That's both hilarious and kinda sense making.

I too noted there was a non-white cop in the background of the arrest scene.

Does this affect anyone's discomfort, those of you who were bothered?

A little bit. I wasn't much pinged by the scene myself, though it did make me think "I bet people are going to be bothered by this scene," but then seeing the black cop made it a much more neutral tableau, in my eyes.

I think you have to have your Tivo hooked up to broadband, but I may be incorrect about that.

Remote programming works with regular cable + phone line connection, too. I was programming sweeps month finales from a cramped, sweaty Internet cafe in Mexico last Nov. and May.

eta fix tenses

I admit I wasn't much pinged by Gordon's arrest. What made me twitch was the "racial purity" line and the Godwin Hitler invocation; both of them because they sound bad coming out of anyone's mouth, but the racial purity line was particularly problematic coming from a black man, given the history in which that reasoning was used against the black community.

I think it's possible the SPN writers thought it would be interesting to have Gordon say it; I think it just sounded stupid and made Gordon's case that much weaker.

As for what was Gordon planning to do with Dean, well, 2 issues there. First, turnabout is fair play--he may well have planned to leave him tied up there for three days and then call the cops. Second, as noted above, he really was trying to bond with Dean, to convince him he was right. Hell, his taunt of Sam at the end was more about convincing Dean Gordon was right than anything else. Gordon's gotta get Dean on his side, or Gordon's killing of his own sister is unjustified, and he can't have that, not if he respects Dean, and he clearly does. And he can't convince Dean if Dean's dead.

the racial purity line was particularly problematic coming from a black man, given the history in which that reasoning was used against the black community

I'm guessing then, that you haven't heard the line used within the black community? Because that's where my head went, albeit lightly. I may never know if the SPN people were being ironic, ignorant, or pointed.

But until I read it in LJ, it didn't occur to me to parse the racial purity line a third way. Because my brain was all filled up with the story's way, and with a black guy's way.

you haven't heard the line used within the black community

I have not. Is it used?

but the racial purity line was particularly problematic coming from a black man,

I don't see that. Maybe I'm a little dense, but from the way I've seen black male friends treated by their friends because they were dating a white woman, I think there has been just as much concern among the black community towards "racial purity" as anything you see coming from the white community. Just because it isn't as highly exposed to mainstream America (white America) in the media I don't think we can presume it isn't there.

What Sail said. The term "oreo" is an example of the attitude, but that's just psychological impurity. Drop Squad deals with that premise. Then you have sayings like "the darker the juice the sweeter the berry." You have black people that are violently resistant to the idea they have any non-black blood in them at all, even when it seems to be patently obvious--people who claim that the white blood must be ignored since it was introduced through rape, and get pissy when you explain that white people married black people too, and some of them are your ancestors.

You have philosophies that melanin is what brings you closer to being soulful and enlightened, and you hear it spouted by some of the lightest-skinned folk, and it's so perplexing you can't even beging to engage in the conversation.

Put it this way--when some black people get all "Back to Africa," many of them don't think of taking any white blood there. Despite there being damned few "pure" black people in the US.

Fuck, my dad got some grief for marrying my mother, and she's fucking black too. Apparently it meant he wasn't down with the cause of the people.

So, yeah. It's used. And then some.

Gentlepersons, I bring you A List of Klingon Fairy Tales.

Hey, my Doctor Who Season 2 DVDs just shipped! I don't often preorder from Amazon, so I don't know if they usually ship out way ahead of the release date like this, but this means they might actually arrive before I leave for vacation next Saturday! That would be too cool. t happy dance