Also, watching from the distance (and while considering myself privileged to be able to do that, please note in advance this disclaimer before reading further, whoever reads past this voids his right to become offended and yadda yadda) I consider this admission of the interviewer quite... Pythonesque (like I've said -- when reading from a safe distance):
"I watched “The Germans” episode this week, and it was jarring to hear the N-word bandied about in such a casual way. It threw me out of the story for five minutes."
I mean, really. Watching the show made on another continent around 50 years ago. Well, newsflash, Mr. interviewer:
1) the world does not consist of the U.S. of A. alone.
2) the world didn't start to exist at the moment you've learned to tweet.
3) it's possible to have a... perspective and an awareness of the existence of the passage of time and of the existence of different continents. It's not that hard.
Not to mention that in 2020 there are enough people that claim being anti-racist also at the same time happily support ideologies which are provably inherently racist and misogynic, because they believe that not doing that would be racist.
Now for a slight digression, another interview with Cleese:
Just checked: pythonesque is definitely an already existing word.
It's so easy for humans to support at the same time something and the opposite of something and not even being aware of that and of the absurdity of being in that state. I guess there must be some studies about the effect.
Accordingly, as seen around 1970:
"Dear Sir,
I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the song you have just broadcast about the lumberjack who wears women’s clothes.
Many of my best friends are lumberjacks, and only a few of them are transvestites.
Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong, Mrs.
P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times."
Absolutely.
Also, watching from the distance (and while considering myself privileged to be able to do that, please note in advance this disclaimer before reading further, whoever reads past this voids his right to become offended and yadda yadda) I consider this admission of the interviewer quite... Pythonesque (like I've said -- when reading from a safe distance):
"I watched “The Germans” episode this week, and it was jarring to hear the N-word bandied about in such a casual way. It threw me out of the story for five minutes."
I mean, really. Watching the show made on another continent around 50 years ago. Well, newsflash, Mr. interviewer:
1) the world does not consist of the U.S. of A. alone.
2) the world didn't start to exist at the moment you've learned to tweet.
3) it's possible to have a... perspective and an awareness of the existence of the passage of time and of the existence of different continents. It's not that hard.
Not to mention that in 2020 there are enough people that claim being anti-racist also at the same time happily support ideologies which are provably inherently racist and misogynic, because they believe that not doing that would be racist.
Now for a slight digression, another interview with Cleese:
https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/spiegel-inter...
Just checked: pythonesque is definitely an already existing word.
It's so easy for humans to support at the same time something and the opposite of something and not even being aware of that and of the absurdity of being in that state. I guess there must be some studies about the effect.
Accordingly, as seen around 1970:
"Dear Sir,
I wish to complain in the strongest possible terms about the song you have just broadcast about the lumberjack who wears women’s clothes.
Many of my best friends are lumberjacks, and only a few of them are transvestites.
Yours faithfully, Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong, Mrs.
P.S. I have never kissed the editor of the Radio Times."