There are people at my church who have volunteered and gone to Haiti – and they’re racist. I know, because I heard the crap they were saying when they got back.

You, my freind, have hit the nail on the head. The people went to Haiti, volunteered, made a conclusion based on WHAT THEY OBSERVED, and expressed their feelings. Where is the racism?

And as KGB pointed out, 94% of Taiwanese are considered part of the Chinese ethnic group. You are right about Lin’s heritage but it is his race not heritage that is at issue with this particular headline.

Happy Nomad on February 23, 2012 at 8:17 AM

Regardless, there are only two conclusions one can draw from this incident :

canopfor on February 22, 2012 at 7:22 PM

It is a long, dirty and sordid business actually working hard to bring the Evil Tar Sands oil to my friends and neighbors in the US…….. but somebody has to earn these massive paychecks, I mean, take one for the team…. Just ask the Communist in Chief, who says everyone has to do their fair share. This is me helping to produce oil that runs American business and commerce….. Heh.

Besides we are practically neighbors now, I think….

Subsunk

You get 50 comments of “you racist bastard.” You might even get banned.

Good times.

Yeah it is a double standard. Yes, you probably do good work. No, it doesn’t matter when the PC police decide you are bad and need to be taught a lesson.

See, isn’t modern America fun?

At least he didn’t say, “eenie meenie miney moe!

Of course Southwest Airlines stood up for it’s employee,

I thought of that incident too. The Bride of Monster happened to have turned the car radio to NPR back when some people were talking about that incident, and an older black lady made a very interesting point: In order for the flight attendant to know not to say “Eenie, meenie, miney, moe”, someone would have had to tell her about the n-word version. The fact that the flight attendant only knew the “tiger” version is progress.

Similarly, the only way you can know not to use the word “chink” around an Asian is to be exposed to the use of the word “chink” as a racial epithet. So the fact that someone can grow up only knowing a “chink” as a break in the protection afforded by armor, or that eenie meenies catch tigers by their toes, which should be considered a Good Thing, leads to those people offending those who know the other meanings.

You write for a network that’s in business to appeal to the stupid, so quit whining like a little girl and take your lumps.

MNHawk on February 23, 2012 at 8:18 AM

What do you expect from a society whose President has delivered three State of the Union speeches that are written at an 8th grade level? Generations of the NEA being able to keep stupid teachers in place have created a stupid public.

jakev on February 23, 2012 at 8:16 AM

This story really isn’t about guilt or innocence or even intent. It is about public perception.

Any reasonable person reading that headline would assume that it referred to Lin’s inability to keep the ball. Only a race conscious person would infer that it talked about Lin’s heritage (which is Taiwanese, not Chinese).

jcelephant on February 23, 2012 at 7:49 AM

It isn’t at all clear that a reasonable person would immediately assume that the headline referred to Lin’s ball handling ability. That is something that would come out in the actual story not the headline (which is designed to attract attention, in this case the wrong kind of attention).

And as KGB pointed out, 94% of Taiwanese are considered part of the Chinese ethnic group. You are right about Lin’s heritage but it is his race not heritage that is at issue with this particular headline.

Said police are also granted the specific power to simply guess whether you meant it to be racist, intended it to offend, or just used a phrase that has been used for centuries to illustrate a point. Common sense will no longer be an acceptable factor in judging your guilt or innocence.

Severity of punishment will be calculated by multiplying the seriousness of whatever Dear Leader is being criticized for at the time of the infraction, and how big of a stink is needed for cover. This product will then be divided by the political persuasion of the perpetrator to arrive at the proper squeal level.

Remember out there…keep your language at the level of dullness required to stay under PC Police radar. Our country’s PC Police Serious Crimes Squad members are highly trained and well-funded. And you are just you.

Or, alternatively, you can tell the PC Police to go up an alley and holler fish. If you choose this option, be prepared to lose your job and to be banished from proper society.

However, based on reports received here at Ground WTF, we hear that the alley/fish option, though a harder row to hoe, will help you sleep at night.

Hope this helps.

Only a race conscious person would infer that it talked about Lin’s heritage (which is Taiwanese, not Chinese).

To be fair, the Taiwanese, with the exception of a small aboriginal population, are Chinese.

This guy goes all Orwell explaining why he’s not racist. He isn’t. ESPN is. Any reasonable person reading that headline would assume that it referred to Lin’s inability to keep the ball. Only a race conscious person would infer that it talked about Lin’s heritage (which is Taiwanese, not Chinese).

Now, if this guy had been posting headlines with slope, dink, gook, slant-eye, yellow etc, then maybe you could say the guy is a racist. But to make someone start reciting their good works in order to defend himself truly is scary. When I read that statement all I heard was Orwell and Ayn Rand.

Just as the “niggardly” comment at that Washington, DC meeting/conference was not inherently racist.

Just as the water buffalo comment by Eden Jacobowitz railroaded by Sheldon Hackney at University of Pennsylvania was not inherently racist.

The etymology will set them (and me, if necessary) free.

There are several distinctly different concepts all rolled up into one large bleating whine.

First, people get fired for “honest mistakes” all the time. In this case the mistake was a headline that could easily be viewed as a racial slur. An editor at a major media outlet should have been more thoughtful when covering a player part whose race is a big part of the story right now. I see this firing as being based on poor professional judgement not on racial bias. The guy wrote a headline that could be read in an offensive way. Somebody who claims to have written thousands and thousands of headlines should have known better.

Secondly, It is nice that this guy happened to have friend who needed a good Samaritan moment (almost verbatim from the Bible), he spends times with orphans, the homeless, and Alzheimer’s patients. That he works at soup kitchens and convalescent homes and organizes coat drives. It is even admirable that he claims that he does it for the glory of God. But the fact that he brings all this stuff up in his defense shows that at least a little part of it is for self-agrandizement. And not one of these actions go to character but do not refute charges of racism. Racists can work at soup kitchens too.

Finally, I can empathize with the idea that you want your name cleared and much of what has been said about you is blatantly unfair. But that too comes with the profession and putting things out there for public consumption. Is it fair? Probably not but it comes with the territory.

I do think outright firing is a bit on the harsh side but when you don’t have the public stature or following of media personalities like Don Imus, it is probably easier to just get rid of the problem in a knee-jerk reaction instead of having to defend “honest mistakes” to an angry public. The minute the headline becomes the news, the media outlet is on the wrong side of the ensuing discussion.

The guy writes headlines for a living, so he should have realized “chink” could be taken the wrong way. That said, I don’t think it was intentional, and I don’t believe he should have been fired. The apology should have been enough.

For crying out loud, we’re talking about someone’s livelihood here. It’s not worth ruining someone’s life and career over a simple mistake anywhere but in liberal PC land.

Of course this guy is right. But America is quickly abandoning free speech and humor unless an approved minority preapprove the same.

pat on February 23, 2012 at 1:01 AM

Whether you realize it or not, you just cited a very good example of the dangers of a democracy ( as oppposed to a Constitutional Republic) that our Founding Fathers tried so hard to avoid.

Too many won’t be aware of the difference, however.

Whitlock works for Fox News these days–and I’d pay good money to watch Serena Williams and Jeremy Lin kick his fat @$$ for extreme obnoxiousness.

Yeah, I don’t believe that. “Chink in the armor” doesn’t really make a great deal of sense here. When I think armor I think defense. Lin’s errors were committed on offense. Seems an odd expression in that context.

For what? I don’t know if he’s a “racist” but it seems like he has very poor judgment.

Firing him was a rather harsh response–I’m betting that ESPN is glad they don’t have to deal with Jason Whitlock and his “two inches of pain” comment about Lin–but at the very least Federico screwed up royally at the expense of his employer, and a full court defense of him just expends capital that would be better used defending someone who actually is innocent of any wrongdoing.