h/t HelloNegro.com

As much as people dislike Howard Stern’s radio grandstanding and incredibly boorish behavior on the radio, it seems he alone has chosen to brutally critique the uniquely Hollywood spectacle surrounding Oscar nominated Precious star Gaborey Sidibe. Stern takes Hollywood — a place that celebrates beauty over talent almost daily for engaging in such an awkward circus.

Listen for yourself:

While I don’t agree with Sterns choice of words, or his out-right skewering of Sidibe, I do agree there is a heavy dose of hypocrisy from Hollywood during the Oscar process. Beyond the Oscars spectacle I found the movie ridiculous for several reasons…

1.) A very similar book was written 40 years ago by Toni Morrison — “The Bluest Eye.” I have read the book and Precious immediately seemed to be an inferior knock-off 40 years too late; yet, very few people pushing the “Precious” movie have bothered to point out the amazing similarity to Morrison’s much more complex master-piece.

2.) Ishmael Reed’s New York Op-ed that summed up the Precious Movie for me:

Among black men and women, there is widespread revulsion and anger over the Oscar-nominated film about an illiterate, obese black teenager who has two children by her father. The author Jill Nelson wrote: “I don’t eat at the table of self-hatred, inferiority or victimization. I haven’t bought into notions of rampant black pathology or embraced the overwrought, dishonest and black-people-hating pseudo-analysis too often passing as post-racial cold hard truths.” One black radio broadcaster said that he felt under psychological assault for two hours. So did I.

The blacks who are enraged by “Precious” have probably figured out that this film wasn’t meant for them.
…
In guilt-free bits of merchandise like “Precious,” white characters are always portrayed as caring. There to help. Never shown as contributing to the oppression of African-Americans. Problems that members of the black underclass encounter are a result of their culture, their lack of personal responsibility.

Reed@NYTimes

Related posts:

1. Black Entertainment
2. GOPers at Cato Conclude Iraq War was a Mistake
3. Sullivan catches classic institutional racism
4. The Wire writer dies at 48
5. Which African Americans made the Time 100?