And American "We see racism in EVERYTHING" hits a new low

[njiska]

Yahoo News:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball- ... 08429.html

Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcne ... go-racist/

Seriously!? Chink in the armour a racist statement? Look I know chink is a word that can be used for racist purposes, but come on, in this context that doesn't even make sense. Yes, Jeremy Lin is asian, but for the statement to be about race the sportscaster would literally be saying that Lin was an Asian in Armour. That was not even close to what was being said or implied. A chink, as defined by every dictionary of the English language, is a small crack or fissure. A chink in the armour is a small crack or weakness. A vulnerability. i.e. What is the weakness in Lin's game that he can seek out and improve?

This goes beyond sensationalizing. This is just trying to pick a fight over nothing. It's no different than the people who treat, "To call a Spade a Spade", as a racist statement despite the fact that it predates the use of Spade as a racial epithet and is a translated line from Erasmus. Sensationalist drivel.

Worse still ESPN, rather than standing by the English Language, chose to apologize.
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knicksblo ... 4kya0osrwN

Sad.

[Bananamatic]

The more disturbing part is that only 1 out of the 5 players on the field is black

[BulletMagnet]

Even if it wasn't intentional, someone there should have been awake enough to say "maybe we ought to reword this a bit, just in case." I dunno, was that seriously the only worthwhile headline they could come up with?

In any event, this isn't the only such case since Lin broke out...I recall seeing some graphic featuring his head coming out of a fortune cookie (which, the accompanying writeup noted, isn't even a Chinese invention), and then there's that tweet by Jason Whitlock. My favorite part, of course, is that certain brands of columnists are worried that he'll be discriminated against because he's a practicing Christian.

[Friendly]

The more disturbing part is that only 1 out of the 5 players on the field is black

What's even more disturbing is that only 1 in 5 Americans is black. Obvious racism. In case you aren't black, ask yourself, why not? Maybe it's because you are a racist?

[njiska]

Even if it wasn't intentional, someone there should have been awake enough to say "maybe we ought to reword this a bit, just in case." I dunno, was that seriously the only worthwhile headline they could come up with?

In any event, this isn't the only such case since Lin broke out...I recall seeing some graphic featuring his head coming out of a fortune cookie (which, the accompanying writeup noted, isn't even a Chinese invention), and then there's that tweet by Jason Whitlock. My favorite part, of course, is that certain brands of columnists are worried that he'll be discriminated against because he's a practicing Christian.

I maintain that anything being worked up over chink in the armor is just looking for a problem. It wasn't intended and it doesn't fit. That said, i'm not going to dispute that the fortune cookie thing could be offensive. It certainly is more relevant.

The more disturbing part is that only 1 out of the 5 players on the field is black

What's even more disturbing is that only 1 in 5 Americans is black. Obvious racism. In case you aren't black, ask yourself, why not? Maybe it's because you are a racist?

1.2 in 10 actually.

[Ex-Cyber]

I don't think this is a new low; I'm pretty sure that "chink in the armor" has inspired complaints before. I've also seen claims regarding the phrase "the jig is up" (supposedly "jig" is short for "jigaboo", who is "up" as in swinging from a tree; [citation needed]), and there was the flap a while back over a politician who used the word "niggardly".

I do think using it as the headline was a little questionable. It's hard to shake the feeling that it was some editor's idea of a joke or a cynical attempt to draw more attention to the piece (in which case: mission accomplished).

[BulletMagnet]

I maintain that anything being worked up over chink in the armor is just looking for a problem.

Even if this is the case, though (which it may very well be), it still turned out to be more trouble than it was worth, and I'm surprised that nobody foresaw it or did anything to adjust it (as you noted, they apparently see enough of the possible bad taste to have apologized for it after the fact) - is the notion of "we can use any phrase we want in any situation we want, as long as we didn't mean for it to be offensive" really worth all the hassle, as opposed to just using a title like "Even with Lin, Knicks Still Need To Address Issues" or something?

That said, i'm not going to dispute that the fortune cookie thing could be offensive. It certainly is more relevant.

If memory serves it accompanied a snippet titled "The Knicks' Good Fortune" or something like that - much as in this case I doubt that anyone was trying to demean Lin so much as just make a stupid joke, but I'm still surprised that some editor didn't say "hold on a sec" before waving it into print.

[Drum]

It's a sports headline, you are psychotically delusional if you think the play-on-words interpretation is reaching even in the least. It's also obviously intentional, but by all means make hay out of the plausible deniability. I don't really give a crap - it's a tasteless joke, but it's good for a shitstorm that makes everybody look bad so yay.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

If it was a stand up comedian making the joke it would be ok, but its a sports website which should be free from such jokes and should be ridiculed.

Its dumb shit like this that causes a backlash and before you know it the words blackboard, manhole cover and snowman become racist words

[louisg]

That seems like a pretty careless use of words. Intentionally careless? Who knows. All I know is there is 1.) no shortage of racism in the US and 2.) no shortage of dense suburban kids who fail to understand the nature of it, are steeped in it, and perpetuate it without realizing. I mean, if I had a quarter for everytime I heard "THEY can say the N word but we can't! That's reverse racism! Isn't that racist?", I'd be rich!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-f ... d_facebook
Genius

[Friendly]

Oh, and by the way

hit's

Really?

[KBZ]

it ain't no Blackman.txt

[kid aphex]

Even if it wasn't intentional, someone there should have been awake enough to say "maybe we ought to reword this a bit, just in case." I dunno, was that seriously the only worthwhile headline they could come up with?

Exactly; to me, this was obviously intentional. They should be allowed to get away with it because of the creativity, though.
At least they're trying.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

That seems like a pretty careless use of words. Intentionally careless? Who knows

It looks obviously intentional to my eyes, or at least it would be if it was a UK sports website. Since its US then theres a slim chance im missing something thats unique to American English

[ncp]

Even if it wasn't intentional, someone there should have been awake enough to say "maybe we ought to reword this a bit, just in case." I dunno, was that seriously the only worthwhile headline they could come up with?

Couldn't agree more. How could it NOT be intentional, though? The headline's analogy isn't even a good one, I can't see any reason they would use that wording other than to make a joke. I wouldn't say it necessarily makes the writer "racist" though, more like a failed comedian.

[njiska]

Did none of you watch the video that preceded the post with that headline?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... SEGRwnQW4k

[xbl0x180]

Our cleaning lady, Maria, uses Spic 'N Span to clean the windies!

Japanese people love the taste of Nips candy.


That's it! I'm writing a letter [and hopefully get some free candy]

[Skykid]

It's just some dumbasses being unintentionally racist, but not maliciously. It just goes to show it's an entire network of dumbasses that no-one thought to second guess the proposed line.

It's not the same as John Terry bleating racist remarks directly at another player, or John Galliano professing his love of anti-semitism in a crowded restaurant.

[Ex-Cyber]

Couldn't agree more. How could it NOT be intentional, though? The headline's analogy isn't even a good one, I can't see any reason they would use that wording other than to make a joke.

It's a relatively common cliche, especially in sports "reporting". I doubt that the guy in the video clip meant anything by it. I generally expect headlines to receive more editorial scrutiny than every word of an article or verbal commentary (in some cases even being chosen over the objection of the reporter), which is why it's harder to believe that the headline wasn't deliberate. Then again, some sources have it that the headline only actually went live on the mobile site, which might cast some doubt on whether it actually went through whatever review process is in place for such things at ESPN.

[Ganelon]

I agree that there's likely no racism intended here, but if you want to get PC on words for some races, then you must be PC on words for all races. Hypocrisy is one of the biggest signs of racism.

If people in the media get fired for using the n-word, then there's no reason this case should be any different. Otherwise, you're basically saying that it's not OK to insult black people but totally acceptable to insult Asians. I find that more offensive than actually using the c-word itself. I'm all for allowing all of these racially unacceptable terms but there's no reason Asians should bend over first.

In addition, the word was particularly inappropriate in the scenario it was used. Lin's career has essentially been comatose due to discrimination against picking Asian players since college (leading his national-level prep team to the championships and not getting a scholarship to any major colleges) to the NBA (set records for his college team and not getting drafted) up until he finally got a starting chance with the desperate Knicks. To use a term that's generally accepted as racist when Lin was about to head for the gutters due to racism is uncalled for in my view.

[Ed Oscuro]

Seriously!? Chink in the armour a racist statement? Look I know chink is a word that can be used for racist purposes, but come on, in this context that doesn't even make sense. Yes, Jeremy Lin is asian, but for the statement to be about race the sportscaster would literally be saying that Lin was an Asian in Armour. That was not even close to what was being said or implied. A chink, as defined by every dictionary of the English language, is a small crack or fissure. A chink in the armour is a small crack or weakness. A vulnerability. i.e. What is the weakness in Lin's game that he can seek out and improve?

Wow, for once I'm agreeing with you on a matter of semantics. Shocking! (Sorry if using this emote offends any green people.) As the Taiwanese would say, Lin isn't even Chinese!

To be quite honest, the whole "fact checking" thing has turned into "let's do our best to find something at fault in something innocent," like Politifact did. Economist Paul Krugman on the issue:

The criterion, according to Politifact, seems to be that a fact isn’t a fact if it helps a Democratic narrative. In his State of the Union address on Jan. 24, President Obama said: “In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005.”

Which is just true. Period. But Politifact initially rated it as only “half true” because he was “essentially taking credit for job growth.” He didn’t actually take credit — and even if he had, a fact is still a fact. I do not think that word means what Politifact thinks it means.

My take is this: "Truth squadding" is a tricky business in general, and I think it may be a bigger movement in American society; hypocrisy and nitpicking are NOT merely confined to "us (white people) versus them (others)."

I have to mistrust the motives of anybody who thinks the biggest outrage in the news is that somebody decided that using the phrase "chink in his armor" was a reference to Asians, and I distrust njiska in particular for banging on this particular drum for years and years (in my memory, which might be incorrect, basically the whole time I knew him at the Retrogaming Roundtable, although this sort of thing is popular there). Of course, that doesn't justify this ESPN PC silliness, but I have to point out - in the interest of fairness - that a lot of people have been too quick to play the "they're playing the race card."

Bottom line - if you whine about your pet issue as long as njiska has, you're bound to be right eventually. But that doesn't justify being obsessed with that issue (in my reading, that particular facet of a broader trend in society) ... or does it? I guess whining about people playing the race card is a dirty job, but somebody's got to keep us honest

[Elixir]

When you think of "fag", do you think of smokes, or...?

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Americans only associate chink with the racial term. Americans talk slower (is this even possible) and emphasize on words (have we stopped talking yet oh god) in order to convey a message. This guy does exactly that. It's pretty weak, but impromptu usually is.

[Ed Oscuro]

I agree that there's likely no racism intended here, but if you want to get PC on words for some races, then you must be PC on words for all races. Hypocrisy is one of the biggest signs of racism.

That doesn't hold in this case. Saying "monkey on his back," for example, was clearly pretty careless to say, and I'd argue that's simply because of the whole history of black people and arguments against / for evolution in this nation leading people to use such words for black people. If we can strip away the historical context, there's still a difference between calling somebody a monkey, and saying that there is a chink in somebody's armor - even if it's worded "a chink in his armor," we know they aren't saying he is a Chink.

There is absolutely no justification for using some words.

However, to be fair to you and ESPN ("ess pen?") - once I piss somebody off, it's generally good form to say "sorry, I didn't mean anything by it" and move on.

Unless there is a really damn good reason for standing your ground, it's worth considering the happiness of others (that could be construed as a duty argument, btw, not utilitarian). A really good reason for saying "I am not going to apologize and we are going to have to find a new subject" is if somebody is offended by the color of your car or your name (assuming, that is, that your name wasn't picked yesterday or specifically to offend people, which would be a really poor reason to have a name, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody tried to change their name to White Pridey).

There is a point (and njiska ignores this) at which trying to "defend the language" turns into not caring about other peoples' uses and understandings of that language. And if you don't care about peoples' reaction to language, you're not interested in communication (outside your select group with common agreements, at least).

So the key is in trying to understand any harm, even if it is one you couldn't reasonably be expected to predict, and then moving to eliminate that feeling of harm. The knee-jerk "wow, I can't believe anybody would be offended" at even something ridiculous is to not move beyond step one.

it ain't no Blackman.txt

That was a different poster altogether. Maybe Njiska has a secret account with the Vault of Memory of .txts, maintained by the venerable sage Fighter17?

When you think of "fag", do you think of smokes, or...?

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Americans only associate chink with the racial term. Americans talk slower (is this even possible) and emphasize on words (have we stopped talking yet oh god) in order to convey a message. This guy does exactly that. It's pretty weak, but impromptu usually is.

You're not an American, or an impromptu speaker, or a particularly useful participant, so you don't need to get involved.

Don't worry, we're embarrassed about some of the things you mentioned...no need to rub it in.

[Elixir]

Do art critics need to be artists before they're allowed to make an observation?

[Ed Oscuro]

It helps if they know how artists hold their brushes, but that useless metaphor is already overextended.

We're not here to indulge your fantasy of making Americans break down, weeping, to admit "It's TRUE! We're LIVING IN THE FOURTH REICH!!! GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL IS GOD!!"

If Njiska has an insufferable bias, so do you. And to Njiska's credit, his is probably based on the assumption that people are basically good...yours is obviously based on the assumption that Americans are bad.

[Elixir]

His assumption is drawn from Americans blowing everything the fuck out of proportion, much like yourself.

[Ed Oscuro]

Why acknowledge that I spent a few good paragraphs arguing for moderation and reasonable caution when you can just ignore everything and accuse the other person of "blowing everything the fuck out of proportion" because you tried to upend the discussion to suit your own purposes? Nevermind that arguing Americans "blow everything the fuck out of proportion" actually makes you the slimy hypocrite for issuing your own stereotypes; if I bring that up, you can just construct another ad hoc dodge stating that it's only blown out of proportion when somebody else does it!

I might have been born yesterday, but I know that not all people from New Zealand are narcissistic, obsessive jackasses who really wants people to know that they have thoughts on scoring systems (because they would be great competition for Heartbeam).

[TrevHead (TVR)]

I get it now, the phase is common with American sport reporters. Yeah I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, still it was grossly incompetent to not notice it before publishing.

My view on risque words like chink and fag is that context and audience is everything, that why I don't have the right to use the N word anywhere I want. But yeah PC is such an grey area which varies from person to person. Luckily most of us only let it offend us if we think its intentional

EDIT
BTW the fact that the guy isn't Chinese doesnt make it ok, sure it helps to exemplify that it wasnt intentional but its still offensive to those who see it and don't make the distinction

[Elixir]

This is blowing things out of proportion:

We're not here to indulge your fantasy of making Americans break down, weeping, to admit "It's TRUE! We're LIVING IN THE FOURTH REICH!!! GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL IS GOD!!"

This is trying to tunnel vision as hard as possible:

You're not an American, or an impromptu speaker, or a particularly useful participant, so you don't need to get involved.

I haven't overextended anything, I'm not indulging fantasies, I don't have an insufferable bias and I don't have to conform to any of your categories.

Can you please post something that isn't trying to extract things from my original post which aren't actually there?

[Ed Oscuro]

For those just joining us, we were having a reasonable discussion about PC culture

and Elixir showed up to try to see if he could find any soft targets for slimy insults to get his rocks off. Too bad he can't frame a proper insult without tripping over his own fingers.

That's the basic difference between us. I'm trying to be helpful, whereas from the outset Elixir has been abusive and generally useless. Pretty common behavior for a narcissist. I vote him off the island.

Elixir, really, you're about one step up (down?) from saying "Nyeah nyeah!" Just as I said, all your "arguments" are basically "I am going to just pretend I'm being logical, that surely will infuriate people!"