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Why are Louis CK and Alec Baldwin claiming that black people are their most ardent supporters?


https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/10/louis-ck-alec-baldwin-and-convenient-fans-color/574555/

“They tell you that when you get in trouble, you find out who your real friends are,” Louis CK reportedly said during his set Monday night at the Comedy Cellar. “It’s black people, it turns out. They’ll stick by you.” CK's comment comes weeks after Baldwin told The Hollywood Reporter, "ever since I played Trump, black people love me. They love me." According to Hannah Giorgis, "that both men, white and rich and powerful as they are, would name 'black people'—that hastily aggregated monolith—as their primary supporters amid heightened critical attention is curious, but perhaps not wholly surprising. Their comments partake of a long tradition. Trotting out the proverbial black friend as evidence of one’s open-mindedness or innocence in the face of controversy is hardly new...By allying themselves with black people, at least rhetorically, both Baldwin and CK attempt to access the symbolism of victimhood: The men seem to be cashing in on black people’s oppression in an attempt to paint the group’s approval as uniquely weighty. This is manipulative, disingenuous logic. Black people, even those who might feel sympathy toward either of the comedians, do not exist as rhetorical tools to be levied in the face of criticism. Whatever black supporters CK or Baldwin may have found in the wake of their perceived missteps are not shields to be thrown up when the men do not wish to face the ire of others—or tokens to be redeemed for cultural cachet. Solidarity is a reciprocal endeavor."

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For many people, even white liberals, minorities are a group they can try and manipulate and claim as if they are a trophy or a hive mind void of individuals who can think for themselves. Also, by claiming they have black friends (which is basically what they're saying) they think they come off looking cool and open minded when in reality they are being just as ignorant as those they often chastise for doing similar things.

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Correct

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[deleted]

Pandering.

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Youre reading way too much into this.Louie said that as a joke and its not even in his special.it would be if he was doing what you claim he is doing

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"By allying themselves with black people, at least rhetorically, both Baldwin and CK attempt to access the symbolism of victimhood"

Nonsense, much?

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Well said & makes a legit point

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[deleted]

Somebody's always got to be pissed off about something. I thought witnessing the fall of the American empire would be fascinating. It's not. It's quite boring.

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