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

FF, especially for co-creating one of the greatest sitcoms to air on television.

[checkers]

I'd be hesitant to call him an FF in the light of these sexual assault allegations.

[politicus]

I'd be hesitant to call him an FF with these sexual assault allegations . 

Seems legit. Voted HP.

[Mechaman]

A lace curtain sellout.

And yes I know that is a term used to apply to socially conscious Catholics (mostly Irish) who portray themselves as mainstream to wealthy white anglo-protestants, but I think the term is more than appropriate to successful black men like Bill Cosby who make such statements like the one linked in the first post.

Black people should be angry.  They deserve to be angry.  It is a damnation of "white" society in America that black Americans are among the most disadvantaged people in the country.

It is the fault of "white" people, and they should be blamed.

[bedstuy]

One of the greatest comedians, FF.

Brilliant entertainer, but his views on race are, alas, sorely lacking. (And no, I don't give a damn about him being black. Racist crap is racist crap regardless of whether the person saying it is white as the driven snow or black as the darkest night).

It's not right to label Bill Cosby a racist.  He was a black guy talking to a group of black people, so you need to put what he said in that context.  He's obviously not condemning all black people.  However, Atlas is way too unsophisticated about race to discuss Bill Cosby's underlying point, so let's not. 

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

I've never met anyone who hated Bill Cosby before.  I'm only 18 and enjoy his comedy.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Definite FF as a comedian, a living legend in all regards.

His views on race, though, are really awful.

I've never met anyone who hated Bill Cosby before.  I'm only 18 and enjoy his comedy.

[politicus]

I'd be hesitant to call him an FF with these sexual assault allegations .

Reposting, since everybody seems to ignore this and just continue to talk about race.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

I'd be hesitant to call him an FF with these sexual assault allegations .

Reposting, since everybody seems to ignore this and just continue to talk about race.

Oh god, how could I forget this? Yeah, he's a massive HP for this. Changing my vote.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

HP, but not for the reason as the OP suggested as much as for the sexual assault allegations and his arrogant, holier-than-thou approach to humor.

[Vosem]

All-around fantastic person. I'll go with "guilty until proven innocent" for the sexual assault allegations, since I'd really rather believe the best of him.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

All-around fantastic person. I'll go with "guilty until proven innocent" for the sexual assault allegations, since I'd really rather believe the best of him.

I agree with Vosem, I'd hate to think Bill Cosby is the American Rolf Harris or Jimmy Savile!

Also, am I the only The Cosby Show fan around here?

[Lief 🗽]

Rapist + racist + not that funny, HP.

[Cory]

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something? Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?

What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' — or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

We cannot blame the white people any longer.

It's not like any of what he said isn't true. Just look at the 1991 LA riots. Yea, that will change people's opinion of you. It's not like there isn't a culture of failure in the black community.

I swear sometimes I think many of you largely live in a fantasy world. I think I'll pay more heed to Bill Cosby and Don Lemon then the white upper middle class social justice warriors of Atlas.

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

Nothing happens in a vacuum. The 1991 riots didn't happen because "lulz, let's kill whitey". They happened because of the total failure of justice where white cops, beat a black man half to death, and were acquitted by an all-white jury. It was essentially 90's Trayvon Martin - and had there been rioting after Zimmerman's acquittal, I wouldn't have cheered them on, but I wouldn't have laid the blame squarely at black people's feet.

[bedstuy]

Nothing happens in a vacuum. The 1991 riots didn't happen because "lulz, let's kill whitey". They happened because of the total failure of justice where white cops, beat a black man half to death, and were acquitted by an all-white jury. It was essentially 90's Trayvon Martin - and had there been rioting after Zimmerman's acquittal, I wouldn't have cheered them on, but I wouldn't have laid the blame squarely at black people's feet.

I think that's a pretty silly way to look at these issues. 

Sure, you shouldn't judge "black people" based on the actions of a few criminals.  I agree with that.  Cory's point is basically racist drivel, and that's why Bill Cosby's words became problematic in America.  We tend to turn everything into a white vs. black issue unfortunately.

But, that's not what Bill Cosby actually meant.  I think his point is that even if there are racial inequities, black people ought to work on the social problems, mostly born out of poverty, on an individual level.  If you just constantly see yourself as a victim with no agency, that's actually racist in my eyes because it's disempowering to black people.  Individual people can make a huge difference in things like the achievement gap, by talking to their young children and reading to them for example.  That's not to say, black parents have the same advantages as white parents on average.  But, I think the point is just that constantly focusing on racism and the victim status of black becomes counter-productive after a point. 

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Nothing happens in a vacuum. The 1991 riots didn't happen because "lulz, let's kill whitey". They happened because of the total failure of justice where white cops, beat a black man half to death, and were acquitted by an all-white jury. It was essentially 90's Trayvon Martin - and had there been rioting after Zimmerman's acquittal, I wouldn't have cheered them on, but I wouldn't have laid the blame squarely at black people's feet.

If their were riots after the Zimmerman verdict (something I feared, living in a fairly black area and understanding their anger), the blame none the less would be on the hands of the individual troublemakers who would have created the unrest. Thank God that the Martin parents urged restraint in the face of their injustice, because I fully expected riots in Sanford (and if those riots were not handled well by police, riots all the way down here!)

Injustice in response to injustice is and always will be injustice, and their is no excuse for lawlessness even when the law is not followed.

[memphis]

His views on language are incredibly ignorant, but his overall point that young black people need to try harder is totally apt. Go to any black high school in America and watch the defiance and the hostility toward people who are trying to help them. See the apathy and see how the kids who do make some effort to make something of themselves are treated. It's infuriating to people who care about education and black people. Ignoring this problem and attacking the messenger doesn't help anybody.

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

His views on language are incredibly ignorant, but his overall point that young black people need to try harder is totally apt. Go to any black high school in America and watch the defiance and the hostility toward people who are trying to help them. See the apathy and see how the kids who do make some effort to make something of themselves are treated. It's infuriating to people who care about education and black people. Ignoring this problem and attacking the messenger doesn't help anybody.

Nothing happens in a vacuum. The 1991 riots didn't happen because "lulz, let's kill whitey". They happened because of the total failure of justice where white cops, beat a black man half to death, and were acquitted by an all-white jury. It was essentially 90's Trayvon Martin - and had there been rioting after Zimmerman's acquittal, I wouldn't have cheered them on, but I wouldn't have laid the blame squarely at black people's feet.

I think that's a pretty silly way to look at these issues. 

Sure, you shouldn't judge "black people" based on the actions of a few criminals.  I agree with that.  Cory's point is basically racist drivel, and that's why Bill Cosby's words became problematic in America.  We tend to turn everything into a white vs. black issue unfortunately.

But, that's not what Bill Cosby actually meant.  I think his point is that even if there are racial inequities, black people ought to work on the social problems, mostly born out of poverty, on an individual level.  If you just constantly see yourself as a victim with no agency, that's actually racist in my eyes because it's disempowering to black people.  Individual people can make a huge difference in things like the achievement gap, by talking to their young children and reading to them for example.  That's not to say, black parents have the same advantages as white parents on average.  But, I think the point is just that constantly focusing on racism and the victim status of black becomes counter-productive after a point. 

[memphis]

This has nothing to do with white people. This is the kind of ignorance Cosby is talking about. Where are the white people here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQKTxo7tczg

[Deus Naturae]

Phwezer: The vast majority of white people in the US did not benefit from slavery or the subsequent segregation and mistreatment of black people. It's ridiculous to suggest that whites "pushed themselves up" on the backs of blacks because of a system that benefited at most 25% of the white population of a region that made up slightly less than half of the country existed 150 years ago. Not trying to suggest that "slavery has been gone for a long time, therefore blacks have no more problems," but implying that the oppression of blacks in the US has collectively benefitted all white people, so therefore they should now be held collectively responsible is ahistorical.

[bedstuy]

This is going predictably poorly.

Do you actually think that's a good way for the black community to think?  That they're all helpless and can't do anything to improve their individual situation without white people's munificence.  I never said that society should not work on racism or help poor black people out of poverty.  There's room for that.  But, there's also room for what Bill Cosby was somewhat inartfully talking about. 

There are just limits to what society or government does for anyone.  Is the government going to read black kids bedtime stories and tuck them in at night?  Is the government going to fully address the social ills of poverty?  Certainly not.  And, even if the government should, they're not going to.  So, what's supposed to happen at that point?  We can talk about the root causes of black social problems in America forever, that's not going to make them go away.  Of course you can say, it's white people's fault and that's historically true I guess.  But we can't just say, "hey white people, fix the black community's problems please."  How is that supposed to work? 

[Simfan34]

Bedstuy is correct.