I love The View; it’s a guilty pleasure. I love Whoopi. Whoopi and Elisabeth got into it over use of the N-word. You can see the video of the exchange here on Us Magazine. Elisabeth, of course, cries, wearing her white guilt on her sleeve. She doesn’t understand why it’s alright for black people to use ‘the n-word.’ Elisabeth of course cites the movie _Crash_ as her politically correct credentials. Whoopi makes two important points in response. First she explains that when black people use ‘the n-word,’ they have taken it from the hands of white people who use it against them. She says, “This is a word that has meaning when you give it meaning.” This is a primary lesson in language that I wish all my students would understand. Second, when Elisabeth claims that we live in the same world, Whoopi goes off on her (very gently, I must say), explaining that they do in fact live in different worlds, at which point Elisabeth cries.
What’s most frustrating about the exchange to me is (1) Elisabeth says we have to go through the conversation because we love each other, but imo her love for her co-hosts is shallow. It’s the common humanist “we’re all equal” sort of love rather than an embodied sort of caring that recognizes vectors of power, and (2) The View, for obvious reasons, never really lets the discussion get too uncomfortable. People always want to paper over these conversations in the real world, and bound by its market, The View is no different. So Barbara Walters is compelled to cut the conversation. Thankfully, she cuts of Elisabeth instead of Whoopi.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I think Whoopi was dead on. By using the n-word, it gets rid of its power. We are doing the same thing right now in NYC with the comedy “feminazi” (the n-word for women). We have an uber-German feminist looking for sexist pigs. By personifying this derogatory term we are making people look at it and think twice. By addressing it, you get rid of its power.
Get rid of big mouth, know-it-all Elisabeth. She thinks she knows everything but if she does, she doesn’t show it. She sounds and acts like an immature cry-baby. I have watched the View from day 1 and have like all of the co-hosts until Elisabeth. Too young? Lisa was young and believable so age should not matter. Bye bye Elisabeth!!!