How can this be a mistake?

#55
#55
lawgator1 said:
Rep. Lamborn apologizes after "tar baby" remark - CBS News

I don't know. Its such an obviously offensive thing to say. I don't see how it could be a mistake.
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You're kidding, right? How incredibly over sensitive and STUPID it is to make a big deal out of that kind of reference. It IS racist.... racist to twist something like that into an offence. Good grief. No wonder we struggle to have reasoned conversations about REAL racial issues/healing in this country.
 
#56
#56
I can see how people take it as racist - I don't agree that it's one step below the N-word but it definitely has a history as a racial epithet
 
#57
#57
volinbham said:
I can see how people take it as racist - I don't agree that it's one step below the N-word but it definitely has a history as a racial epithet
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I've lived in Tennessee my entire life and have never heard this used as a racial epithet. Maybe 26 years old is too young to have heard it? I don't know.
 
#58
#58
LOL at anyone that doesn't see this as racist. That's the only way it's used, not some metaphor for a sticky situation. Here's a test: would you use it in front of a black person?
 
#59
#59
CSVol said:
LOL at anyone that doesn't see this as racist. That's the only way it's used, not some metaphor for a sticky situation. Here's a test: would you use it in front of a black person?
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Yeah I would. Thinking this is a racist comment in te context it was used is borderline insane.
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#60
#60
CSVol said:
LOL at anyone that doesn't see this as racist. That's the only way it's used, not some metaphor for a sticky situation. Here's a test: would you use it in front of a black person?
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Disagree - it is a metaphor for a sticky situation but because of the racial connotation that metaphor use is often obscured. However, it still is a metaphor for a sticky situation and the context in which it was used points more directly to the metaphor IMHO.
 
#61
#61
CSVol said:
LOL at anyone that doesn't see this as racist. That's the only way it's used, not some metaphor for a sticky situation. Here's a test: would you use it in front of a black person?
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While aware of the fact that it has become a more racially loaded term it absolutely is historically a reference to a "sticky" situation. To argue otherwise is to be totally unaware of the term's etymology.

Tar baby | Define Tar baby at Dictionary.com
 
#62
#62
GAVol said:
Going back and reading the comment again, the metaphor actually makes sense. It's just a term that some get touchy about.

Reminds me of a few years ago when a politician got in hot water for using the word "niggardly".
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Niggardly doesn't even have a modern day conotation of racism! How the hell could this be construed as racist? Just because it has some of the same letters as a racial slur? Idiotic.
 
#63
#63
SamRebel35 said:
Niggardly doesn't even have a modern day conotation of racism! How the hell could this be construed as racist? Just because it has some of the same letters as a racial slur? Idiotic.
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It's like when that guy (from Reason?) took a sign to the Daily Show/Colbert Report rally that read "Obama is a Keynesian" and people freak out about birthers :)
 
#68
#68
Vols520 said:
My favorite racist term is sand nigga

Like when u see a black guy on the beach. U yell, hey nigga get off our sand!

A joke from zack galifinakis.
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Ftr there was an article from spin magazine and it had that joke. I thought it was funny.
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#70
#70
Vols520 said:
My favorite racist term is sand nigga

Like when u see a black guy on the beach. U yell, hey nigga get off our sand!

A joke from zack galifinakis.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
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I asked a Persian girl what terms offended her and she said that's the only one. I responded, "so people can call you whatever they want as long as they don't associate you with blacks?"
 
#71
#71
SamRebel35 said:
I've lived in Tennessee my entire life and have never heard this used as a racial epithet. Maybe 26 years old is too young to have heard it? I don't know.
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As I said before, I think that is part of the disconnect on this issue today. I've never heard the phrase used in anything other than a racist context, whereas some others, apparently, have only heard it used to refer to a sticky situation.



volinbham said:
Disagree - it is a metaphor for a sticky situation but because of the racial connotation that metaphor use is often obscured. However, it still is a metaphor for a sticky situation and the context in which it was used points more directly to the metaphor IMHO.
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I don't disagree, generally speaking, but the quote is that he is referring to Obama as a tar baby, not referring to the situation. That may have just been compounding the error.

At a minimum, it was pretty stupid. But it naturally causes one to wonder why he is equating Obama with that phrase somewhere in his head and it comes out that way when he's just chatting with the radio guys. To me, it is far more likely that the comment accidentally betrayed his thought process rather than an intentional insult.
 
#73
#73
lawgator1 said:
As I said before, I think that is part of the disconnect on this issue today. I've never heard the phrase used in anything other than a racist context, whereas some others, apparently, have only heard it used to refer to a sticky situation.
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so you're not educated on the many uses of the term? Shocking

lawgator1 said:
I don't disagree, generally speaking, but the quote is that he is referring to Obama as a tar baby, not referring to the situation. That may have just been compounding the error.
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no he was saying that aligning yourself with the Pres is a situation you will never get out of with the voters. You will be stuck to his choices. He never said the Pres is a tar baby like you are trying to make it out to be
 
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#74
#74
utvolpj said:
so you're not educated on the many uses of the term? Shocking



no he was saying that aligning yourself with the Pres is a situation you will never get out of with the voters. You will be stuck to his choices. He never said the Pres is a tar baby like you are trying to make it out to be
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this. it sounded bad...but wasn't meant to be.
 
#75
#75
lawgator1 said:
As I said before, I think that is part of the disconnect on this issue today. I've never heard the phrase used in anything other than a racist context, whereas some others, apparently, have only heard it used to refer to a sticky situation.






I don't disagree, generally speaking, but the quote is that he is referring to Obama as a tar baby, not referring to the situation. That may have just been compounding the error.

At a minimum, it was pretty stupid. But it naturally causes one to wonder why he is equating Obama with that phrase somewhere in his head and it comes out that way when he's just chatting with the radio guys. To me, it is far more likely that the comment accidentally betrayed his thought process rather than an intentional insult.
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What's the point of pitching racism if your wrong? Id be careful pitching the idea if I really didn't have a clue as to what he meant by it. If he is racist I doubt he'd mind taking credit for it. Most of the ones I have encountered don't.

If it's just an idiotic statement, politics is full of those.
 
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