Things that suck: Sellouts

Aaron McGruder recently invoked the wrath of Reverend Al Sharpton over his use of "the n-word" in his syndicated cartoon "The Boondocks" on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Let's start by stating the obvious here: Al Sharpton is just looking for votes....and Sharpton would only have a valid argument if McGruder were just looking for jokes. He's not. Boondocks is much deeper than that - for starters, the main character is named after Huey Newton. If you don't start with that baseline understanding, you're not going to understand any of the humor (nor the knifing social commentary) - and McGruder is going to just look like an angrier 2006 version of George Jefferson.

If you like Public Enemy, you should like The Boondocks. You don't have to like the lyrics to like the song. To enjoy The Boondocks, you just need to appreciate the point he's making - you don't have to agree with it. Comedy's like that - it's the linguistic science of delivering the unexpected.

Some people have compared The Boondocks with All in the Family. If that's true, there were two distinct audiences of All in the Family - those who got the underlying joke (racism is idiotic), and those that didn't - they just agreed with Archie Bunker. Under that system of logic, Al Sharpton fits into the "not a fan of the show" category. He should just leave it at that.

Al Sharpton is a Don King sellout, preying upon America Idiota for votes. But then again, it's not like pandering doesn't work in politics.