Post by electroshockblues on Nov 9, 2005 5:54:02 GMT -5
In each one of these cases, he's being deliberately provocative, though. He's using the racial slurs because he know it WILL piss them off, and thus get the desired effect. In Tripp's case, it was to make Tripp react violently so he could arrest him. With Tavon, he was just getting really annoyed that Tavon wouldn't drop the subject and leave it be. And with Antwon, I think its very clear that he was trying Antwon to get pissed and hit him, so he would have some justification to shoot him dead -- that's why he took off the handcuffs, and that's why Antwon realised, and put them back on.
I hear you. It hadn't escaped my notice that he was trying to rile Tripp/Tavon/Antwon but I forgot to mention it in my post. My counter argument would be that its just too much of a coincidence (for me, at least) that all of Shane's targets for racial abuse happen to be succesful black men. Its undeniable that he's trying to piss them off, but I think Shane really does mean what he says.
For one thing, why do you think Shane wanted to arrest Tripp anyway? Sure, Tripp acts bigheaded etc, but Shane's disdain for him obviously goes beyond that IMHO. He also disliked Tavon from day one and was immediately jealous of Vic and Lem's initial acceptance of him.
Overall, I think that the writers create these situations so that they *are* somewhat ambiguous, but IMHO the evidence points more toward Shane being a racist.
And with Antwon, I think its very clear that he was trying Antwon to get pissed and hit him, so he would have some justification to shoot him dead -- that's why he took off the handcuffs, and that's why Antwon realised, and put them back on.
Off topic, I know, but how would Shane defend the fact that he took his gun into interrogation with him? I also remember Vic having his gun with him in interrogation, but then again I recall many scenes where Vic hands in/recieves his gun from the main desk when he enters/exits the Barn.