TVSquad

does anyone think Cosby is wrong? Instead of standing up with rediculous political candidates he is attemptoing to actually help black America!! Does anyone think education and proper goals is not the way for black america to unite america? While there are racists out there who will be racist no matter what, most employers want good educated people regardless of race. He is attempting to point black kids in the one way they need to accomplish what they deserve!!

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I'd probably say that "a much-needed public intellectual" is the closest of the choices. I doubt he'd characterize himself as a public intellectual but just someone with a high enough public profile to raise awareness of issues that he sees as needing to be addressed by the black community. Those prone to listen to and respect him will likely get something useful from his message and seek answers to his questions and implement his suggestions.

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is this TV news? Sounds like it belongs on PoliticsSquad which this site is slowly starting to become.

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Let's see. The rhetorical question you posed starts with "Has television's ideal dad aged into"...well, gee, that's not very nice or neutral right from the start. And then we get three choices, two harshly negative and one ("much-needed public intellectual") that still manages to miss the importance of someone who HAS concerns and an outlet to a higher audience. We're wading in snark here...the guy's serious about what he says, so he earns the "overly earnest" label, as if an excess of earnestness and sincerity is something we have to cure him of,
Cosby has a multi-decade interest in education and civil rights and I think that certainly earns him a seat at any table that discusses what happens to generations of kids...of ANY race.
Sometimes, snarky cheap-shot blogging makes me long for, well, you know, journalism.

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It doesn't hurt that he is an insider in the community. Criticism of this nature from an outsider would be too easy to discard, but from someone inside the community is becomes more palatable.

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What better person to help the african american community then Cosby. He is in the spotlight and only attempting to unite balck famiies to take responsiblity and to help their children succeed in a harsh world where racism still exists but where usually hard work, education and motivation equals independence...and less reliance on gov. hand-outs

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Way to go Mr. Cosby - we need many more people to speak out to ALL people, of all races,regarding this harsh world and taking responsibility for our own individual actions and not blaming someone else!

So many young people entering the workforce now
have no idea that starting at the bottom, not the top, is OK and teaches you life lessons along the way.

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Being a TV Dad, does not give Bill Cosby the Right to speak out against anything. One reason that I have a problem with his opinions. I just don't like his Track record. He is not a good role model for our kids.His lifestyle just Don't line up either.Being Faithful to your wife should have been his goal, years ago. As we see it," he should pratice, what he preaches".

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I'm actually going to answer the question posed at the end: "unfunny curmudgeon."

That's what Cosby has become. And it isn't because I don't agree with him, because I do agree with him. But it's funny how America's most funniest dad has become America's most grumpiest grandpa.

Everytime I read something about Cosby these days, he's whining and crying about something. It's one-note.

He may have a point, but he's forgotten how he used to get his points across before: with humor. He was able to redefine the black American family to a whole generation of people who had only seen jive-talkers and hoes. And he did it with laughter.

Now all I ever see is Cosby jibba-jabbin' with a scowl across his face. And it defeats the purpose. Because the only ones listening are the ones who agree with him, or the ones who agree with him but find his rants approaching repetitious boredom.

And the people he's really trying to reach definitely haven't heard one word. So, what's the point? Why keep talking to the converted?

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Cosby hasn't "aged into" anything. He's been a consistent advocate for education and family accountability his whole life. The man has a Ph.D. in education.

What has happened is that those standards have eroded around him and us -- and, as a previous poster noted, not in any single community.

And what makes him stand out today is that he isn't copping out, going with the flow and spouting a lot of permissive mumbo-jumbo. He's standing up like a grown-up and suggesting that kids and their parents have to work hard, take education seriously, and tie their expectations of what life will give them to their willingness to put something in first. What a radical.

He's addressing his own community, African-Americans, because he has the stature to do so.

The other blog you linked to lays bare its wrong thinking with this attempt at analysis: "Can you blame the parents when the politicians don’t care either?"

Excuse me? The chain of responsibility for a kid starts in Washington, and eventually makes its way down to the kid's own parents? What a load of nonsense. We need 100 more Cosbys out there.

If Julia thinks Parker and Stone are going to skewer Cosby over this on South Park, then she doesn't have a good grasp on the South Park sensibility. If they featured him at all, it would be as the voice of reason.

I agree this is semi-OT for a blog about TV, but I didn't put the original post there.

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Hey Jim! Here's a high-five and a hearty "amen" for everything you said.

Abso-freakin'-lutely spot-on, man.

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Corn-on-the-Cosby hasn't been funny for ten years. Remember The Cosby Mysteries? Or the second Cosby show? Or L'il Bill? Or the horrendous Fat Albert movie?

Oh, how I'd like to forget.

JR

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Two things.
First, Cosby is saying things that need to be said. Nobody else addresses Black issues without the pretense of "us" verses "them" a.k.a. black vs. white when that is not the case.
There seems to be a trend in black culture to blame white culture for all it's ills. I'm in no way saying that there is no racisim, there will always be (or at least there will be for a VERY long time) but we all have to rise above it. Black, White, Yellow, Purple, we all have to live with one another on this planet so we (and this is aimed at people of all colors) need to learn to stop pointing the finger at other races or groups and saying "it's their fault".
Instead we need to be taking responsibility for our own situations and taking action ourselves to improve our own place in this world.
Cosby is doing that for his group, which in this case is Black America. I see nothing wrong with that in the least.
Now if only they would listen.

And second, to "Mike"

"3. is this TV news? Sounds like it belongs on PoliticsSquad which this site is slowly starting to become."

Posted at 11:27AM on Nov 3rd 2006 by mike 0 stars

Hey Mike. Shutup.

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I attended the meeting at Maranatha church and Cosby's comments were helpful and honest. Dr. Cosby is trying to help educators, like myself, reach the new generation, to tranlate knowledge in an authenic effective way. Many of us are not able to reach them or make our subject matter relevant to our students so there is a disconnect and we actually lose the students. I enjoyed his rant and will take some of his suggestions back to my classroom, I believe his advise will work.
Marsha

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