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Popular Culture Review
or generalizing is seen as a “as a kind of slavery” which disrespects the sanctity
of individual experience (110). This narrow frame of interpretation suggests that
the apparent moral relativism of talk shows conceals an inflexible understanding
of the rules of dialogue. The paradox of liberalism is that it appears to welcome
all positions, while it silences those that are incompatible with its assumptions.
Liberalism is, in the sense it is being used here, less a specific ideological
position and more a system of organizing ideological positions, and as the
following example illustrates, this system structures the dialogue about racism in
ways that are less than helpful.
TALK SHOW TREATMENTS OF RACISM
Amid the endless stream of mother-daughter conflicts, unhappy marriages,
and makeovers there were very few explicit discussions of racism on old-style
talk show television. Unlike the new-style shows, on old-style shows people of
color were rarely seen at all, except as occasional, topical subjects for debate.
Liberalism was the most notable feature that shaped those occasional debates
that did occur. Because these talk shows adopted the style of personal
conversation, and because they utilized liberal discourse, racism was often
discussed in terms of individual prejudice. Confusing negative feelings with the
social power to enact them, this line of reasoning locates racism only in those
who overtly hate others. On old-style talk shows, the scapegoating could go in
either direction, as African-American figures like Louis Farrakhan and Sister
Souljah were the focus of frequent accusations of reverse racism. When only the
most flamboyantly hateful people are implicated, racism is falsely contained and
conceptualized as an easily manageable problem.
For example, a 1991 episode of Jenny Jones crosses the makeover with a
discussion of bullying. The result, “I Was a Geek, but Look at Me Now,”
represents racism as a beauty issue. A young African-American woman talks
about being teased as a girl for being ugly. She was picked on mercilessly in her
predominantly white school. All the former bullies brought on the show are
whi