I would understand your point if Carolyn or George had done this, rather than The Donald. The Donald's racist statements about Jews and blacks prior to the finale make me skeptical of him and of his motives. It also made what he did NOT great television, and his action ripped yet another hole in the racial divide in this country. That is unpatriotic and completely unethical.
I also question his judgement in using an inaccurate stereotype ("lazy" Randal) to describe a clearly over-achieving Rhodes Scholar who happens to be black. The fact that Randal is not highly extroverted (like Troy from Season 1) does not mean that his more introverted personality renders him laid-back. It simply means that this hard-driving person listens and is perhaps more thoughtful in brain-storming sessions than someone with a more extroverted personality. (Markus, perhaps?)
Randal has illustrated that he has a keen verbal style, so he is not afraid to speak up when appropriate. In short, being thoughtful is not the same thing as being laid-back or even lazy. It is clear that Randal weighs positions before he speaks, and given his fearlessness in expressing an unpopular opinion during the finale and in sticking to that position afterwards, he is not a hypocrite.
The Donald, on the other hand, strikes me as being precisely that.
I believe that Robot Kelly falls into a similar category (that of being hard-driven and over-achieving and even perhaps a bit introverted). The Donald clearly wanted to hire him, so he allowed Burnett to stereotype Jen M as a shrew to validate his decision not to hire her. The stereotyping was not necessary, even if hiring Jen M could not be the obvious result of that competition based on performance and editing.
The harm of the high tech lynching of Jen M during the finale of Season 2 continues to leave a bad taste in my mouth. The images were powerful and they affected people everywhere. And if destroying people's lives is great television, then America needs to get a new pastime.
It was not necessary to attempt to impugn Jen M's character, and The Donald could have hired Robot Kelly without attacking Jen M's reputation. If he is capable of that kind of stereotyping (female corporate competitor as shrew), then he is capable of harbouring racist attitudes against Randal. Both impulses spring from the same horrible place.
What is interesting is that The Donald never used stereotypes when discussing Robot Kelly during the competition or after. Why did he do so with Randal, especially given the fact that the stereotypes were clearly inaccurate? And why did he stereotype at all?
I cannot as an interested bystander believe that a reasonable man would use stereotypes, even to get television ratings, unless he believed them. Stereotypes are too nonsensical, and using them could cost him money. Additionally, the history of this country is far too volatile when it comes to the issue of race for this approach to make any social or economic sense.
(Mark Burnett is another issue. He does not hail from this country, and his sophomoric approaches to editing and uses of stereotyping fail to reach even the lowest level of comedy that most intelligent people would profess to abhor. His disregard of the egregious effect of those approaches highlights a patent disregard for social responsibility that many open-minded Americans embrace, especially since the civil rights movement. So I will leave him for now, and I hope that other television viewers will do the same. Eventually, he may go away quietly.)
I don't think that Carolyn or George would do such a thing (stereotype, that is). I think that The Donald showed his true propensity (that of being racist) when he stereotyped in describing Randal's work style. I think he did the same thing when he made pejorative statements against blacks and Jews in the book.
It is for these reasons that I believe that Rebecca is merely a pawn in an invidious game that The Donald is playing with the people of America. She deserves better than that, and God knows that Randal does.
--Singer
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