Two Princes

A couple of news stories have got my goat. One is about a dog, the other, a different animal.

So, Dog the Bounty Hunter is a flaming racist. He’s pretty much fired from A&E due to some damaging remarks that have surfaced from a phone conversation with his son. I’ve recently gone over how important it is to protect your ass when you feel like saying stupid things, but I think a certain measure of privacy can be expected when you’re talking to your family on the phone. But I don’t feel sorry for him and I’d like to break it down. In the conversation, which you can hear here, he tells his son how damaging it would be if the media was made aware of how much they used the n-word (prescient) even though he seems to try to make it clear that its not in the racist sense (ok, fine.) It’s kind of hard to make out his point, with all the n-bombs being tossed around, but apparently, fear of being branded a racist is the reason he doesn’t want his son to continue dating a black girl he’s been seeing. Which is where context becomes more racist than vocabulary. But don't worry, Dog. Don Imus just got his job back, so just hold on, be strong. (For the extreme irony trifecta, it should be noted that he is brought down by his son – a tactic he might have learned after years of helping his dad convince family member to turn each other in.)
In sports news, wishy-washy, frequently separatist lawyer Guy Bertrand made hockey hero Saku Koivu the center of attention this week, accusing him of being unfit to captain the Montreal Canadiens. Bertrand was offended that Koivu spoke English only during a pre-taped pre-game ceremony, and said, although something may have been lost in translation, that he has the right to be served in his language. But Bertrand, the stupid idiot, comes across unaware that Koivu, captain of the Montreal Canadiens, isn’t even actually a Canadian. He came here from Finland and picked up a second language (English) to communicate with his teammates. Or that Koivu, naturally, speaks some French, but might be uncomfortable speaking it in front of a stadium full of people. (Although he heroically did just that at the next game.) He might also be unaware that less than half of the Habs’ roster is Canadian, and that less than half of those are from Quebec. Or that, quite likely, more than half of the fans at the game counted English as a first language. Who does he want as captain of this team, Brisebois? Is he so deluded that he’s already forgotten how many Quebec players dismissed his idea of a Quebec national team at the 2008 World Ice Hockey Championships? Does he know that many talented players, including Quebecers like Daniel Briere, choose not to play in Montreal due to the often ridiculous media scrutiny, and that this can’t help? Wasn’t he around last year when they ALREADY GAVE KOIVU A HARD TIME ABOUT IT? Leave Saku alone!! He’s good for you.