The victimism sweepstakes

I don't have cable TV, and, since the exciting switch-over to digital broadcast television last year, I barely have broadcast TV anymore. The channel that comes in best most days is the This Channel, which shows obscure 1970-1980s movies, apparently broadcasting them directly from used VHS (or perhaps BetaMax) cassettes. So, I have no idea who is Rick Sanchez (shown here), but this is a funny story from the New York Times that illustrates a lot about the confusing struggle to be an official victim in 21st Century America.

Rick Sanchez, a daytime anchor at CNN, was fired on Friday, a day after telling a radio interviewer that Jon Stewart was a bigot and that “everybody that runs CNN is a lot like Stewart.”

The latter comment was made shortly after Mr. Stewart’s faith, Judaism, was invoked.

Jon Stewart has a "faith?" Who knew?

CNN said in a statement Friday evening, “Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.”

Mr. Sanchez’s comments came Thursday during a contentious conversation with the comedian Pete Dominick on satellite radio. By Friday afternoon, a recording of the conversation had circulated widely on the Internet. He had appeared on the radio show as part of a tour to promote his book, “Conventional Idiocy.”

In the conversation, Mr. Sanchez, who is Cuban American, repeatedly suggested that he had experienced subtle forms of racism in his television career.

Oh, wait, sorry, that top picture above is Danny Trejo of Machete. Here's the real Rick Sanchez.

Oops, excuse me, that blue-eyed fair-haired boy above is Jorge Ramos, mega-anchorman for the Spanish-language network Univision.

Here's the real Rick Sanchez!

... At first, Mr. Sanchez called Mr. Stewart a “bigot,” but later took the word back, calling the comedian “prejudicial” instead.

Prejudicial “against who?” Mr. Dominick asked.

Mr. Sanchez said, “Against anybody who doesn’t agree to his point of view, which is very much a white liberal establishment point of view.”

One of the co-hosts of the radio show brought up the fact that Mr. Stewart is a Jew, saying to Mr. Sanchez, he is a minority “as much as you are."

Indeed.

I would say that from a technical anthropological point of view, Sanchez deserves not just his own race, but his own subspecies: Homo dentistry cosmetica. You don't dig a set of pearly white choppers like those up out of the Olduvai Gorge everyday!

Mr. Sanchez answered sarcastically, “Yeah. Yeah. Very powerless people.” He let out a high-pitched laugh.

“Everybody that runs CNN is a lot like Stewart,” Mr. Sanchez said. “And a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart. And to imply that somehow they — the people in this country who are Jewish — are an oppressed minority? Yeah.”

Oops. Big Mistake. Ask Gregg Easterbrook.

Sanchez should have spoken of generic white males. You can't get in trouble blaming them.

Sanchez was fired even faster than Easterbrook, thus, conclusively proving Jews are a powerless minority.

Mr. Stewart was far from the only person known to mock Mr. Sanchez, who was once tasered on camera for a segment.

Really? Tasering an anchorman on camera sounds like a great idea. Every anchorman should have to hold his own charity auction with the highest bidder getting to sneak up and taser him in the neck on live TV. This would do wonders for CNN's ratings.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer