tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6385085882160667044.post5336336049702242100..comments2023-08-16T10:32:46.866+00:00Comments on E3 Gazette: Looks like I'm not the only one...The Monsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15291546809967159683noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6385085882160667044.post-32162423082101508182009-02-23T22:54:00.000+00:002009-02-23T22:54:00.000+00:00We've been subjected to 8 hears of George W. Bush ...We've been subjected to 8 hears of George W. Bush being described as "Chimpy", "Chimpler", "Curious George", etc., and now a political cartoon featuring a primate is evidence of <I>racism</I>? Please.<BR/><BR/><BR/>I remember a controversy a while back, when a Southwest Airlines flight attendant called out to the passengers when the plane had reached the terminal: "Eeenie, meenie, miney, mo! Grab your bags; it's time to go!"<BR/><BR/>A couple of black passengers were offended by this, and complained. Apparently, the flight attendant in question had only heard the version of the rhyme that goes "Grab a tiger by his toe", not the form that uses a different __ger word. A community affairs show on one of the NPR stations that The Bride of Monster listens to in her car featured this fascinating observation by an elderly black woman: "Here we have a flight attendant who had never heard the racist version of that rhyme. Shouldn't we see that as a sign of <I>progress</I>?"<BR/><BR/>I mention that to draw this analogy between the two. <BR/>What these two stories have in common is that, in order for a person to have racist intent, they have to have been exposed to the racist idea in question. A person who thinks black=chimp can find racism in the cartoon, but in order to know that people would find the cartoon to be racist, one must have some awareness of the stereotype. <BR/><BR/>So, there is just one way to be certain to not offend sensitive people: you have to teach eveeryone "catch a n__ger by his toe" and "blacks are sub-human chimps", so that they'll know how offensive they are, and that they must never think these horrible things, nor say anything remotely close to them. You must deliberately perpetuate the very thing that offends people, lest you inadvertently offend them.<BR/><BR/>And that, in a word, is <I>sick</I>.The Monsterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15291546809967159683noreply@blogger.com