Four Take-Aways from the Michael Richards Story

Happy Day After Thanksgiving. While lolling in a tryptophan-inspired daze, I find my thoughts drifting to the week's biggest turkey, Michael Richards. Here are my top four takeaways from the incident:

1. Now that video and cell phone cameras are ubiquitous, if you are going to say or do anything stupid (or Taser someone in the library), it will end up on YouTube. Cosmo Kramer, meet Macaca Allen.

2. YouTube has become to Internet video what Kleenex is to tissues. Again and again and again, I heard media commentators saying the Richards story broke after the video showed up on YouTube -- never once mentioning or crediting TMZ, where the video first appeared (see point #1 above)

3. TMZ has cornered the market on scoops involving racist diatribes. It's a small but significant niche.

4. An awkward, stammering, semi-coherent but swift apology -- even one that forces Jerry Seinfeld to scold the audience like an old schoolmarm -- is better than no apology at all. But just barely.

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