Is there a point to this post?

That was back in the good old day before smoking was bad for you. I remember going to the doctor when I was a kid back in the 1970's and the doctor smoking.

They left a few people off the list though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tg1kEBUO9A

ooohhh snarky cord.

So there is a point, but you're not telling me or there is no point, but you're questioning my question as to why that may be.

that's two already this morning for cord. i wonder if i'm next, i've already said at least a couple of dumbass things.

Yaaah! The return of Cord and his lovely pink box. Missed you, buddy.

SMOKE…………….ARE YA SMOKING YET?

Where is Sarah?

Speedo, of course there's a point, and it's one of those crude, in-your-face, defamatory rhetoric tricks that good writers learn. The real question, that you guys didn't catch, is what smoking (for fun or profit) has to do with accusing someone of racism?

The answer, of course, is nothing. But it, along with a photo of a 1900s minstrel singer, is a desperate way to insert another white-bashing racism label on someone. There are some who, like unpaid bounty hunters, spend their time looking for racists hiding behind every rock. To others, the only way to prove you're not a racist is to prove you're not white. My hat's off to your OP's rhetorical sleight of phrase.

A few years ago, when I saw The Jazz Singer for the first time, my dad - who was somewhat of a classic movie buff - told me "You know, when Al Jolson died, people went to his funeral to make sure he was really dead." Apparently he was a real SOB…uh, besides the racism.

Now what do I know?

When I read this, at first I thought it was to point out:

"What do celebrities know? They are on someone's payroll, obviously. Are you going to base your life decisions on what they say? PLEASE."

Then, as a smoker, I got to thinking, did smoking cause their deaths?

I remembered that Clark Gable may have died of a heart attack, but he smoked a lot of cigarettes. So I had to look into this.

Joan Crawford also died of a heart attack but at the time was battling pancreatic cancer.

Al Jolsen died of a heart attack.

Gary Cooper died of prostate cancer that spread.

And Bob Hope died at about 100.

So I felt relieved that it was the "What do celebrities know" component that I believe was the gist of this post.

And I can address the smoking issue at a later date.

Whew. :-)

Um, does anyone have a light? Thanks so much…

:-)

"University of California at San Francisco".
That's all you need to know about this post.

Striker, what the hell are you saying? Al Jolson is notorious for performing in blackface. You don't think minstrel shows are racist? Cord's not calling him racist for being white.

IMO, someone putting on a costume or makeup to look like someone from another culture, or even sex, while performing, is not racism. Racism is a form of expressed superiority or hatred toward another race (think KKK). Were the starts of "Beach Blanket Babylon" all sexists?

A minstrel performance was acting and singing. There was never an intent to demean blacks by pretending to sing like them. And especially the Whitey most responsible for introducing us white folk to the flavor of early jazz (The Jazz Singer). No one, especially someone wearing the mask of an academic, should bandy about defamatory (i.e. untrue) statements about dead celebrities.

At least you, ilnazhad, got the real point of the double message: harm intended.

"Stereotypes embodied in the stock characters of blackface minstrelsy played a significant role in cementing and proliferating racist images, attitudes and perceptions worldwide. In some quarters, the caricatures that were the legacy of blackface persist to the present day and are a cause of ongoing controversy."
Thank you for pointing out the KKK is racist. Can you tell me if Hitler was bad? Oh, wait, we cannot talk about how Hitler did bad things because we don't speak ill of the dead here.
"Harm intended"? Striker, I used to intend to harm myself, too. You need help. Ya just don't make sense after having 30 of your mom's painkillers.

I'm sorry but why does it always have to come back to a race issue? Youtube both "Al Jolson" and then "White Chicks" and see how a million and one racist remarks are made against Al Jolson but not oncee is racism mentioned when two black guys dress up as white women. Al Jolson did a lot for the black entertainers wether he was an asshole or not is nothing to do with race. True some people wanted him dead, mainly white people, there were a lot of black friends and colleagues at his funeral mourning him too. He's dead get over it, why not use your energy on doing something that can be done and make a difference now.