4 posts tagged “racist”

In case you missed this. From Media Matters:

As the cable news channels began filling up valuable airtime Monday with discussions of the appropriateness of a New Yorker cover depicting Barack Obama burning an American flag in the Oval Office, under a portrait of Osama bin Laden, another important story was largely ignored by the mainstream media - that of a veteran media personality injecting racially divisive stereotypes into a discussion of Sen. Obama.

This weekend on The McLaughlin Group, the program's host, John McLaughlin, asserted that Obama "fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo -- a black on the outside, a white on the inside."

McLaughlin: "Question: Does it frost Jackson, Jesse Jackson, that someone like Obama, who fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo -- a black on the outside, a white on the inside -- that an Oreo should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle which Jesse Jackson spent his lifetime fighting for?"

Call John McLaughlin and demand he apologize on-air during next week's broadcast.

McLaughlin's statement was so obviously out of touch and inappropriate that two members of the McLaughlin panel refuted the basic premise. Panelist and Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Peter Beinart said: "Who knows what Jesse Jackson is thinking? But that's a completely unfair depiction of Barack Obama."

Later in the discussion, Michelle Bernard, president of the Independent Women's Forum, said: "I want to go back to the point you made about whether or not Obama is an Oreo, because if Barack Obama is an Oreo, then every member of this generation of African-Americans is an Oreo, because we stand on the shoulders of the people who fought for our rights."

Call John McLaughlin and demand he apologize on-air during next week's broadcast.

The all-important weekend political talk shows set the agenda for our nation's newsrooms and the acceptable terms of our public discourse -- McLaughlin's comments weren't just offensive, they were a relic of politics past.

I hope you will take a moment and make your voice heard on this important issue.

I'm been listening to the news of the Imus racial and sexual slurs. I'm sure most of you have. It seems to have taken over media outlets and pushed other news stories off the airwaves. The question is, is this a real news story or is this yet another distraction over more urgent news, say the war in Iraq, nuclear fuel in Iran, nuclear weapons in North Korea, etc.?

I have mixed feelings. Racism and sexism in America are very real problems. Most of the racists are very closeted about it. Sexism is often more obvious. Sometimes extremist views pop up in the unlikeliest of places by unlikely people. For example, an Indian man I used to work with, one day at work, just out of the blue, started talking about how Jews cause the world's problems. I was shocked.

You look at most people around you who seem to be normal, but how many may be hiding deep feelings of racism, sexism, etc.?

Howard Kurtz writes about "Online Ugliness" over at the Washington Post (updated link):

One of the unique qualities of Internet discourse is its freewheeling, no-holds-barred nature, where passionate arguments are often accompanied by some choice expletives and a virtual finger in the eye.

But what happens when the talk turns ugly, racist and violent?

In recent weeks, some of those who post comments on the conservative blog Little Green Footballs have said they wished that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had succeeded in what the Gitmo prisoner says was a plot to kill Jimmy Carter. And some who posted comments on the liberal Huffington Post have expressed regret that the suicide bomber at a military base in Afghanistan failed to take out the visiting Dick Cheney.

...

What is spreading this Web pollution is the widespread practice of allowing posters to spew their venom anonymously. If people's full names were required -- even though some might resort to aliases -- it would go a long way toward cleaning up the neighborhood.

While I sometimes see ad hominems or purely prejudiced statements used on Vox, they are mostly used by posters and commenters who have run out of rational and factual arguments. I have not personally seen the degree of ugliness in the article on Vox, but I don't have time to surf that much either. Perhaps some of you can share your experiences, good and bad, especially on Vox.

Read this [CNN] and comment on what you think.

I think there is a terrible legacy of racism still in America that is the direct result of the long history of slavery and Jim Crowe. Most racists in America do not wear white robes or even use the "N" word. Most racists are closeted, some even are not self-aware of being racist.

I think Biden's comment reflects this lack of that self-awareness because it is so deeply engrained in so many Americans. I do not consider Biden a racist, but his remarks were.

Discuss.