Well, so much for any advantage relating to “elitism” the Republicans may have had with regard to Obama’s “God, guns, and racism” remarks at the San Francisco fundraiser.
Only on a planet inhabited by such ignoramuses, such geese as this GOP Congressman from Kentucky would Obama be about ready to skate on his extraordinarily arrogant and dismissive attitude toward the white middle class.
This idiot has just handed Obama the advantage:
U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a Hebron Republican, compared Obama and his message for change similar to a “snake oil salesman.”He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama.
“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” Davis said. “He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”
Davis all but call’s Obama a stupid n*****.
Okay, now the elitist in me is about ready to emerge. But one look at this guy’s picture says it all. The Gomer Pyle ears, goober eatin’ grin, and something inbred around the eyes bespeaks a throwback. Put a uniform and a badge on this guy and I can see him aiming the fire hose at women and children in Selma.
This man should be censured by the House. Everybody in America knows by this time how hurtful and just plain wrong it is to refer to a black man as “boy.” It doesn’t matter if he calls white men “boys.” The connotations are entirely different and everyone knows it.
If the guy is so ignorant that he didn’t think it was wrong, then he’s too stupid to serve in the House – even for a Republican.
Needless to say over the next 24 hours the debate on the Obama gaffe will shift. It will no longer be how arrogant and dismissive of the white middle class is the Democratic candidate for president but rather how much did he get right in his little rant?
UPDATE: 4/15
There appears to be a gap in the commenters between those who see the word “boy” as a problem when applied to blacks and those who don’t.
My – what a surprise.
I learned not to call grown black men “boy” when I was about 5 years old (I am 54 years old). Maybe younger. The fact that many of the commenters to this post either didn’t learn that lesson or reject it because it is somehow “politically correct” doesn’t surprise me. The most casually racist stuff gets deleted by me on a regular basis if only because I don’t want my site polluted with such abnormality.
Look – most of what we on the right call “politically correct” deserves every criticism thrown its way. PC has become a straitjacket for free speech. Anyone who reads this site knows full well my opposition to most examples of PC and its debilitating effect on political dialougue in this country.
However…
There are some things you cannot say without revealing yourself to be a closet case. The “N” word is one of them. “Gook” is another. “Spic, greaser, wetback” and a few others are also verboten.
There might be 10 words in the English language out of 50,000 whose connotation is just too hurtful to others and should simply never, ever, ever be used. This is not “PC.” This is what we call “common courtesy” at the least or better yet, being aware of other people’s feelings and sensibilities. In other words, being compassionate.
One of those words that cannot be used without offending someone is “boy.” The Congressman recognized it. Most real conservatives recognize it. Why many of you in the comments cannot is simply beyond my comprehension and experience.
5:05 pm
Calling a black a boy is only ignorant because previous ‘racist’ determined that should be so. Kind of like the ‘order’ to not call B Hussien O, Hussein. Hell there are boys in black neighborhoods and Hussein is one of them’s name. People have been throwing the racist apple out for too long and some so called ‘educated elitest whites’ have taken too many bites. No wonder Hussein feels it’s right to call the white working class a bunch of bible toting gun hugging, immigrant hating red necks. How about the left wing loving mentally retarded media types calling the Pope a Nazi? This presidential race has created more division in the country than the democrats did because Algorabge lost in 2000, and like it or not, he lost bigger everytime the nuts recounted the votes. Is there a dirty or slanderous word left that the white race hasn’t been called in the past two months by the Hussein crowd? Yep, and I truly was at one time a supporter of democrats only.
5:08 pm
Rick… Rick… Rick. Are you from the south?
First of all, “Boy” to a southerner is a colloquialism, and generally a friendly (or at least not disrespectful) one at that. I grow weary of hearing what words can and cannot be used by people of one race to refer to another when people of that race use it to refer to themselves.
I’m so very tired of this racial nonsense around Barack, a man who is himself of mixed heritage and raised, in fact, by “typical white people”.
How much did Obama get right in his little rant? I fail to see how this proves what he got “right” at all, except perhaps the fear of people who look different portion – and even then, it’s a serious allegation to claim that Davis has racist sentiments towards all blacks.
No, this comment is not nearly as serious as Obama’s. Davis’ comment was, at worst, a single word slip-up because he is a) a southerner who speaks that way about everyone and b) obviously not aware of the latest verboten terms. Obama’s comments reveal an entire mindset which has been thoroughly dissected elsewhere.
The media, however, will spin Davis’ comments entirely out of proportion. That’s what they do best. But jumping on that bandwagon shows a lack of judgment, in my opinion.
5:39 pm
“Davis’ comment was, at worst, a single word slip-up because he is a) a southerner who speaks that way about everyone and b) obviously not aware of the latest verboten terms.”
b) first—as Rick pointed out, the racial connotations of the term “boy” as applied to black-vs-white Americans are not some new trend, and if Davis was unaware that they term was loaded with racial implications then he is stunningly out-of-touch with American society, not some new-fangled, recent “fad”.
a and b)—why, when Davis makes an inflammatory remark, are the only possible explanations innocent, whereas when Obama makes an inflammatory remark, the only possible explanations are offensive? “At worst”, he uses the term in regards to everybody. No, “at worst” he’s a bigot who showed his face. I’m not saying that he is (I agree it was probably the southern slang slipping out), but clearly that’s the worst possible explanation. The possibility that he might harbor racial animosity is absolutely unthinkable? Not even a possibility? Davis must use the term for everybody, black and white, and use it with the same race-neutral emphasis . . . that’s alot of assuming without any evidence.
6:54 pm
Geez, when I read the remark I could not figure out what the big deal was. After I read the comments I now realize that to refer to him as a boy is deemed racist. What the heck? I can’t for the life of me keep all of the words, that can be taken as racist, straight. This is just plain stupid….oops, wonder if that was somehow racist to someone! All of this PC crap has got to stop.
7:10 pm
Oh “Boy”...
Josh Marshall, on a topic unrelated to what I’m about to talk about, produces what I think is a very sane concept when we look at our usage of language, and language’s potential to offend.
In cases such as this I think it is always crucial …
7:21 pm
Hey, Rick. Not so fast! Last time I checked, this Congressman is not running for President. Moreover, what kind of logic says his ONE remark cancels out the VOLUMES of hate spewed for over the past two decades by Obama’s Pastor? Certainly not in mine.
Moreover, the Congressman is entitled to his opinion: He just didn’t express it in “respectable” terms. Stuff happens.
This is a good old, rough-and-tumble campaign. I am enjoying it!
7:37 pm
Davis is a dope and that is pretty well agreed on by those in this section of the country.(Cincinnati-Covington, Newport area) That the liberal press will goes nuts to defend their boy, oops I mean candidate is not a surprise. That a leading conservative writer would do so is.
7:41 pm
[...] of the mind rot that such idiocy leads to in otherwise quite intelligent and reasonable persons is this post by LC & IB Rick Moran, in which he grows indignant over some twit politician saying, about the Obamessiah, that [...]
8:05 pm
what if he did mean it to sound as it sounded? what then… why does it lessen the derogatory and incendiary comments by obama? why are we letting it trip us up. i mean let us be serious here. we are actually taking the spotlight off of obama (ourselves) by spending the time to examine the semantics of a good ole boy from kentucky. ahemmmmm, he (Davis) isn’t running for president of the USA, obama is… so let us shift focus to the potential POTUS. please.
8:32 pm
When I first heard of this story, I was shocked at the crass choice of words. Then I took my time to read the context of Davis’ speech, and while it might not have been elegantly expressed, was not (in my opinion) intended to be a racial slur towards Obama. This entire incident is just a media-frenzy over not much at all; Davis will certainly get unfairly hammered for it. However, I felt much the same way about the entire “Bittergate”, so what do i know? Apparently, I am not enough of an elitist or a fed-up white man to know why these 2 stories matter at all.
8:34 pm
[...] to officially become the nominee look no further than the comments on conservative blogs QandO and Rick Moran. Both McQ and Moran know that this is really really stupid but at least of their commenters simply [...]
8:57 pm
[...] to officially become the nominee look no further than the comments on conservative blogs QandO and Rick Moran. Both McQ and Moran know that this is really really stupid but at least of their commenters simply [...]
9:51 pm
.....and Davis is a typical white guy.
10:21 pm
And only a blogger could be so craven. So what if Obama got called a ‘boy’? He asked for a dialogue on race, meaning of course tolerance for the aggrieved racist rants of his pastor. But now it’s open season, and Obama derives no advantage from that. A slight majority of American whites very likely are racist. So what? Prejudice is not a thought-crime(yet)unless it manifests itself in harmful public speech or action; freedom from racism is also the freedom to feel racism. Maybe ‘boy’ is a racist word, or maybe it wasn’t intended that way at all—who knows? If feminists and black activists have their way the ‘B-word’ may be banned someday; but a lot of people will still be muttering it under their breaths. Grow a pair, dude!
10:41 pm
Rick, I agree with what you wrote here and I don’t think it’s too strong. Calling a black man a “boy” is unquestionably racist. One or two of your readers commenting here got that; the rest are just wrong. Perhaps they should consider brushing up on their Southern history as it relates to the treatment of African Americans before the civil rights movement (and even after). Grown men were called “boy” exclusively. The word “man” just did not apply to black males. “Boy” and the “n” word were the only terms of address used in regard to black people. It doesn’t matter that “those days are over”; it’s still an incredibly degrading term, and cannot be taken as anything but a racist put-down if one is black. (And by the way I am not.)
10:48 pm
“Boy” are we sensitive…
No doubt a poor choice of words, but being from the south – unlike most of those who are raising the roof – using the term “boy” as in “that boy” is quite common usage. We use it all the time, “That boy is so dumb…...
12:18 am
Yeah, it’s stupid, just as stupid as calling someone an “average white person.” There are still a few Mark Foleys in the Republican House, but at least the Rep Party doesn’t put forward a candidate who complains about “bitter” small-town folks who “cling to” guns & religion & are angry about illegal aliens taking a lot of jobs their kids might want.
Your average Democrat liberal is someone who looks down on “the idiocy of rural life.” He’s someone who sits quietly while his pastor spews hatred of America over two decades and asks Iowa farmers about growing arugula. I guess Marxists are okay to Chicagoland urbanites, but using a local colloquialism is streng verboten. What isn’t racist about ignoring “average white person?”
Now THAT’S stupid!
4:51 am
[...] Moran at Right Wing Nut House stated the case eloquently: “Only on a planet inhabited by such ignoramuses, such geese as [...]
5:15 am
Blacks are sensative about the word “BOY” as I learned at work when I called a black co-worker’s son boy. She went off the deep end and I tried in vain to let her know southerners refer to teenagers as boys all the time and I meant no disrespect.
Think I eventually convinced her.
6:38 am
Whatever the connotations of the word “boy”, doesn’t the fact he was casually talking about “highly classified simulation” trouble you much more?
6:58 am
[...] Rick Moran isn’t happy either: Davis all but call’s Obama a stupid [...]
7:07 am
The difference, sirrah, is the difference betwix shallow surface manufactured “what can be twisted to racism now” and true soaked w/cloaked amimosity comment.
Moran is wrong here, and his comments – particularly the unnecessary person appearence ones – show both why the Rep. party has become the wimpy party & the stupid party while dashing leftwards politically. For the sake of brevity I’ll leave the obvious reasons & logical support for that previous comment for a later post, if you need a pic. painted. (besides which, I’ve never posted here, so I don’t know if Moran will block me for crit., – I’ve had that happen at too many places lately…).
Any word can take on racist overtones if we let people twist it. That’s why, instead of playing the “todays verbotten word” game, look at the substance of what is said. That is the difference between B.O.’s comments & the guy ref.’d here. Even if you semiphores or the symbols in B.O.’s speeches, the speeches are still anti-American Republic and often border on racism. That, of course, excludes the speeches where, if you asign content values to the referents and do the math, they zero out.
I am also tired of people using someone’s outlook as a reason to disount what they say. If something is valid, why does the messanger being racist invalidate it? If a clansman walked up to me to tell me my son had fallen in a swimming pool & was drowning, would I discount it? All Mr. Moran’s method does is allows a cry of “racism” – justified or not – to shut down discussion. Forget if what is said is true! This is the Maoist method, and to see the truth of its workings, note what’s happened to Bill Cosby!
It is more work, certainly, but lets look at the content of a statement, and not scan it for today’s trigger-words, simply to discount it—unpondered—if it contains a word the Left has labeled as “unmentionable”.
– martin.musculus
7:25 am
“That boy” is common southern-speak to refer to another man, and there is nothing racist about it. I am SO SICK of every goddamn word coming out of people’s mouths being analyzed to decide if black folks can get offended about it. I was fairly color-blind until this “discussion about race” started. Now I am beginning to believe that I don’t like “them” so much- they sure don’t seem to like “us”.
Its too much work to parse and analyze every nuance of every phrase to make sure that my black colleagues and associates aren’t offended. I guess I’m just a racist.
For the record, Congressman Davis did not imply that Obama was a “stupid n*****” (your quote, not mine- I would have never come up with that relation). His clear implication was that Obama would not push the button in a situation that required it.
7:37 am
Yes, Macs, but you can’t “use it all the time” when referring to a black man, but it just doesn’t have the same innocent meaning.
7:38 am
That “but” should have been “because.”
7:58 am
Kathy, if I hadn’t been stationed at Lackland AFB, I would probably find myself (partially) in agreement w/both you & Mr. Moran.
But I was, and I’m not. I was called “boy”: “Hey Boy! Did you go to that ???? I told ya about? Mommasita sure can cook, huh—they need a bigger place, but she does everything & any more chowin’ down aday & she’d run herself to death…” (Southerners – Texans? – tend to talk in run-on sentences, too…).
And, I’m not, (wait for it….rimshot) Black.
As I’ve said, focusing on “forbidden words” is a game for the mentally vacous. (Rick, how’s that for elitism? {wink}).
– martin.musculus
8:04 am
[...] the racism issue, there’s the argument that this gaffe couldn’t have come at a better time for the Obama camp in the running gaffapalooza that is the Democratic campaign, given Obama’s [...]
8:30 am
This whole discussion is insanity. I’m so sick of the “Indignation Industry” with the likes of Jesse and Al, and white liberals who, while not using verboten terms, like boy, demean a person’s personal appearance. Should all people with ‘goober lips’ be offended?
White liberals, in their attempt to support black racists, are contributing to the undoing of the United States. But then, that’s their goal.
8:39 am
Rick’s completely right. These mini scandals are all about air time in the MSM. If the MSM is talking about Davis’s gaffe, they’re not going to be talking about Obama’s. Regardless of whether Davis is truly racist or whether people have a right to be offended, this is definitely a tactical blunder during an election year.
8:46 am
Call a contractor in the North and you will set up an appointment for when his “guys” are going to show up. Does that mean that all Northerners are misogynostic rubes who insult the women that work for them? So to equate a Southernern’s use of the word “boy” when referring to another man is really reaching for something to complain about. When a man askes a woman [in the South] how her husband is, chances are the guy will say “How’s your boy”? no matter the color of his skin.
So now Rick wants to institute “thought” rules for political correct use of terms. It could not have possibly been that Davis was using a term that is a colloquialism used frequently in the South. Perhaps Rick would like to send me a check for $100 for every time that Bob Beckel has called George W. “that boy”?
Was this really such a PC gaffe on Davis’s part or just another reason for northern elite to bash a Southerner?
9:27 am
Redneck Congressmen should learn what their constituencies want and dont want. And they should know what their constituencies don’t respect.
That guy is an idiot. No one calls a Black man boy these days.
and when people call Bush “Boy” believe me it is rarely endearment
10:36 am
Mary (#31) glad to see you at least acknowledge that President Bush has been called “boy, that boy” by those on the left. Wonder where the outrage was then. Hiding like a tiny criminal? Nevermind you saw fit to include what I, as a Southerner considers an insult by calling someone from Kentucy a “redneck”. Maybe you should take a course on the history of words to learn how offensive the term “redneck” is. But don’t let that slow you down in your endeavor to insult a Southerner.
It seems the outrage is only because Obama is “black”. So are you saying that there would be no outrage (as historically proven) by calling a “white” man “boy”?
I am sick to death of all the subliminal meaning attached to everything everyone says. This damn stupid practice of requiring everything to be politically correct for fear someone somewhere just might be insulted is spliting our nation into greater divides than necessary. But there seems to be no outrage when southern men who like NASCAR are referred to as hicks, rubes, crackers, gun wielding, Bible toting inbreds who marry their cousins, not to mention “rednecks” as has been said by those on the PC left.
So now, Mary, since I have informed you that I find your use of the term “redneck” offensive, can I expect your written apology?
11:09 am
....
Only on a planet inhabited by such ignoramuses, such geese as this GOP Congressman from Kentucky
...———15
Kathy Said:
10:41 pm
...and cannot be taken as anything but a racist put-down if one is black. (And by the way I am not.)...
et al…
I guess we see who enjoys identity politics here, via projection. Before the Left even have time to unlimber their guns, a “conservative” pulls his long knife & dons his brown shirt…
BTW, Mr. Moran, I showed my wife your column…. She’s asked me to add the following to my post (expl. at end of post): Saturday, she could not make a decision over whether to prepare chicken or trout—apparently, she’s too stupid to figure it out, al la:
Davis all but call?s Obama a stupid n*****. [Moran]
Her comment:
– martin.musculus
Gee – if you’re going to be a racist idiot can’t you at least be coherent? I have NO IDEA what you are talking about here. Something about your wife and cooking chicken being a sign of racial identity and….just WTF are you trying to get at here?
I’m sorry but I didn’t learn gibberish when I was in school. You will have to translate.
ed.
11:13 am
“U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a Hebron Republican, compared Obama and his message for change similar to a “snake oil salesman.”
He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama.”
The racial part speaks for it’s self. What I want to know is why an irrelevant back bencher such as Geoff Davis was at a highly classified national security simulation and if it was so highly classified, WHY THE HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT IT?
The “boy” remark was just stupid. Revealing anything about our highly classified national security preparations for nuclear attacks is not just stupid, but treasonous.
11:35 am
Re-reading the post, (I’m working from a PDA w/a half-baked browser :- ), I realized that there might be some that wouldn’t have a clue what wifey was saying.
It was:
There are other reasons – obvious ones – that align with both the language of the Davis comment and B.O. past behavior vis a vis unscripted decisions: Mr B.O. vacilates! When there’s no script he is indecisive! With a nuclear scenerio, that’s terminally indecisive!
Don’t you think the electorate should be made aware of that?
And, in response to the obvious attempt to deflect the question, perhaps the comment wasn’t made clearer because Davis doesn’t normally think in racist terms. Naive? Yes, it certainly would be/is, but I’ve met people like that – more often than you’d think. Not everyone thinks in terms of finding racists under every leaf & grassblade.
And for Busboy33:
Obama broke on the scene claiming to be “transending racial politics”, so just as the: “No Morality Left” claims that conserv. must be held to a higher standard because we claim “family values”, so to must the stinking pile of contradictions Mr B.O. be held to a higher standard.
If we let the Left set the terms, (which we should not, but are), we should at least whack-em with their own rules when they violate them.
Or is Freedom so cheap we don’t need to work to win?
– martin.musculus
12:12 pm
because of the Lifedrive’s substandard browser, (Blazer2.0), formatting doesn’t always display well. All formatting tags come out as bold, so please keep that in mind when reading these comments.
Also: is “-ed” in this case Mr. Moran, or did Blazer drop the “XYZ said:” part?
Wow, ed, nice boldface there. WTF yourself.
Interesting resort to the profain, there. Lack vocabulary, do we?
I assume, if you are a Christian, you have problems following The Savior’s “stories”, too—after all, in some cases, they go on for an entire page.
NB:
I’m not comparing my wife’s example “story” to His! He was a master at using that teaching method. I just quickly dashed down my wife’s words w/alot of backgrnd noise at her office.
I hope that my explaination (in the subsequent post) does it for you. I’m deeply sorry you can’t follow an argument that has more that two (2) items.
Basically, JIC (Just In Case) you are stillremoving your socks to diagram my wife’s argument :
The assumption made by Mr. Moran was:
1) Davis was implying BO was stooopid.
2) by that same argument, i.e. “he could not make a decision…”, my wife, Chinese – naturalized American, who called herself a gook to illustrate the inferences Moran made from the statement of Davis, pointed out that not lacking ability to decide is simply that: an indecisive nature.
If you had actually read my post, instead of just scanning it, you would have:
a) understood my wife’s argument.
b) not called me racist, (you twit)
c) not proved my point from post #22.
If -ed is Mr. Moran
I now understand why you push identity politics, and feel so comfortable seeing it in others—you are projecting. I went to a great deal of trouble (remember I’m typing this in w/a stylus on a PDA), to point out that it was my wife’s comment—}VERBATUM{—, which she insisted I include, because the McGuire firewall wouldn’t let her surf to this site, (although she can access Move-on…{grin}).
OPPS, PDA buffer’s full, finishing thought in followin
12:29 pm
Still liberal, if you want to talk about treasonous, can we discuss the Democratic Congressman that was trying to negotiate with FARC against our government’s policy? Or maybe SanFranNan’s snuggling up with Baby Assad while she refused to meet with an ally, President Uribe? How about Murtha’s actions? Revealing information on a UCMJ case before charges were brought therefore taining the Marines he was slamming?
If you want treason, how about Teddy Kennedy working with the KGB to usurp Reagan? Or Kerry’s Paris negotiations with a U.S. enemy?
I really don’t think you want to go there.
12:35 pm
Rick,
Unfortunately, you are so right. That’s one goober eating hillbilly if I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Is he Granny Clampett’s long lost child? Yeah, one never calls a black man boy (especially when he’s a man). I am in the liberal bastion of NYC, but am not so politically correct (guess that’s why I’m into your website). Too much foot in mouth disease going on in the GOP. Yup, I’ll vote for John McCain—-I’ll hold my nose when I pull the lever—-but I’ll vote McCain—-because my main concern is about our national security—-unfortunately I knew a few folks who died on 9/11—a fireman and a priest. Take care.
Dave
12:41 pm
BTW: verbatum means exactly as given
(No – “verbatum” is not a word. Now if you mean “verbatim” then you get a cookie for correct spelling. – ed.)
[cont from post #36 due to PDA’s buffer filling up…]
...
a correction: that should read:
... lacking the aability to decide is simply that: an indecisive nature., and fits the known data concerning BO.
Mr BOLDCAP,
You see racism where there is none because your native wetware is programmed to think that way. I grieve for you. Your world must be a very small dim place.
I was going to include a deconstruction of your weighty, supremely intellectual comments, in depth.
Thinking about it – something some of us do, you know—before we comment—though, I realize that someone who can’t read standard English, can not understand – nor string together a cogent three (3) item argument, wouldn’t have the tools to follow any comments I make. I’d have to use really tiny words, no bigger than two(2) syllab—opps, six(6) letters and tapping it out to teach someone on the same mental plain as my Chow is simply too wearing.
—- AND I was laughing so much I believe I used too much insulin, so I have to go eat.
but, WOW, it must be REALLY hard on ya crawling through life simply emoting…
(NB: I fully expect to be banned after this post… {grin & wink})
-martin.musculus
Jesus Lord God you are certifiable. Do you have the faintest notion that NO ONE CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE WRITING?
Why ban someone who has given me more original entertainment than any one else in a long time?
ed.
1:12 pm
Martin Musculus,
You are definitely a pisser! If you and I went out for a few brewskis, I am certain you would have me in stitches.
Be well Dave
1:20 pm
Dave Carl has a problem, as does Rick, with the Southern practice of calling grown men “boy” (Rick even goes into the fact that it is probably one of those words that should NEVER be used such as “spic”) and now seems to think that all us rednecks who have grown up with calling grown men “boy” are just insensitive dimwits. Thanks, Rick, you just proved your bias against Southerners. Yet Dave Carl seems to have no problem with calling a sitting Congressman from a Southern state a “goober eating hillbilly”.
Thanks Dave Carl, for proving that you are an arrogant Beast Coast elitist.
1:50 pm
retire05:
I am a liberal, not a Democrat. I am willing to go after anyone’s treasonous behavior. So again, why is this congressman discussing highly classified activity involving national security? If you support this kind of behavior, you are more of an ideologue that an American. Wrong is wrong, no matter the party affiliation.
2:01 pm
And I thought your “shame on torture” post was controversial… you hit it out of the park on this one, Rick (but you’re wrong again- you’ve had a really bad week). Still love ya though!
2:32 pm
Retire,
It’s not just calling grown men BOY. It’s calling a grown black man BOY. If you’re from the South you should know the history better than I. And I am far from a Beast Coast (actually that was pretty good) elitist. They live all around me—know the creature well. All in all I was taking the piss out of the Congressman (who really should hav known better)with the goobe comment—-but why give the other side more ammo to call white folks racist?
2:55 pm
I really want to have a civil discussion, I hope that is possible.
TRY, PLEASE, TRY to understand what I’m typing here. My wife & I worship Ms. Malkin, so there MUST be something she sees in you. I really want to come to an understanding. I don’t want to feel the need to re-evaluate my opinion of her.
I hope this isn’t just a lost cause. I suspect that it is, and you haven’t really read any of my posts.
Here we go:——————————————————I am glad I have provided you with a laugh, although, considering the conditions, if you would read the whole set of posts, it really would be understandable.
What has you mystified?
I attempted, under adverse conditions, to lay-out a logical argument. If your problem comes from vocabulary, I cannot help clarify.
I was attempting to make two main point. Originally it was only one, but as I said, I was “forwarding a comment from my wife, who is at the office, behind a firewall on McGuire AFB that blocks access to your blog. This precluded her from directly typing her comment into your blog.
Was it the term firewall? USAF?
I admit I cannot spell, and there is way to do that from my PDA - my Palm Lifedrive.
Looking at it from a PC, I do see that the formatting is messed up. I did explain that I was working from a Palm Lifedrive, with a substandard browser. I note that the Blazer, (Palm’s OSv5 browser) had problems interacting w/your blogware, causing it to screw-up the blockquotes. Although I hardly see that as much of an impediment, though it does damage readability.
Let me state that from this point on, I will use your method of denoting a slur, so as to pamper your sensibilities.
I quoted her verbatum using the term g***. She (as she would tell you, and you could see in person)is Chinese. She used that term, as charged as it, purposefully. To drive home a point. Racist logic is the basis of the whole “N***”, thing anyway. And by racist logic – since she is Chinese – she can use the g*** word all she wants… even write songs with the word wall-to-wall.
All that “true Conservative” whale oil aside, you obviously have no idea what it means to BE conservative. I don’t care that you you have allied with Malkin—who is a conservative. You sirrah, are not.
Conservatism is a thinking intellectual ideology, as apposed to an emotive one. Again, if my vocabulary bothers you, I will restate each item as I go, but I will not censor myself as I write because THAT would chop it up & make it unintelligible.
What I am saying is that Conservatives THINK, Liberals FEEL. Feel, sir: which is exactly what you do in your column. You make unwarranted accusations, not borne out from the data presented. You are all queezy using the N-word, when there is nothing to suggest it use in that fashion.
You see nothing nothing wrong with attaching a man based on how he looks, but shy away from skin color. What is the difference? You say there is 10 words out of 50k that are always forbidden, and “any conservative would know that”. No sir, WE don’t label people to shut them up. I NEVER have, and NEVER WILL.
I commented that conservatives don’t use that tactic to shut down discussions, but you are at home with it. Instead of attempting to understand my point, you called my a racist. Well, let me put the point more baldly: you don’t throw out a man’s comments because you don’t like the way he thinks. He MIGHT have something important for you to hear.
If someone was telling you of a problem, say a child drowning or that that you were about to mistake poison for sugar, would you close your ears because he used the N-word? THAT was the point of post #22. I guess it is too hard to understand.
I remember there used to be far fewer words “forbidden”. The Left will as label people any way they can, because your type of person will jump and ignore people they label using their old & new “forbidden” words as a club. “He is a racist, lets not listen to him! He has nothing to say! He is Evil!”. It is a game that can only end one way. If you allow the Left to keep expanding the pool of words Never To Be Used, they will make sure that you can make no argument.
As I just stated, there were once far fewer words. Spade, for example. Used when I was a kid as: “Call a spade a spade, not a shovel”. You see, a spade is for digging. . . it is pointy. A shovel has a square end on it, so to call a spade a shovel was to misname a situation and in that way make it harder to handle. That saying is forbidden, now. What about “Ace”. It is another of those forbidden words. How about “denigrate as in : cause to seem less serious; play down”. I remember reading about a man who lost his job over that one.
My point is that there are not 10, or 20, or 50, at least 100, and probably more, of English’s 2 MILLION words that are forbidden. And you know what, The Left is making more. When you can’t debate ideas, you shut down the debate. This is what you are assisting. At what point do we say STOP!
Which leads to this: How do we talk about these things if we can’t talk about these things? I noticed that “Whop” was missing from your list. If I call someone a “Belly-whopper”, which I did as a child at summercamp long ago, was I saying that he, like me was an Italian who liked pasta?
When I was growing up, 1930s, I was called a whop, and more. It didn’t kill me—I’m here typing. Opps, you see, I forgot to use the fancy new notation w***. Oh, that feels better.
They are just words. If you called me a w****, I don’t care, because it really doesn’t doesn’t matter. People who are looking to take offense, will. They will invent reason, change the meanings of words, (see “denigrate”, above), do what ever it takes, if we let them.
And what does the gesture teach? It teaches that if someone uses a word, you should sue the hell out of them. It teaches that other people define who you are, are in control of your life and success through so small a thing as what words are used around you. What a wonderful, conservative thing to teach! If this is the case, then I REALLY am not a conservative—and glad of it.
You probably will laugh at this next part. That is ok. I don’t really expect you to understand it. I simply have always lived by the notion that a person must do all they can before they walk away.
Are you a Christian? this is a serious question, and I mean it seriously. I am. That immediately puts me on the outs with many so-called conservatives. That I’m a “Jesus Freak” doesn’t bother me either. Oh, is that another bad set of words? See how they pile up? It is like a person who offers to carry a bucket for a friend. The man picks up the bucket, and the friend says:”Wait! I have just a few more drops to add!” He adds them. A few paces later, that same friend repeats the process. Soon, the accumulation is so great that the bucket can’t be moved.
No need to answer me about , but let supply background for what I say next: In The Lord’s Sermon On The Mount, called the Beatitudes. People almost always only Matt 5:3-10. I however, think that all of it is important. The part is applies to my next point point was specifically about adultery, but if you look at the Beatitudes as a template, then consider:
To me, the Lord is saying that it is our intent and out actions that matter – both. By this, your position seems that it is ok to “look on”, by using “N***”, but somehow this keeps you clean from actually doing the deed. How does that work? How does “N***”, “C***”, “W***” change anything? Am I so stupid I don’t know know what “w****” means? If I am smart enough to know what “w***” means, how is it better than “whop”?
I don’t know. It could be that you simply want to wind me up, and have no intention of an adult discussion. I’d like to believe you are capable of one.
2:56 pm
ok, why did the browser send it?
3:00 pm
I wasn’t finished, but I will stop there. You have my email you really want try to understand what I said. If you are only interested in cheap shots & beating your own breast to feel good about calling someone a racist while working hard to not see their point, they I am well out.
– martin.musculus
3:49 pm
I have to disagree with Rick on this providing cover for Sen. Obama. I don’t think a lot of voters in PA or the Mid-West will disavow their newfound skepticism of Obama based on finding out that a Congressman from a southern state used the term “boy.”
They’re probably a whole lot more surprised at what Sen. Obama said than at what Rep. Davis said. Finding out a Rep. may be a racist isn’t that surprising to voters. Finding out that an assumed populist Presidential candidate is deeply elitist is.
4:05 pm
Rick,
I think your reaction to the use of “boy” was way over-the-top. Yes, it was wrong to use it, but more because the user is a Congressman and not because it was really hurtful. So, in response to your overreaction, the Comments are somewhat over-the-top the other way. I also don’t think it will be a distraction from BHO’s stupid comments. After all, John M did not say “boy”. BTW, your description of the Congressman using regional stereotyping was offensive and beneath someone who is so PC.
4:15 pm
I must say that the offender’s dental hygiene needs to be taken up a notch.
I am also going to hazard the opinion (to which I am constitutionally entitled) that we are entirely too hypersensitive about words.
Like most, I believe the “n” word – and even the reference to “boy” ought to disappear from our speech but,to make the kind of unwarranted fuss that has been made is also the outer limits of stupidity. It may not be speech that we like. But the bottom line is, I will defend that doofus’ right to be just that – a doofus!
9:35 pm
And, I’m not, (wait for it….rimshot) Black.
Exactly. Which is why being called “boy” doesn’t offend you. Because you are not black, and the word does not have the same connotations as it does when a white person refers to a black man as “boy.”
9:41 pm
You are dead wrong. I once had a young African American kid working for me who was all but useless. I said to one of my colleagues, “Bruce is a nice boy, but,” and this politically correct twit looked down her nose at me and said, “Bruce is a fine young man.”
To me he was a boy—he was 20 and I was 55. If he had been female, he would have been a girl—to me. One shouldn’t take offense where none is intended.
10:52 pm
Funny how it is so ok to have double standards vis a vis libs and conservatives. Hymietown and white n*gger words to use are dandy if spoken by Jesse Jackson and Sheets Byrd, respectively. Bush and Cheney get excorciated by the left for using a$$hole and go eff yourself. Barney F’s lover had male prostitutes working out of his house and that’s cool. Mark Foley TALKED about sex and was a goner. And now we are supposed to give B. Hussein Obamalamadingdong a free pass over and over on his past and his own nasty actions. I guess the cult of personality means he really is a Messiah. I see the same mass hypnosis in the oabama adulators as was evident in the Paultards. What the hell is it with some people? Hitler, Koresh, Jim Jones, Ron Paul, Bill Clinton and now Obama somehow have illogical appeal to the masses. God help us.
12:42 am
I guess COWBOY will have to go!
10:30 am
manning, don’t forget that now, by these standards, any commanding officer who refers to his “boys” will have to face UCMJ charges for political incorrectness.
12:47 pm
“... One of those words that cannot be used without offending someone is “boy.” The Congressman recognized it. Most real conservatives recognize it. Why many of you in the comments cannot is simply beyond my comprehension and experience.”
Count me among the (according to your definition) “few real conservatives” who do not accept that the word “boy” cannot EVER be used when referring to someone whose skin color happens to be brown. I can almost comprehend that you cannot, ever, accept the use of the word, that is, after all, YOUR experience, but that is not MY experience—so please don’t speak for me. Nor should you categorize me as a stupid racist for not sharing your view.
8:31 pm
This is not “PC.” This is what we call “common courtesy” at the least or better yet, being aware of other people’s feelings and sensibilities. In other words, being compassionate.
Exactly.
9:01 pm
retire05:
My boys will contact your boys and we’ll all go out for a drink!
Even blacks know when boys is meant as a collective noun, but some will object just to make trouble. PC will drown us sooner or later, as will overdone sensitivity on both sides.
Of course, you don’t use “boy” inappropriately. That is, in a demeaning sense. I just have to remember not to call a black hotel pageboy “boy” anymore.
I get the vision of our vocabulary shrinking day by day as other nouns become verboten out of misguided sensitivity. Maybe I should create a dictionary of verboten nouns to be sure not to use one in the wrong way. Bit of a bother to have to look up every noun, but that is what this nonsense is coming to. Someone can find a way to be offended by almost any noun, it seems.
Boy Howdy, it makes me mad!
9:37 pm
To me he was a boy—he was 20 and I was 55. If he had been female, he would have been a girl—to me. One shouldn’t take offense where none is intended.
Miriam, your intentions in this instance are irrelevant. It does not matter what you intended. You should know how disgustingly offensive it is to call a black man “boy.” A 20-year-old is a man, not a boy, no matter how old YOU are. I am 57; everyone under the age of 30 is a baby to me, but I know that you don’t call a black man “boy,” no matter how innocent you think it is. It’s not your intentions that make it offensive to call a black man “boy”; it’s centuries of history that make it offensive to call a black man “boy.” It can’t NOT be offensive, and if you grew up in this country, you should know that. Hell, even if you didn’t. I highly doubt that any reasonably well-educated person in the entire world who knows anything about U.S. history would be ignorant of the fact that calling a black man “boy” is extremely, deeply insulting.
One should not give offense where one should know that one will give offense. And if you do, then everything you say after that is just contemptible excuse-making.
9:40 pm
@martin.musculus :
“Obama broke on the scene claiming to be “transending racial politics”, so just as the: “No Morality Left” claims that conserv. must be held to a higher standard because we claim “family values”, so to must the stinking pile of contradictions Mr B.O. be held to a higher standard.”
Not sure I follow the logic here—holding Obama to the term of ‘transcending racial politics’, how did he fail to do so with the ‘bitter’ comment?
Also, you might note I’m not defending his statement or endorsing him. I don’t particularly care for him, although I dislike him less than I do Hilary. What I’m asking is why one bad comment provokes such seething passion, while another draws not only indifference but passionate defense? I have to agree with Rick’s update to the original post—“boy” has been racially charged for decades now in terms of white-speaking-to-black, and the posters here who claim to be suprised at that are either insane, ignorant or dishonest. You mentioned your wife calling herself a “stupid gook”. I hope you have enough gentleman in you to beat me senseless if I told you your wife seemed like a nice lady for a stupid gook. Or if YOUR ELECTED OFFICIAL saw her at a rally and told the audience “I’m so inclusive I’ve got the gooks supporting me now!” The difference in the scenarios should be apparent.
For those pointing out ‘boy’ can be used white-to-white in Southern society . . . true. “N***er” can be used black-to-black. It is considered racially offensive to use it white-to black. Hope that isn’t a newsflash, or another example of the wildly changing standards of the histerical left.
p.s.—“Mommasita” . . . presuming the speaker was a white make talking to/about a Hispanic female, also pretty friggin’ racially charged.
7:08 am
Hi Rick,
I was just reading Protein Wisdoms reviews of the Obama/Hillary debate last night.Actually he was having fun with Andrew Sullivan’s lamenting about he new found heroes. In that process he named Sullivan a Faux Conservative. Bingo. That is exactly what you are – a FAUX CONSERVATIVE. At least Sullivan manned up to it(no pun intended).For me the last straw was you Basra debacle.
8:33 am
Rick, I’ll never read your blog again. You’re an idiot, and I just don’t have time to waste.
10:47 am
Ridiculous. “Boy” describes a male youngster of every color. This is the stupidest hijacking of a word for PC racial purposes I’ve ever seen.
So I guess if I say that “girl” should never live in the White House I am demeaning Michelle Obama?
Give me a break. This is as stupid as the LAT jackass that thinks “elitism” when referring to Obama means “uppity”.
5:59 am
“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” Davis said.
Davis is 49. Obama is 45.
A white man – especially a Southerner – calling a black man “boy” is never a good idea.
Especially a man who is 49 years old, in referring to a 45 year old man. This is the kind of inadvertent remark that reveals a low-key racism. Just as Obama’s use of “clinging” to guns, God, and xenophobia is a slip that reveals an elitist disgust for small-town Americans.
I’m sure Davis wouldn’t think of himself as a racist, nor would Obama think of himself as elitist. But they need, both of them, to dig a little deeper and consider their basic (hopefully minor) prejudices.
7:25 am
Busboy
“Mommasita” is a whole-in-the-wall eatery w/the name – as I used it – over the door.
If you find it racially charged, go talk to Momma @ it.
Thanks for proving my point abt looking for racism where it ain’t.
PS: if your every at Lackland, in San Antonio, I’ve heard that Mommasita’s place has moved from the (what I think’s called) Stone Hills area to the east, now it is closer to Randolf, and you don’t have to fight the belt traffic.
BTW, Momma isn’t mexican—although that’s food in her place. She’s Filipina. Her hubby was (as she puts it) American-Mexican. They ran the place together until he passed, using his family recipies. The ABSOLUTE BEST EATERY in SA.!!
– musculus
7:34 am
Kathy,
I am curious… while I agree w/you about being mannerly, at what point, after how many terms are commandeered and placed on the “don’t use” list do you say enough?
– musculus
7:41 am
You know, looking at Moron’s comments, charges of “racism”, w/o any constructive crit., I believe that this site is a “honeypot”. Instead of spambots, however, this site is built to draw in conservatives—causing them to waste time & energy on a person w/no core principles… except perhaps “compassionate” conservatism, (as if there was another type…).
The ruler here simply gets jollies lording it over any who randomly draw his ire.
I hope this post isn’t beyond people’s understanding.
– musculus
8:03 am
Darn PDA. I wish this blog had a “preview” btn. Blazer often drops characters, or picks one in the same row of the virtual keyboard as the one you type. The problem is you can’t go look at what you typed, but have to scroll along your input until you reach where the mis-character is…
Has anyone here done much surfing using a Blackberry? Or even a Windows PDA? Is it any better? I’ve been doing using the Lifedrive for a year on the internet, and I am abt fed-up w/the “minor” flaws of the platform.
– musculus
8:24 am
Ok kathy, I am not black. I’m Italian. So why doesn’t “whop” bother me?
A point I tried to make was that you always have the choice of taking offense. What I see, and my examples above show, is that the black community – at least the loudest portion – look for offense. It requires one to always assume the worst about those around them.
If someone calls me a name, I suspend judgement until I know enough to make an accurate call on the matter. I don’t immediately assume bad intent.
The whole line of thought of people of your & Mr. Moron’s stripe is that people are innately racist, and so any comment that confirms that, no matter how innocent, is pounced on as proof.
If racism is so prevalent, how do native 1st & 2nd generation African excell and end up rich in so very few years? Did slavery somehow leave a mark that persists beyond the generations? If so, how then did people like Sowell, Rice, & Thomas escape?
The point being, of course – careful I’ve skipped a few mental steps, so I know this will be hard for most here to follow – that what people call each other in the way of “bad name” has NO bearing on how he conduct our lives or fare in this country.
Ifvit did, then how did those blacks who rose to great societal hights pre-PC, (or even pre-1960’s era reforms) do so? Are you saying that those entreped souls weren’t called the “N”word? Or are you saying they were given all they had by the whites?
It has NEVER mattered what you’re called, just what YOU do.
– musculus
8:47 am
Busboy, sorry abt my tone. I can’t scroll up to read comments after a page break in my PDA’s browser. I have to leave the site & return to read previous screens of the site.
Your comments, above the the “Mommasita” one were thoughtful, and of the type I originally expected at a site that calls itself “Rightwing”.
In order to get to where I can enter comments, I had to leave your comment. When I get back to my PC I would like to talk abt it.
One thing stands out though. My wife, while hot-tempered, used that slur in order to make a point.
Is it alrght for her to use it? It was alright for black2black discourse to contain the N-word. If I understand your argument, it isn’t racist if that race uses it. I did not use it, I mearly directly quoted my wife. Why then did Mr. Moron brand me a racist – unless that was projection.
As for me, my wife, my sister-in-law, (married wife’s brother, & she is black), WE are tired of “race-this & race-that”! Content of chracter is ALL that matters! I don’t know what the skin color of the gate guard at Falcon Courts North at this moment is, and I really don’t care! All I care abt is that he earned his rank, and he has all the tools needed for his job. (Note; FCN is the McGuire AFB residential housing area. I mention this so that Dickie can unnerstan my comments. I also eschewed multisyllabic words to help with that {grin}).
– musculus
9:07 am
Maybe this outlook is a function of military life. I find that most service people, regardeless of branch, don’t care abt such silly things. Those who do rarely stay beyond the initial hitch.
My whole problem with this N-word manure is the shrinking of the language, and the removal of any term that allows discussion of the Left’s weaknesses.
WhenI first learned I was a Conservative, I never missed listening to Rush. My schedule no longer permits this, but I still occasionally catch a broadcast, (I’m too cheap to buy-in for his archives {grin}). Recently he spoke on this very subject, along w/Glenn Beck & others. I find it interesting that “Conservatives” here do a Koz-shoutdown of people who want to explore the idea—by yelling “anyone knows – so WTF…”. Well sir, perhaps not everyone is as “evolved” as the good people here are. Shouldn’t you help them along, by poking holes in their logic instead of simple editing their comments or shouting them down?
Well, my turn in que has come. I’ll be back…
– musculus
10:27 am
@musculus:
Thank you for the clarification in your last comment. I’m more than willing to continue the discussion either in the thread or otherwise (bus33boy@yahoo.com for e-mail).
You say you are tired of all the “race-this” and “race-that” . . . a point to which I heartily agree. The issue of hyper-race-sensitivity however does not make racially charged remarks less so. As was pointed out by MikeDevx in comment 64, there is a 4 year difference in age between the two parties, both in their forties. I’m currently 37, and I would consider myself a peer to someone who was 41. I would have a great deal of difficulty in accepting them labeling me as “boy” or “young’un” without presuming that there was a large element of dismissiveness and condesension to the term. Throw in the racial element (I’m white, btw), and it’s hard not to see the comment as derogatory.
Was it a casual slip-of-the-tounge? Possibly—but a damn foolish one for a public figure. Part of his job is to be careful in his language unfortunately, and he failed utterly in this instance.
12:39 pm
Busboy33,
Beat you senseless? I could run you down w/my powerchair, if you’d find that acceptable ;-p You’ll have to be real still…
MD constricts my movements somewhat…
Oh, BTW, thanks for jogging this thought for Kathy:
Kathy: my wife & I were in line for tickets at the theater, and a worker asked my wife to get the “gimp” out of the way. The guy was a trog., but it didn’t hurt. Why should it—I am not the label and the menu isn’t the meal.
Ya, I know I’m workin at a levl of abstraction beyond Dickie’s ability, but somebody else translate – he’s probably too busy laughing to understand anything I write anyway
Aside
Will I be excoriated, er, verbally ill-used by Dickie for using “gimp”—I could have said g***, but then how would you know I was saying g*** and not g***? If my wife had MD, would she be a g***-y g***? (place the slurs in the order that gives you the most outrage…).
Did you think that it might be because BO is a “wet-behind-the-ears” congress-critter? I have heard well entrenched, southern, senior congress-critters
refer to jr. counterparts as “boy”. Both were white, by the way. Yes, it is a diminutive, but only someone to whom skincolor is a big deal would call for a man’s head over it.
And that still doesn’t answer HOW Dickie read the fellow’s mind to see he meant BO was stupid. THAT was what sent me ballistic. He (Mr.Moron) projects, then expects us to lock-step agree—or we’re racists.
Ya, right. Some of us don’t close our eyes & cower when the racecard is played.
Thanks! I will email you in the near future. The nxt 2.5 wks are quarterly medical re-eval, so I’m over-busy. I’m basically surfing betwn dr.s & tests! ;-} (Well, all the attn – frm pretty nurses – is great, though!)
PDA is out of buffer, later!
– musculus
9:30 pm
Rick, you for the moment put your heart on your sleeve…and what do you get…psychopathy from some on your readers.
Our holy grail is empiricism, we can achieve this daily if we choose. Let me suggest to those that feel that ‘boy’ is not a perjorative, that they should test their beliefs and say ‘boy’ in a sentence to an african american. Boy this, boy that, I don’t care except for the feedback it engenders.
So there you are testing out the PCness of saying/exclaiming/demanding ‘boy’ from your black skinned fellow americans.
How did that go? Did you find that it was OK to call adult black Americans ‘boy’?
those of you that say boy is ok, go try it out and offer up your own psychopathy!
1:01 pm
I cut off both you and busboy. Enough. You’re wasting my bandwidth.