Republican apologizes to Obama for calling him “boy”
posted at 8:34 pm on April 14, 2008 by Allahpundit
Back we go to our verbal stumble insta-analysis: Sinister slip betraying his withered racist heart or innocent southern colloquialism thoughtlessly applied to the wrong subject? I was willing to split the difference and accuse him of condescending to Obama for being young — just a lad of 46, he is — but Davis himself is only 49.
Perhaps he’s simply bitter about the economic downturn and chose to express his frustration “small-town style.”
Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) has apologized for using the word “boy” to describe Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) at a Republican fundraiser Saturday night in Kentucky.
“I’m gonna tell you something. That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” Davis said, according to an audio recording of the event that was obtained by The Hill. The lawmaker told the crowd that he participated in “closed, highly classified national security simulations” with Obama…
In the written apology to Obama, which he personally delivered to his Senate office, Davis wrote “my poor choice of words is regrettable and was in no way meant to impugn you or your integrity. I offer my sincere apology to you and ask for your forgiveness.”
“It’s hard to tell what is more outrageous – Rep. Davis’s condescending and personal attack, or his absurd and offensive claim that Barack Obama is not prepared to defend America,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
Will it become an Issue? Doubtless Olby will squeeze a segment or two out of it, likely as a further illustration of how we can presume unconscious racism from the fact that Davis is a Republican, but there’s no way to pin it on McCain and the ambiguity plus effusive apology makes it hard for anyone outside the “Countdown” audience not to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. It’s worth comparing the buzz over this to the shrugs that greeted the AP editor’s “Obama bin Laden” goof earlier today, though (which Obama handled deftly). The best predictor of whether a verbal stumble will catch media fire is how closely it conforms to the opposition’s stereotype of the person saying it. Obama as closet Marxist? Check. Davis as closet Klansman? Check. Media that’s in the tank for Obama comparing him to Al Qaeda? Not bloody likely.
Blowback
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Leave me alone you racist bigot white people hater.
I hate you.
Indy Conservative on April 14, 2008 at 10:00 PM
It’s the Native American blood in me, but i still love you.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:03 PM
No. I am merely stating what should be obvious to everyone.
That is not what Geoff Davis said.
You are defending the indefensible and in so doing losing your credibility to defend the defensible.
You have got to “know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em”.
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Moron republicans can’t help but trip over themselves. They are no different then barry and hillary and just prove that our political class is not made up of our best and brightest.
peacenprosperity on April 14, 2008 at 10:05 PM
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Yeah, I know thats not what he said. But you made the blanket statement that anybody calling a black man “boy” should know better. So, again, if an obama supporter said, “that’s my boy” would it be racist?
And, btw, I’m not defending anything. I said I would wait to pass judgement on context and the way he said it. Could it have been racist? Certainly. Do you or I know for a fact that racisms was the impetus to call Barack “boy?” I don’t think so.
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 10:06 PM
Indefensible, stupid, and yes, racist. Davis deserves every shot he will take over this. Even in sunny and non-Jim Crow California, everyone understood exactly what it meant to call a black man “boy”.
Ed Morrissey on April 14, 2008 at 10:07 PM
I haven’t defended anyone. Go back, use your little quote feature and find where I defended anyone in this topic and drag it up front and center.
If you are going to insult me, at least don’t take liberties with the truth, if that’s not too much to ask.
Hog Wild on April 14, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Case in point, just happened. One of our friends down here, very successful black family…their son (10 years old) plays on a sports team. At a game one of the white fathers is yelling at the son “run boy run!” Our friend was really angry, turned around, said “damn, what the f*ck is he thinking?”
Southerners with any brains just don’t go there as it causes pain to some of our friends and brings up stuff that happened 40-50 years ago down here.
funky chicken on April 14, 2008 at 10:08 PM
I don’t call anyone “boy” not even kids, it’s a dumb word IMHO.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:08 PM
Ed Morrissey on April 14, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Really? Have you heard the comment? I didn’t see an audio at any of the links.
And I’d reiterate my question to MB4 to you. If an Obama supporter says “That’s my boy,” is that supporter being racist?
Is the term “boy” used in any context towards a black man explicitly racist?
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Superb, a Republican uses the word “Boy”!
And the timing is good too,lets add more fuel to
the Rev.Wright soap opera on race,now the Liberal’s
will say,ya know maybe Wright has a point!
Even up here in the great white north,with Wright
being a racist,don’t play into this race mess!
This is exactly how Liberals will spin this around to
the Republicans,as I said before being sucked into this
racial vortex!
Republicans,it doesn’t matter even if you don’t speak,
the Liberals will find a way to blame conservatives!
This “Boy” comment either dies,or it’ll be another
grand distraction in this election!
Best part of all,its still in the Liberal nominee process!
canopfor on April 14, 2008 at 10:14 PM
I don’t know about the racist part Ed, he apologized for it.
If you do it on purpose then its racist, this wasn’t done on purpose, I think he calls all people who are inept and naive “boys”. He probably would have said the same thing about John Kerry after his elitist and anti-war comments.
“John Kerry that boy shouldn’t have his finger on the button”
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:15 PM
Forget about the boy comment…Keep your eye on the ball here. His point is that this freshmen Senator with a resume’ as thin as a razor should not be directing the armed forces of the most powerful nation in the world…I suspect the reference to boy was well planned to make sure he energized the MSM for a couple of days. Would his comments have been newsworthy otherwise? Bambi is going to get 95% of the black vote anyway in a head to head with McCain. Where’s the downside? Yeah I know, more racial polarization, more white racist stereotyping of Republicans. Got it…
Nozzle on April 14, 2008 at 10:16 PM
Rep. Geoff Davis has a speech flaw and shouldn’t use the word “boy” anymore find a new word, something he will need to work on.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:19 PM
I love you too.
Now leave it alone or people will start gossip about us.
Indy Conservative on April 14, 2008 at 10:19 PM
An inelegant use of a southern colloquialism.
There’s so much hypocrisy involved here. I have black friends who use the word “nigga” interchangeably with “man” or “guy” and I’ve heard them use it to describe a white guy as in “That nigga didn’t know what hit him”.
I was almost mugged a couple weeks ago. One of the threatening black teens yelled out, “let’s jump the nigga”, and with my fair skin and bright red beard it’s hard to mistake me for a black man.
So I’ll give Rep. Davis a pass on this one. He was just being a good ol’ boy.
Ten bonus points to anyone who can identify the writer who brought the phrase “good ol’ boy” to common consciousness.
rokemronnie on April 14, 2008 at 10:19 PM
I read the comments. They’re in the post! How dense is that question, Volmagic? “That boy’s finger” is not anything close to “boy, am I glad to see you”. Use your brain, please.
I don’t know of a single black man who heard that statement from a white man who would not immediately associate it with a racist attitude, and for good, historical reasons. Denying that is just silly and obtuse.
Ed Morrissey on April 14, 2008 at 10:21 PM
This is the kind of news that you do not want..
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:21 PM
Careful Ed, your making sense. You might get pegged as a lib…
Squid Shark on April 14, 2008 at 10:24 PM
So I’m supposed to feel bad for white people now who are afraid to stand up against racism when it’s used against them? Sorry, no sympathy there dude.
If you are unwilling to act, then don’t whine. I’ve taken my lumps for speaking up…in hostile environments on behalf of righteousness. So, if you need to tell a roomful of blacks that they are mostly mistaken about a particular issue, just friggin do it. I’m sorry many seem unwilling to do so for fear of being called a few names.
I’ve been called many ugly and unforgettable names. I’m still standing.
If a Republican is afraid to speak out for what’s right, he’s a wuss. In this case, he’s just an idiot. The smartest thing he said today was “I’m sorry.”
It’s odd to me and it seems downright dysfunctional when people get so invested in defending such obvious and often racialized infractions. It’s as if there’s a need to get white guys off the hook for racism as if getting them off the hook somehow releases one’s own internal pressures. Strange stuff.
All in all, racism semes to be pretty hard on whites. Let me know if I can help.
The Race Card on April 14, 2008 at 10:27 PM
Nice. You wanna edumicate me some on the historical signifikance? I just done skipped ma skooling when I was a boy. (Oh no!)
I frankly find it insulting that you are so quick to throw someone under the bus to show how enlightened and racially sensitive you are. I recalled when Don Imus got in his kerfluffle and went on Rev. Al Sharpton’s radio show, he ending up saying the phrase, “you people.” He was referring to Al and a caller who couldn’t accept he wasn’t a racist, but, presto-bango, Sharpton responded in high dudgeon, “You people? You people!?! What do you mean by that!?”
Basically your position is that, becuase of the color of Davis’ skin, he is not allowed to use certain words to refer to a man of color. And I thought the PC police were generally found on the Left, yeesh.
Now I’ll go back to being a dense fool. Later Cap’n. Keep to the center, full sails!
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 10:30 PM
My family(dad’s side) is from Mississippi and I get called “boy” all the time.. My dad says it to me and my brothers to this day “boy” give me the remote, “boy” could you please get me a soda.. (we are white and part Native American)
Should I be offended?
What this guy said was “out of touch” and Stupid if thats how he talks and not racist IMHO.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:32 PM
Every now and then I call Hussein Banana O’Bamba ‘boy,’ whether I have the intention to be racist or not, it’s not anybody’s business because you don’t know my true intentions.
And to be straightforward, I am not racist. But I do hate people who use race to get what they want. And that is the purpose of my attacks on that boy.
Why am I calling him ‘boy’?
Because he is a young foolish guy, inexperienced, he is an empty-suit, he is naive especially on foreign policy, and he is using racism, the media, political correctness and affirmative action to get what he wants which is being the first Black president.
All THAT -to me- makes him a boy who is fooling grown-ups.
And he is succeeding because voters are idiots.
Indy Conservative on April 14, 2008 at 10:33 PM
Ed,
I’m forty five years of age. I was born and raised in Charleston SC, the birthplace of secession. I’m afraid that I’m just not old enough to remember blacks being called “boy” as a matter of course. It was already in the distant past for my generation. On the flip-side, being called a cracker or honkey was not at all a rare occurance for my generation. It was heard early and often. Not so much anymore…These words say more about the person/idiot using them than anything else. In that, I think most blacks and whites would agree. Ok, back to Davis…Again, I think it was planned. Yeah, it reflects poorly on him personally but I think he took the hit in order to re-focus the electorate on Obama’s inexperience…One man’s opinion.
Nozzle on April 14, 2008 at 10:34 PM
If I were Obama, I’d be a lot more concerned about Davis saying that I was indecisive and unsure of myself in the simulation, rather than worrying about whether Davis deliberately used the term “boy” in a racially offensive way. Of course, if Obama can get everybody’s attention focused on the slur (if that’s what it was), then he doesn’t have to answer questions about Davis’ opinion of his readiness to lead, does he?
AZCoyote on April 14, 2008 at 10:34 PM
So, yet again, that is not what Geoff Davis said. Geoff Davis said, “That boy’s“.
- roll eyes -
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 10:35 PM
Rev.Wright and his fellowers here that comment and
presto,it reaffirms their believes!
Stop adding the fuel,and it will snuff itself out,hopefully!
canopfor on April 14, 2008 at 10:35 PM
People can rationalize this all they want, but “boy” means something significant when applied to a black man. Pretend it doesn’t matter, but don’t expect most people to take you seriously. I’m not “sailing to the center”, I’m just not going to rationalize it. You challenged me, not the other way around. If you can’t handle the response, that’s not my problem.
Ed Morrissey on April 14, 2008 at 10:37 PM
You racist. See, by only responding to part of your post I can do that.
-bangs head on table-
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 10:38 PM
Sorry, I called a white guy “boy” a week ago. Well, okay, he is my son, if grown up…
When Slick redifined “is”, we lost any itegrity in language or our interpretation of it.
That poor Barry O cannot rise about a three letter word…is that the kind of weenie we want to trigger nukes or talk to nutcases who might?
Get real. Please. The wussification of this country continues.
Oh, and no pol apologizes except when the light shines on them, just like cockroaches they run for the dark. What they say or do in the dark is not an issue for them. See?
Harry Schell on April 14, 2008 at 10:40 PM
It is like pretending that using his middle name is “just using his middle name”, right Ed?
Squid Shark on April 14, 2008 at 10:40 PM
Did I call you dense or sarcastically urge you to use your brain? No. But I guess when you don’t have a good defense insults are always available. Deal with it.
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 10:40 PM
Let’s review:
Republicans repeat anything a Liberal says and its
crucification time!
A Liberal says anything he wants and gets away with it,
even saluted for it!
Thats the difference!
canopfor on April 14, 2008 at 10:41 PM
Squid,
Exactly. Thank you.
Volmagic,
I apologize for the first, and you still haven’t done the second, as your response to MB4 proves. It wasn’t sarcastic.
Ed Morrissey on April 14, 2008 at 10:43 PM
No doubt the guy screwed up, however if “boy” is a word that he frequently uses(like my dad does when talking to me), then I can see how it happened.
I just do not use the word, because I know that you can get into trouble with it.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:47 PM
Nozzle, then he’s a dumbass if he did it on purpose. It totally gets Obama off the hook with his small town smears.
He’s either an idiot, a racist, or a racist idiot. Not attractive no matter what.
funky chicken on April 14, 2008 at 10:48 PM
Ed,
Does that make it racist, because it can be associated with a racist sentiment?
I’m trying real hard here. Because someone can view it as racist it is racist? Isn’t that a pretty low threshold?
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 10:49 PM
Chakra,
He represents a district in Kentucky. I don’t imagine the use of “boy” directed at black men and its cultural significance escaped his attention.
Ed Morrissey on April 14, 2008 at 10:50 PM
He misspoke, I believe.
Place him at a Klan event or show a pattern then we can talk.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:51 PM
Do you or I know for a fact that there will not be a big earthquake in San Francisco tomorrow? I don’t think so.
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 10:53 PM
Maybe it’s cause I’m 19, but I didn’t know “boy” was some kind of racial slur. I thought this all had to do with Bambi’s age until I read the comments.
HYTEAndy on April 14, 2008 at 10:53 PM
I’m not black, and I’m not from the South, and like I said before I’m pretty young (19). Until I read the comments, I had no clue what anyone was talking about.
HYTEAndy on April 14, 2008 at 10:54 PM
I really, find it hard to believe that he would purposefully do it.
for what reason?
only to instantly apologize, in public and written. come on.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Calling him “boy” in the context of claiming a 46-year-old black man to be too juvenile to be President is racist, yes, and really rather obviously so.
Ed Morrissey on April 14, 2008 at 10:56 PM
I know.
–rolls eyes–
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 10:56 PM
Like I said, he probably uses “boy” as a way to describe ANYONE that is inept or Naive.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:57 PM
A big fuss over someone calling Barack Hussein Obama boy?
We have a closet jihadist with a muslim name running for President of The United States.
Barack Hussein Obama is a guy who hangs out with and idolizes Louis Farrakhan(who calls all white people white devils),accepts money from iraqi muslim billionaires,takes BRIBES from Hezzbollah connected muslim terrorist supporter Antoin Rezko, helped his al qaeda connected COUSIN Raila Odinga get “elected” in order to implement SHARIA LAW ( http://eakenya.org/newsevents/article.htm?id=8 ) in 80% Christian 10% muslim kenya and you’re worried about someone calling him boy!!
Has the republican party gone completely PC leftist?
SaintOlaf on April 14, 2008 at 10:58 PM
“I’m gonna tell you something about John Kerry. That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,”
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:58 PM
How many times in how many ways must it be said that Geoff Davis did not say “That’s my boy”?
Heavens to Mergatroid!
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 10:58 PM
“I’m gonna tell you something about John Edwards. That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,”
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 10:59 PM
I love it when Ed’s absolutely positively sure about something. Like gay marriage.
No more discussion necessary, it was racist, and that’s final.
One can interpret anything to be racist. I can’t believe you’re so absolutely sure he was trying to be racist, right out in front of God and the media and everybody.
Stupid, absolutely. Racist, you cannot be sure.
misterpeasea on April 14, 2008 at 10:59 PM
What happened to The Race Card? I’m still waiting to be put into my place.
Darn it!!!! Did I end the arguement again by relying on facts?
I have got to stop doing that. This is no fun. I didn’t even get a chance to insult him back…
The Race Card – 1
Hog Wild – 0
Oooh someone’s gonna pay…
Hog Wild on April 14, 2008 at 11:02 PM
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 10:58 PM
You can say it all you want, you’re still not addressing my point.
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:02 PM
“I’m gonna tell you something. That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” Davis said
You are becoming quite dysfunctional.
Remember Murphy’s “First rule of holes”.
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:04 PM
Normally I’d agree, but considering the weapons-grade stupidity I’ve come to expect from the GOP elite, I wouldn’t be so sure of that.
doubleplusundead on April 14, 2008 at 11:05 PM
Ed what happens when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong-il calls Obama a boy?
Do we go to war?
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 11:06 PM
So is it just a lucky coincidence for the racist cracker that “boy,” in its non-racist but still insulting connotation, fits Bambi so perfectly?
misterpeasea on April 14, 2008 at 11:08 PM
I have never understood the negative conotation of the term “Boy”. I have to really be careful though, and it pisses me off. In this part of the country we use the term all the time to describe white guys, Good ol boy, that ol boy, and so on. But without thinking about it if (because I don’t see color most of the time) I use that same phrase on a black person I am a racist.
Lighten up people, damn.
conservnut on April 14, 2008 at 11:09 PM
Let me apologize for calling him Bambi. That could be interpreted to be racist, and I certainly wasn’t trying to be racist.
misterpeasea on April 14, 2008 at 11:09 PM
funky chicken on April 14, 2008 at 10:48 PM
I’m not defending the guy…I was merely pointing of the machivellian angle…And, I have no idea how to spell it…
Nozzle on April 14, 2008 at 11:10 PM
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:04 PM
I know you’re being provacitive, cause I know you aren’t that dumb, but it really is rich to see someone with such a dim view of a group of people (muslims) call someone else a racist.
You and Ed really gotta teach me the trick where you can deduce the hearts and minds of a person from an eleven word clip.
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:10 PM
Like I said, I don’t know the guy, if thats how he talks normally(like calls his kids boy), I can see where mistake happened.
He apologized in public should be put in jail?
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 11:17 PM
Heh. The idiot defense.
funky chicken on April 14, 2008 at 11:19 PM
I was just now thinking that very same thing.
That makes the point. The very point Geoff Davis was making, although he was focused on Obama’s inability to make a decision.
rockhauler on April 14, 2008 at 11:19 PM
So irritating. I thought all the mind-readers were on the Left.
misterpeasea on April 14, 2008 at 11:19 PM
misterpeasea on April 14, 2008 at 11:19 PM
Heh, well, it is obviously racist, and he is a white guy from Kentucky, so he must be racist. You and I are the dense ones cause we don’t fall for the race-baiting that is a 24/7 business in AmeriKKKa today. But as soon as we’re done rationalizing racism we can start using our brains. Maybe.
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:23 PM
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 11:17 PM
Not put in jail, tarred and feathered!!!
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:24 PM
Here’s what he could have said “We don’t need someone that inexperienced to have the finger on the nuclear codes”.
The rest is all superfluous babble, and some of you making excuses, for the inexcusable stupidity of a congressman named Davis.
Entelechy on April 14, 2008 at 11:24 PM
Your “point” is completely uncoordinated.
You are like a dog who thinks he has a bone and no matter how many times folks tell you it’s a garden hose, you still insist that it’s a bone.
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:27 PM
Not a defense of the dumbass, just stating that it’s possibility that the dumbass wasn’t being provocative, just being stupid as hell. Dumb can be just as counterproductive as malicious, so that isn’t any vindication of him. The old adage “Don’t attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity” comes to mind.
doubleplusundead on April 14, 2008 at 11:31 PM
Sorry R2D2 3cpo MB4 I must have flunked out of PC 101. The country has really jumped the track with all this jittery fear of thought police running around. All I can say is boy oh boy, we are in trouble.
wepeople on April 14, 2008 at 11:31 PM
No doubt he screwed up, but was it racist?
Maybe those that always see race when they think of Obama are the real racists, maybe this guy just sees Obama as a regular man(and doesn’t think about color)?
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 11:31 PM
Actually it is more like an exceedingly dim view of a religion.
I believe that both of us have said/implied that what he said is racist. Is he racist most of the time? Don’t know, but he sure was that time.
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:32 PM
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 11:33 PM
Wrong!
The mind-readers have spoken. It Is Racism.
misterpeasea on April 14, 2008 at 11:34 PM
Strawman.
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:35 PM
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:32 PM
Fair enough. I just didn’t know you could be racist sometimes and not others. That is what is bugging me about this. When you assert that it was a racist statement, you are asserting that Davis is a racist and he accidently let some show.
If he is a racist he has no place in public office. If he isn’t racist then the comment could not have been racially motivated. Thats the problem I’ve been having with this.
If it was a racist comment springing for the racism he holds, then an apology should not suffice and he should leave office. Otherwise, it was a choice of words that grievence mongers latched onto. Do you see my point? Or am I still being really dense?
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:36 PM
You are fighting the right battle, but you are at the wrong location.
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:37 PM
Content of Obama’s character is inept and naive..
maybe the man didn’t see color he saw poor character and lack of judgment.(And displayed lack of judgment of his own)
Like they say, when you point the finger at someone, you have three pointing back at you..
Chakra Hammer on April 14, 2008 at 11:37 PM
totally agree, just liked your formulation. idiocy like this sets back GOP good will with AA political “seekers” that might be uncomfortable with the ugliness on the dem side but not familiar with the Republican party.
that’s why I said he could be an idiot, OR a racist, OR a racist idiot.
I can’t tell, but frankly, it doesn’t matter. The damage is done.
funky chicken on April 14, 2008 at 11:38 PM
I just didn’t know you could be naughty sometimes and not others.
I just didn’t know you could be wrong sometimes and not others.
I just didn’t know you could drunk sometimes and not others.
See what I mean?
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:42 PM
OK, just to recap here for some of you.
You are fighting the right battle, but you are at the wrong location.
You are fighting the right battle, but you are at the wrong location.
You are fighting the right battle, but you are at the wrong location.
Get it now?
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:46 PM
Ed, should we not use the word niggardly because many, if not most, black people would erroneously associate it with a racist attitude? Should I stop calling female dogs bitches because some feminist might get her mammaries caught in a wringer over it? Is Hank Hill racist when he says, concerning his son, “That boy just ain’t right”?
All this reminds me a little of the old SNL bit with Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor trading racial epithets. It ends something like this:
CC: jigaboo
RP: honky
CC: pickaninny
RP: dead honky
The threat of violence or backlash against a supposedly insensitive remark will always trump that remark.
rokemronnie on April 14, 2008 at 11:48 PM
No, I don’t get it. Those are false analogies. Either someone harbors racist sentiments, that one race is inherently superior to all others, or they don’t. Short of a conversion experience, that sentiment will not change. certainly not on a daily basis.
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:48 PM
It is true that you can be wrong sometimes and right other. You can be naughty sometimes and nice others, but I fail to see how a basic philosophical understanding of the equality or inequality of the races can be something you pick up and drop on a whim.
See what I mean?
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:50 PM
Either someone harbors sexist sentiments, that one sex is inherently superior to the other, or they don’t.
Do you get it now?
You are going off on a “How many angles can fit on the head of a pin” tangent in any case.
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:52 PM
Pretty much…kinda depressing.
doubleplusundead on April 14, 2008 at 11:53 PM
Bingo.
Better analogies:
I just didn’t know you could be religious sometimes and not others.
I just didn’t know you could be xenophobic sometimes and not others.
I just didn’t know you could believe in the 2nd amendment sometimes and not others.
Keep trying, Vol, as soon as you get him over the whole “I know what’s in his heart” thing, you might make some progress.
misterpeasea on April 14, 2008 at 11:54 PM
Things can come in degrees. I am trying to give Geoff Davis the benefit of the doubt by not assuming that he is racist all the time. Maybe he is though. I dunno.
See what I mean?
MB4 on April 14, 2008 at 11:57 PM
Really? I was making the point that if the comment is racist, it has to come from the fact that the person saying it is racist. If the person saying it is racist, then he has no place in public office. But, apparently, an apology is fine.
I’m just looking for logical consistency here.
If the person who made the comment is not racist, then the comment cannot be racist, however much you might think it is racist.
So, either this Davis guy should leave office cause he is a racist who slipped up and let his racism show, or he isn’t a racist and his words are having meaning put on them that he didn’t intend. Two pretty stark choices.
Do you see how that goes there? From racism comes racist comments. Racist comments cannot come from someone who is not a racist. Logical consistency.
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:58 PM
How can you be racist saome of the time?
VolMagic on April 14, 2008 at 11:59 PM
Now that one is hyper easy. Such a softball.
Lot’s of people fit that one.
Boyman do they ever.MB4 on April 15, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Oh come on. Do you not see the absurdity? Either you think other races are inferior, or you don’t.
It’s not that in the morning, I think Asians are inferior, but in the evening, I think they’re just like the rest of us.
Or when I get in front of a camera, I think black people are inferior, but when I get home in private, I think they’re just peachy.
misterpeasea on April 15, 2008 at 12:00 AM
So are you racist 100.00000000000000000000% of the time or are you racist 0.00000000000000000000% of the time.
MB4 on April 15, 2008 at 12:02 AM
Yeah. I said “better analogies,” not “perfect analogies.”
Here’s another point:
INTENT MATTERS. No matter what word you use, INTENT MATTERS.
Isn’t that why black people can call other black people the inward and white people can’t? It’s assumed that the black people don’t have racist intent, while the white people do.
Can we please have the same standards for all?
misterpeasea on April 15, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Yes. Please tell me how it could be otherwise. As misterpeasea said, it’s not a belief that can change with ease.
Ohh, I see you problem. You can act not-racist some of the time, but if you are a racist, you are a racist 100% of the time. It is a bedrock belief that you either have or don’t. Just cause you don’t show it all the time doesn’t mean you don’t think/feel it all the time.
VolMagic on April 15, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Ed, Maybe it’s an enigma….. ?
We may never know, only those that know him will know for sure.
Chakra Hammer on April 15, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Yes. I’d've said obviously. It’s not like changing shirts. You either think other races are inferior, or you don’t. 100% or 0%.
Congrats, Vol, I think he’s getting it.
misterpeasea on April 15, 2008 at 12:05 AM
OK then, by your “logic” Geoff Davis must be 100% racist all of the time as he is clearly not 0% racist all the time.
I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe you want to hang the damn racist.
MB4 on April 15, 2008 at 12:06 AM
AHA! Maybe that’s the sticking point.
misterpeasea on April 15, 2008 at 12:07 AM
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