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Misplaced Mistaken Outrage
... over Sen. Kerry's use of the term 'tar-baby'. You will note that I did not say false outrage. I do not think that Renee over at Womanist Musings is being disingenuous when she claims to be outraged. She is outraged. But she is outraged in error. She has the video posted on her blog so you can watch it there to judge for yourself.
She is acting like he called someone a 'tar-baby'. He did not. He used the word in its original meaning - a sticky problem that only entangles you more them harder you struggle. What he did was not like calling a black man a 'spade'. What he did is like using the word 'spade' to refer to the black card suit with pips shaped like spear heads. This is an argument that will likely turn out to be a tar-baby for me but we must stop running from the difficult topic of race. People of good will must speak about these things in the effort to increase understanding across the color line for so long as it exists.
In her post and comments she argues that the common vernacular meaning of the word is the racist word. I cannot argue with that because I am not a part of her vernacular community. Neither is the Senator. He has probably spent less time in his life around openly racist people who use racial insults than I have. And I do not recall hearing this term used as a racial insult, even though I have been exposed to an amazing variety of these terms. I have encountered people who refer to it as one but not heard it myself. I have also not heard it used in its original meaning very often. It is rapidly falling out of use all together.
She also argues in the comments,
BTW what I deem to be racist against WOC is far more accurate than your determination simply because I inhabit the body that I do. This is one of those times Larry when you listen to views of POC and put aside your inclinations.
This is the sort of argument that by design is racist and shuts down the discussion rather than opens it up. She may be able to more accurately say what a WOC finds offensive than I am, but she does not have any special insight into the way that Sen Kerry and his peers use language and that is at least as central to this argument as how she feels about it. It is obvious from the context that the over-educated elite white male was ignorant of the racial implications of the word he used. He used it in a clearly non-racial context in its original meaning. He is likely to issue an apology because of the controversy that his ignorant choice of words caused but that firestorm has only served to distract from the actual content of what he was saying. He was defending Sen Obama from a scurrilous attack and no one will note his defense of our candidate because we had to digress into the language of personal affront.
Comments (26)
Cross posted at The Working Class Heretic
July 24, 2008 8:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I sure hope I can continue to use the metaphor of the briar patch, as in "Please don't throw me in the..."
July 24, 2008 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Evidently, a kind of Sanctimonious 'Gotcha' Fixation is Renee's own personal tar-baby.
July 24, 2008 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
So, if Renee were to be offended by the word "niggardly," then the only relevant factor in proscribing its use is her offense--the facts be damned. What we must service is her righteous indignation. Puh-leaze.
The writings of Joel Chandler Harris are now considered by many to be racist. An arguable premise to be certain, though even were one to concede it, then what? Some seem to think that taking a razor blade to history is a perfectly reasonable approach to ameliorating present personal offense. I suggest that time, to the best of our knowledge, still flows in one direction only. You cannot rehabilitate the past. To paraphrase the old chestnut: History is as history has done. If one, by proscribing the image of the Confederate flag, could remove it from the minds of irrational haters, would it not also be removed from the minds of historians also? Would that be an acceptable remedy for Renee's offense?
The answer to that last question is foreshadowed by the fact that Renee doesn't think her outrage should have to take a back seat to mistaken presumption, for she implicitly makes known that her perception of racism overrules Larry's "determination" (i.e., fact). Larry is simply correct, as any English professor could explain. The definition of "tarbaby" is known; the fact that Renee doesn't know it does not explain why we should pretend that it means something it never did.
I can understand that Renee is offended. Would she be any less offended once history is ignorantly edited? Given the degree of justification she exhibits, the answer fairly screams at you.
July 24, 2008 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
In Memphis we have a memorial to the man who founded the KKK. A couple of years ago there was a movement to get the monument taken down. I argued that it should stand as a reminder of our racist past.
July 24, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
But only if included in the memorial were a plaque explaining our heroic Tennessean's involvement in the Fort Pillow Massacre.
July 24, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would be all for that.
July 24, 2008 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
itsthespellingstupid
Upon re reading your post it apears that you are arguing that she should be unoffended by the use of the word "niggardly". I cannot disagree more. That would be callous on an entirely different level.
July 24, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
On the word niggardly I would point out that other than sounding a lot like a certain racist word, it actually has no racist connotation of its own:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/niggardly
July 24, 2008 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I should add that although it's a perfectly innocent word, I would never use it because it could be so easily taken the wrong way. Similarly, I think I would avoid the use of the term tar-baby. (Saying I'd avoid it is not the same as saying that Kerry or McCain should be lambasted for it, of course.)
July 24, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
copied from http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75ginterview.phtml
Interviewer: Alright, Mr. Wilson, you've done just fine on the Rorshact.. your papers are in good order.. your file's fine.. no difficulties with your motor skills.. And I think you're probably ready for this job. We've got one more psychological test we always do here. It's just a Word Association. I'll throw you out a few words - anything that comes to your mind, just throw back at me, okay? It's kind of an arbitrary thing. Like, if I say "dog", you'd say..?
Mr. Wilson: "Tree".
Interviewer: "Tree". [ nods head, prepares the test papers ] "Dog".
Mr. Wilson: "Tree".
Interviewer: "Fast".
Mr. Wilson: "Slow".
Interviewer: "Rain".
Mr. Wilson: "Snow".
Interviewer: "White".
Mr. Wilson: "Black".
Interviewer: "Bean".
Mr. Wilson: "Pod".
Interviewer: [ casually ] "Negro".
Mr. Wilson: "Whitey".
Interviewer: "Tarbaby".
Mr. Wilson: [ silent, sure he didn't hear what he thinks he heard ] What'd you say?
Interviewer: [ repeating ] "Tarbaby".
Mr. Wilson: "Ofay".
Interviewer: "Colored".
Mr. Wilson: "Redneck".
Interviewer: "Junglebunny".
Mr. Wilson: [ starting to get angry ] "Peckerwood!"
Interviewer: "Burrhead".
Mr. Wilson: [ defensive ] "Cracker!"
Interviewer: [ aggressive ] "Spearchucker".
Mr. Wilson: "White trash!"
Interviewer: "Jungle Bunny!"
Mr. Wilson: [ upset ] "Honky!"
Interviewer: "Spade!
Mr. Wilson: [ really upset ] "Honky Honky!"
Interviewer: [ relentless ] "Nigger!"
Mr. Wilson: [ immediate ] "Dead honky!" [ face starts to flinch ]
Interviewer: [ quickly wraps the interview up ] Okay, Mr. Wilson, I think you're qualified for this job. How about a starting salary of $5,000?
Mr. Wilson: Your momma!
Interviewer: [ fumbling ] Uh.. $7,500 a year?
Mr. Wilson: Your grandmomma!
Interviewer: [ desperate ] $15,000, Mr. Wilson. You'll be the highest paid janitor in America. Just, don't.. don't hurt me, please..
Mr. Wilson: Okay.
Interviewer: [ relieved ] Okay.
Mr. Wilson: You want me to start now?
Interviewer: Oh, no, no.. that's alright. I'll clean all this up. Take a couple of weeks off, you look tired.
[ fade ]
July 24, 2008 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Must.Figure.Out.Blockquotes.
July 24, 2008 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
“For me to stand here before all these people and say I’m going to declare divorces invalid because someone feels they weren’t treated fairly in court, we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions . . . .” John McCain
According to Candy Crowley, he did say, "I shouldn't have used that word. It was wrong to do."
July 24, 2008 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Father O'KC
1. That is one of the finest peices of race relaitions comedy ever. It was nice when SNL was hip and edgy.
2. Take the ' out of your handle so that we can reply to your posts.
July 24, 2008 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I took out the apostrophe, but I don't understand why it was messing things up. Sigh.
Thanks for the tip, Larry.
July 24, 2008 2:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do not know why it does either. But it surely does. Thanks for fixing it.
July 24, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just wish we could post clips of old SNL routines from YouTube. The expression on Pryor's face is what made the routine so funny at the time. I'm sure Lorne Michaels or NBC is preventing the public use of archive video, so that people will buy the Best of collections. Some of my best stuff is otherwise unavailable ;-)
July 24, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I still remember it well. I was shocked at the time that Chevy Chase was dropping an n-bomb on Richard Pryor. For a few seconds, I wondered if Pryor actually didn't know it was coming, he played it so well.
July 25, 2008 12:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's because they're not properly escaping their single quotes. To wit: this is the HTML code they're using in that comment above:
onclick="replyComment(205411, 2981851, 'Father O'KC', 'Jul 24, 2008 2:12 PM')"
You'll note the single quote before Father and the one after KC. The problem is that the single quote between the O and the KC results in an error, because after that that single quote, the code is wanting a comma (like the one after the single quote after the KC). It's not that hard to fix, and they've been told about it before, so I'm not sure why it's still a problem. Well, other than that they might have bigger fish to fry.
July 24, 2008 3:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the HTML lesson. I am trying to learn as much as I can and quit looking like a noob on the net.
July 24, 2008 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're welcome. Of course, I posted that for whoever maintains their web code as much as for anyone.
A great place to start learning HTML is by using the "View Source" option on most browsers as well as the latest documentation from the w3c: http://www.w3.org/html/wg/html5/
July 24, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I remember that rutine running. My frineds and I lughed so hard. We probably said, "I can't believe they can get by with on TV" a million times in those days never missing the show. I recall that the bars were even slow at that time on Saturday nights.
The thumbnails are to small to know for sure but, is yours a picture of Father Guido Sarduchi by chance?
July 24, 2008 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
As the archbishop said to the cardinal when pondering how to return the church to solvency after paying off predator priest settlements, "Bingo!"
July 24, 2008 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
An AP story after last year's debate on talking to leaders without preconditions - one of the reports said something about not having face to face meetings until the "necessary spadework" had been completed.
July 24, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Think they were talking about digging for the solutions to foreign ploicy conundrums, or things they thought Barack needed to do?
July 24, 2008 9:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone still calling herself a "womanist" is too brain-dead to worry about.
July 25, 2008 2:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
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