GOP rep calls Obama Tar Baby.

<And what's "niggardly"?>

stingy

"if you are not living with the racism that might victimize you at any minute, it is hard to judge the relative demerits of using this term."


It is racist only when used in the proper context.


"we should all be sensitive to others. . .period. the english language is the richest language in the world, with the largest vocabulary by far and with many cultural traditions to draw upon. particularly those in the public eye should be very careful what they choose to say. "

Or people should just except the fact that living in a free society comes with the responsibility of accepting that you will not always be catered to


"i can't tell this man what to do, but making a sincere apology never hurts. "


Apology for what and to whom?


"i have only scarcely felt any sort of racism against me. . .i know that my great grandparents probably did. but i would sure love to live in a world where racism doesn't exist. . .wouldn't you????? "


Yeah, and some want to live in a world where it rains raspberry sherbert


"yeah? but probably not as much as some who faces the possibility of racism, large or small. . .every single day. . "


A good way to start dealing with a problem is by defining what it is, and what it is not. This is a clear case of what is not

<i would sure love to live in a world where racism doesn't exist. . .wouldn't you?????>

If that's the case you should be arguing against ignorance in regards to racial issues, rather than promoting it. How does it help any racial group when you send the message it's okay for that group to be perceived as ignorant and hypersensitive based on that ignorance? Bullshit like this makes racism worse.

If you remember it was me that did the legwork of looking up tar baby and I provided a few links on the subject. Your statement insinuating I hadn't read up about the subject is misguided.

So here's some more on the N word: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger for which there is no proper use either. It's equally offensive coming out of the mouths of any race.

Further, my extended family is of mixed race origin. issues with race? No. Issues with institutionalized racism at the highest levels of government.

I worked in marketing for 6 years. It was enough to know that you don't need to say someone is this or that. All you have to do is use their name in the same sentence and the picture gets implanted in the mind. It's the basic psychology of selling. You implant positive connections with your product to increase sales.

At the same time you eliminate negative connections to keep your product in a favorable light. This was such a huge principle of marketing that companies used to pay people to surf chat rooms (pre blogs) and bulletin boards to report on how their product was viewed by the public.

If you don't think the point got across to the "right" people then why did Kevin James shout "well if he didn't say Obama, he should have"? Bush knew exactly what he was doing. He's the master at imply-i-zizing.

bottom line is this racism of any type has no place in modern society. Whether or not the term originates in Africa (yes there are Africans who are racist against other Africans) or not we must, as a society, move beyond the concept or the condoning of racism in any form.