The War on “The Sopranos”

Amidst all the hysteria surrounding “The Sopranos” and the popular show’s alleged anti-Italian bias, a calm, rational assessment of all the facts — tangible, social and political — are necessarily required in order for fair-minded people to make a judgement before this entire episode spirals into complete madness.
It is quite true that there is a double standard (or, in fact, several different standards) when it comes to the portrayal of ethnic and racial groups in popular culture.  These differing portrayals have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual reality of life in America, and everything to do with political correctness and the disinclination to offend radical ethnic and racial interest groups.  For example, on television and in the movies, blacks are invariably portrayed to an inordinate extent as computer geniuses, heroic doctors, and generally benevolent, moral and sober. 

There are, of course, many blacks who fit these descriptions.  But if Hollywood were to be concerned with a totally accurate reflection of reality, most street criminals would be black (citing FBI statistics in proportion to their percentage in the overall population) and most heroic doctors and computer geniuses white. 
This is not to say that Hollywood ought to be bound by reality, but these facts must be taken into account when the racial sirens start complaining.  And even with this consistently unrealistic favorable portrayal, blacks radicals complain about their screen images.

Now, it is also quite true that some groups are treated in a slipshod manner by comparison.  Anti-Christian bias is definitely prevalent, especially if one defines “bias” as treatment that would not be given to another group.  Uproars attached to blasphemous works of “art” depicting unflattering and outrageous images of Jesus and his mother arose not only because of the extreme nature of the paintings, but even more so because Christians know damn well that such disrespect would never have been leveled at Moslem or Jewish icons.  Anti-Christian bias is indeed, as one writer put it, “the last proper bigotry.” 
But unlike the artwork (which was underwritten with tax dollars) and, to a lesser extent, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” which insulted a particular icon, “The Sopranos” simply does not fall into the same category.  So-called “Italian spokesmen” (whatever that means) complain that “The Sopranos” portrays Italians as brutal criminals with vulgar mouths; as simpletons and, most offensively, as mobsters - playing right into the stereotype.  

In fact, what the show does is portray these particular fictitious Italians that way, not Italians in general.  What are the producers to do?  For goodness sake, you couldn’t get a good mob show off the ground if you tried to portray them as a simply swell bunch.  The fact that the players are Italian-Americans is simply rooted in fact.  Historically in America (although it is now changing) most mobsters have been Italians, even though most Italians have not been mobsters.  FBI crime figures have been stubbornly consistent in this regard — less than one-tenth of one percent of Italian-Americans have been associated with organized crime.  The new Italian crusaders should point this out if it makes them feel better, and as often as possible if it serves as a kind of therapy for them.

What has become clear is that the self-appointed Italian spokesmen are not in step with Italians in general, who view themselves primarily as Americans, and who generally enjoy “The Sopranos” because it is a finely acted, entertaining piece of fiction. What is also becoming clear is that Italian sirens risk coming off like the radical blacks and Hispanics, who spend most of their lives with massive chips on their shoulders, searching for, flailing at, and whining about every perceived slight. 

Plainly, Italian-Americans are among the most conservative groups in the United States. The new Italian sirens reek of a very embarrassing paranoia that borders on hysterics.
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Italian-Americans would do well to address genuine problems that affect them, like anti-white affirmative action, set asides and quotas, all of which keep Italians from jobs and positions they deserve.  Third world immigration is killing white neighborhoods.  Moreover, Italians face the same obstacles that all whites encounter in America — a leftist media double standard that highlights white crime and downplays non-white brutality.  These, of course, are the issues that genuinely hurt Italians.  But some politicians simply have too much time on their hands, or are too preoccupied with what appears on cable television to address them.