Editor's note: Roland S. Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for TV One Cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch with Roland Martin."
(CNN) -- Whenever there is an issue dealing with race, misogyny, sexual orientation or some other hot-button issue, we often hear the cry that we need to have a national discussion about it, whether in the media, in our homes or in our churches.
Yet what always seems to happen is that the discussion ends up being you take your side, I take my side, and we express our righteous indignation. Then what was supposed to have started as a conversation turns into a knockdown, drag-out fight, with folks cussing one another out, naturally causing others not to talk, to discuss or to think.
Case in point: Tracy Morgan's graphic and violent anti-gay "rant" or "bit" or "comic routine" or "meltdown" during a standup act last week in Nashville.
We haven't seen any video of the show or heard the audio, and are basing our judgments of what he said on the account of someone who was in the audience, was offended and wrote about it on Facebook.
I got wind of the issue when I read Morgan's apology for what he had to say. When I saw the CNN.com story, my initial thought was, "Damn. Talk about hateful, nasty and crude." [...]
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland Martin.
I agree wholeheartedly. Personally, I think comedy is amongst the best arenas in which to explore the things we're too uncomfortable to chat about, since the joke opens the door to the conversation and continued humor keeps it light and friendly. Beyond that, as we see demonstrated over and over, making it socially wrong to do or say something isn't going to stop that thing being done or said and the more the use of a thing must be hidden the more likely it becomes that it will be used ignorantly and abused. That goes for language as much as anything else, and 'political correctness' is creating an environment where instead of these words getting less airplay they get more. (In my day, 'f-bomb' would've referred to 'fuck', which is, predictably, a staple in my vocabulary. :D) In a 'sticks and stones' environment where 'words can never hurt' Tracy Morgan would have to be funny to get a laugh. And he is, because he's very good at playing off racial stereotypes and we're uncomfortable with that so it makes us squirm and chuckle, but we're only uncomfortable with racial stereotypes because we can't talk about 'em 'cause it's not PC so the conversation stops with the joke when that's where it should be just starting. When talking and laughing about things are off the table all that's left is fightin' over 'em. I can't help but think of all those people in the stands at the Coliseum, just waitin' for blood and the chance to sit in judgment. Thing is, the tides of public opinion turn so quickly. We might just be the next to find ourselves facing the lions, and I expect we'll be hopin' not only that our gladitorizin' skillz are legit but that the people in the stands are feelin' merciful that day.
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