So my former karate student Max Karson is at again. Having been given one year probation after his arrest for allegedly making fellow students “uncomfortable” at a University of Colorado ‘Women’s Studies’ class a day after the exceedingly awful Virginia Tech massacre by observing that anyone who has not thought about killing 32 people is a “liar.”
And this time it hits a little closer to home. Max’s recent column (not an "editorial" and clearly labeled "opinion") in The Campus Press has created an uproar by using almost every racist stereotype ever invented for Asians. As some of you may know my daughter Kira, now an All American Girl, was born—and abandoned the same day—in The People’s Republic of China.
FoxNews is on it!
I guess the only thing that surprises me is Max is identified as an “editor” at that paper. Obviously based on past history Max is hardly a team player who would thoughtfully edit the writing of others.
Let’s see, when Max was suspended at Amherst Regional High School four times--but always reinstated after getting plenty of press. He wrote about—in addition to masturbation--gays, blacks, and women all in less than a stellar light (well...except for maybe masturbation).
Maybe it had to do with his mother leaving his dad for another women when Max was still at an impressionable age. Or maybe he, like a lot people, just loves the attention. Obviously he knows how to push buttons with his “satire” for maximum exposure.
Interestingly the Daily Hampshire Gazette, his hometown paper for the majority of his life, who editorially supported 'The Vagina Monologues' at ARHS, had little sympathy for Max:
Karson is now offending people as a student at the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he has been distributing an outrageous newsletter called "The Yeti," which is also packed with vulgar language.
Karson thinks he's doing us all a favor by pushing the limits of free speech, but free speech is not without responsibilities. Karson has a right to his opinions, but his fellow students have a right to react to what they find hostile and offensive and to protect themselves in the face of threatening remarks.
To the best of my knowledge Max never used the C-word.
Sure, you can’t yell “fire” in a crowded movie theatre; but you can bellow it at the beach on hot summer afternoon with waves crashing all around. Context means everything. And anyone who knows Max Karson’s background realizes that he thinks he’s being cute, while hoping folks become enraged. And apparently they have…again.
When ACLU attorney Bill Newman spoke at my rally to support ‘West Side Story’ after the Amherst Regional High School cancelled it he said, “The way to counter bad speech is with good speech.” Amen! Please, let's not make Max a First Amendment suicide bomber.
Although with his pathetic karate skills, Max better watch his step over the next few days…because, you know those Asians—they’re all Martial Arts experts.
I've met Karson. I found him somewhat unapproachable but ultimately rather intelligent. Let's be honest, racism is only funny because its so horrible. And his article made me laugh a couple times.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you play the "My Daughter" card a bit often sir. Lots of people have kids. I guess you feel you're defending her honor or something but eh, I can be offended at racial stereotypes for reasons other than having a Chinese daughter.
Spoken like somebody with no kids.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. I only wish that you kicked his ass more when he was taking lessons.
ReplyDeletePeople like Mad Max need to realize that once they're out of the relative safety of the academic world, that voicing idiotic opinions like his in public will lead to him being without a job (except for flipping burgers), without friends, and without police protection. If he says those things out loud in Chinatown, Harlem or East LA he'd get shanked.