powell does blackface, no one offended

I'm not sure how many people have heard the news, but at the end of the ASEAN conference it is tradition that diplomats sing songs to entertain everyone. For example Madeline Albright dressed and sang as Evita Peron (which seems pretty fitting).Anyhow, it just ended and Powell wore a hard hat with a hammer stuck in his belt, backed by five other US diplomats in Village People attire, and rocked the house with a rendition of "YMCA" (adding president Bush to the lyrics).Is anyone as offended as I am by this? I mean you have Powell, a man who supported eliminating gays from the military if they spoke about it, who is supporting (and adding to lyrics) a man who is against homosexuality and actively fighting gay rights, singing a song by gay men about going into the service and being proud. This includes dressing in the flamboyant gay fashion of the Village People.That would have to be the modern equivalent of doing blackface. I'm not a praying man, but please Gods, give this man his comeuppance.Or at least let a reporter stymie Bush and Powell by bringing up this absolute mixed message.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

Well, since Powell went before the UN and lied his ass off, I have lost all respect for him. To find him singing "YMCA" while at the same time discriminating against gay people doesn't phaze me.The only thing that really would have surprised me is that it wasn't "In the Navy."

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Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

Which makes me realize that I miswrote something earlier. I meant to say a song by a group of gays that wrote about joining the service and being proud.YMCA is not a song about that. YMCA is about encouraging young men who are down to go to the local hotel for those that are poor, get cleaned up and have a good time. They have everything for a man to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys.You can do whatever you feel.Hope that winds up on a Bush commercial somewhere. Or maybe Kerry can swing some more Bush voters away, by adding that to a commercial and leaving the question dangling.By the way I agree with you on Powell. I've lost ALL respect for him, and that means a lot.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

I'm not offended. Wouldn't be offended if Osama bin Laden sang merry christmas, and a nazi sang uh fiddler on the roof, or something. But nazi's and al-queda wouldn't be caught dead doing stuff like that IMO, so.. I think you have it wrong.regards,
Mohammad Nor Syamsu

Huh?Racists did pretend to be black and sing "black" and it was offensive to many blacks in the US. The practice was called blackface.At this point in time an administration which is actively fighting gay rights had a member who supported discrimination against gays in the military dress as a member of an openly gay group and sing one of their songs.I made a comparison between the two and was raising the question (based on their similarity) why this was not equally considered offensive.Whether OBL or the Nazis would have done anything similar is beside the point. Unless you are trying to suggest that they had more tact than to do something like that?One group which is oppressing the rights of another, and then has the audacity to mimic them is offensive. And like the days of old blackface, the people doing it at the time certainly don't mean any harm (I wasn't saying that), in their position they just don't get why its offensive.If you want to explain how it is not offensive, or the two are not similar, be my guest.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

I took offense. It has nothing to do with respect for Powell, although since that's been brought up I'll state for the record that I too have lost respect for him. However, I also have no respect for Jerry Falwell, and I'd be just as offended if he did something like this.If someone I did respect or, perhaps more to the point, someone I admire had done this I might be willing to cut them some slack and not take offense. That isn't the case here, though.