Radio Host Under Fire for Racist Remarks About Manny Pacquiao

Radio Host Under Fire for Racist Remarks About Manny Pacquiao Monday April 5, 2010 Who knew someone's decision not to give blood could provoke a racist rant? I certainly didn't, but when talk radio personality Adam Carolla learned that Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao chooses not to give blood before major matches, Carolla went on a hate-filled tirade in which he not only insulted Pacquiao but the Philippines as a whole. "I gotta tell you, if that was a white fighter, and probably even a black fighter--even if the black fighter was from Atlanta or somewhere like that--someone would go, 'What the f_ck are you talking about? Give your drop of blood. It's not going to make a difference,'" Carolla remarked. "But because he's from the Philippines and because he's, you know, praying to chicken bones and stuff like that, everyone's kind of like, 'Uh, well you gotta respect him for his belief system.' No, you don't--he's a f_cking idiot..." Carolla's remarks are not only jaw-droppingly offensive but ignorant as well. Because the Phillipines were once colonized by the Spanish, many Filipinos are Catholic, and, thus, aren't "praying to chicken bones," as Carolla suggests. Moreover, Carolla is incorrect when he suggests that indigenous belief systems--which he equates with idiocy--may lead one to erroneously think that giving blood saps one of energy. I don't know if Carolla has ever given blood, but one of the warnings medical personnel give when one donates blood is that the donor may feel weak for a few days after doing so. That said, a white boxer or a black boxer would likely also choose not to give blood in the days leading up to a fight. So, what has Carolla done here? He's committed the sin minorities are constantly accused of making--playing the race card in a situation that has absolutely nothing to do with color or creed. The fact that Carolla's knee-jerk reaction to learning that Pacquiao declines to give blood in the days leading up to a fight is to bash his culture reveals just how race-conscious Carolla is. Unfortunately, Carolla decided not just to rant about Pacquiao specifically but about the boxer's country generally. "Here's how you know your country doesn't have a lot going for it: when everything is about Manny Pacquiao...Get a f_cking life, as a country. All you've f_cking got is this illiterate guy who won't give up blood, who happens to smash other guys in the head better than other people. That's all you have, Philippines? You want some guy with brain damage running your country? Why don't you get your sh_t together? They've got this and sex tours. That's all they have over there." The narrow-mindedness revealed in these comments is stunning. Why shouldn't the Philippines be proud of one of its biggest celebrities? The United States has lavished its athletes with fame and adoration for decades and continues to do so. Isn't this why something as insignificant to our nation as Tiger Woods' marital infidelity has made newspaper headlines since last Thanksgiving? Yet, no one would suggest that the U.S. is a backwards country because of this. And, while Pacquiao may be adored in the Philippines, he's not running the country, as Carolla so sarcastically implies. But even if he were, Carolla needs to take a look at American legislators and the fact that Minnesoata elected a wrestler as governor, California elected an action star as governor, and the American people as a whole elected an actor to run the country. Once again, do these incidents make the U.S. backwards? Carolla apparently wouldn't think so because overall America is white, Western and Christian. The Philippines, in his eyes, is simply a country made up of ignorant brown people with foolish customs and belief systems. The fact that Carolla jumped to this conclusion with seemingly little knowledge about the country's history, including its ties to Spain and the Catholic Church and the West's role in fueling sex tourism there, shows who the real idiot is in this situation, and it's not Manny Pacquiao. Nadra's Race Relations Blog