(no subject)
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7598101
So, onto the negative side of Linsanity.
There is sooo much to unpack in this video. For one thing, a bunch of black and white guys sitting around a table discussing the firing of an ESPN staffer for using the word "chink" as applied to an Asian-American... Hrm, is there a missing voice here I wonder?
Let's start from the beginning. Okay, Steven A. Smith is talking about how the black community has to accept culpability for incidents such as the firing of the ESPN staffer because of... racial oversensitivity? Uh, what? How is the black community even involved in this incident? Did the black community come out in full voice to denounce ESPN for the chink headline? Was the ESPN writer a black person? As far as I can tell, the answer is "no" on both counts. So uh, what's the black community got to do with someone getting fired for making a really racist pun about Jeremy Lin?
Smith starts talking about how there's no excuse for using the n-word (which I agree), and goes on to talk about how lots of different communities are sensitive now to different offensive content. Then he goes on to talk about the white community going "wait a minute, what about what the white community finds offensive?"
Points to be made:
1) I just absolutely love how Smith has made this conversation about the black vs white communities... when the incident that sparked this discussion was about a journalist referring to Jeremy Lin as a chink.
2) Yay for yet another example of how Asian Americans are the invisible minority. Because even when the incident in question DIRECTLY INVOLVES AN ASIAN AMERICAN, the conversations that take place are still about blacks and whites... as if all racial dialogue in America can only be understood in a black/white context.
Okay, so, onward with Smith's incredible rant. Smith goes on to talk about how the black population is on track to increase 1% compared to the Hispanic population's doubling. (Uh... at this point I'm wondering where this is going...) And then he goes on to declare that black people "are in danger of becoming endangered!"
Okay. What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK. Somebody pleeeeeeeease tell me where in all of this ESPN chink fracas has ANYONE stood up and blamed the black community for any of this media stupidity? Has anyone anywhere stood up and said, "wow, it's the black community's fault that a white ESPN writer referred to Jeremy as a chink on national headlines"? And the quoting of the Hispanic population? Um, I'm sorry... are you trying to imply that the black community is somehow in danger from the Hispanic community!? Because of racial sensitivity of all reasons!?!
Newsflash Mr. Steven Smith: generally, the people who make these type of stupid media fuck-up mistakes, such as referring to someone as a chink, or a faggot, etc., these people are usually coming from a place of privilege. Privileged people are generally not in any danger of becoming... er, endangered (no matter what the richest 1% of the population might think).
Okay, onward to what he's saying. So, Smith goes on to talk about how yeah, the n-word is flagrant, nobody has any excuse to use that word because of its historical context, but how there are other words that should not necessarily be perceived as offensive, or that people might not know they're offensive.
Um. Please. Listen, Smith, I dunno what your point is, because at this point I'm not really sure you have one. But if there is one thing that you cannot do, it's to declare what is offensive and what is not offensive to other communities. Your "I don't know" defense does not work. Really, are you going to tryyyyyyy and imply that someone "might not know" that the word Chink is offensive to Asian Americans?
You know what Smith? I find it offensive that you are even implying that there's a comparison of the offensiveness-level between the c-word and the n-word. That because of the n-word's historical context, it is absolutely flagrant to use it, but every other word might be up for discussion. That is fucking ridiculous and offensive.
On another note, I agree with a lot of Skip Bayless's points. I'd rather have oversensitivity than undersensitivity any day. And if someone finds some type of humor offensive, why don't people just STOP using that "humor"?? Seriously, is the world so devoid of creativity that if people don't have their offensive jokes, humor is just going to die?
So, let me get to MY point, Mr. Smith. I dunno how you ended up on a 12 minute rant about the black community's responsibility in Jeremy Lin being called a chink, but here's the REAL issue at hand. The personal racism that Jeremy Lin has faced in his basketball career is only a slice of the issue. The bigger issue is that in the past week, there've been three separate sports journalists who've used that chink phrase in the past week. Am I just seriously missing something? Is "chink in the armor" a standard phrase used by sports journalists to discuss a weakness in somebody's basketball game? Is it alllll just one big coincidence that they've all used this phrase with regards to Jeremy Lin? Or do all sports journalists just have this amazing collective ESP when it comes to a certain Asian American basketball star?
Perhaps the most likely answer in this case is that rather than an amazing collective ESP, the American consciousness is collectively affected by institutional racism. The kind of racism that prevented college scouts from taking Jeremy Lin seriously when he led his high school team to a state championship. The kind of racism that led him to be undrafted. The kind of racism that somehow has sports journalists on at least three separate occasions refer to Jeremy Lin as a chink when discussing his perceived weaknesses. And I haven't even included the other instances of racism, such as some stupid Fox journalist making a tired old joke about Asian men's penis size, or some other idiot who referred to Jeremy Lin's small eyes.
Take each racist incident separately, and you might, MIGHTTT, MAYBE BUT NOT REALLY want to defend someone with the "he didn't know defense", or the "it was just a joke defense". But add up all those separate incidents and what you have is something that goes waaaaay beyond "oversensitivity" to racial issues.
Oh, one last thing Smith. Contrary to what you've said, you DO NOT speak for the whole black community.
So, onto the negative side of Linsanity.
There is sooo much to unpack in this video. For one thing, a bunch of black and white guys sitting around a table discussing the firing of an ESPN staffer for using the word "chink" as applied to an Asian-American... Hrm, is there a missing voice here I wonder?
Let's start from the beginning. Okay, Steven A. Smith is talking about how the black community has to accept culpability for incidents such as the firing of the ESPN staffer because of... racial oversensitivity? Uh, what? How is the black community even involved in this incident? Did the black community come out in full voice to denounce ESPN for the chink headline? Was the ESPN writer a black person? As far as I can tell, the answer is "no" on both counts. So uh, what's the black community got to do with someone getting fired for making a really racist pun about Jeremy Lin?
Smith starts talking about how there's no excuse for using the n-word (which I agree), and goes on to talk about how lots of different communities are sensitive now to different offensive content. Then he goes on to talk about the white community going "wait a minute, what about what the white community finds offensive?"
Points to be made:
1) I just absolutely love how Smith has made this conversation about the black vs white communities... when the incident that sparked this discussion was about a journalist referring to Jeremy Lin as a chink.
2) Yay for yet another example of how Asian Americans are the invisible minority. Because even when the incident in question DIRECTLY INVOLVES AN ASIAN AMERICAN, the conversations that take place are still about blacks and whites... as if all racial dialogue in America can only be understood in a black/white context.
Okay, so, onward with Smith's incredible rant. Smith goes on to talk about how the black population is on track to increase 1% compared to the Hispanic population's doubling. (Uh... at this point I'm wondering where this is going...) And then he goes on to declare that black people "are in danger of becoming endangered!"
Okay. What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK. Somebody pleeeeeeeease tell me where in all of this ESPN chink fracas has ANYONE stood up and blamed the black community for any of this media stupidity? Has anyone anywhere stood up and said, "wow, it's the black community's fault that a white ESPN writer referred to Jeremy as a chink on national headlines"? And the quoting of the Hispanic population? Um, I'm sorry... are you trying to imply that the black community is somehow in danger from the Hispanic community!? Because of racial sensitivity of all reasons!?!
Newsflash Mr. Steven Smith: generally, the people who make these type of stupid media fuck-up mistakes, such as referring to someone as a chink, or a faggot, etc., these people are usually coming from a place of privilege. Privileged people are generally not in any danger of becoming... er, endangered (no matter what the richest 1% of the population might think).
Okay, onward to what he's saying. So, Smith goes on to talk about how yeah, the n-word is flagrant, nobody has any excuse to use that word because of its historical context, but how there are other words that should not necessarily be perceived as offensive, or that people might not know they're offensive.
Um. Please. Listen, Smith, I dunno what your point is, because at this point I'm not really sure you have one. But if there is one thing that you cannot do, it's to declare what is offensive and what is not offensive to other communities. Your "I don't know" defense does not work. Really, are you going to tryyyyyyy and imply that someone "might not know" that the word Chink is offensive to Asian Americans?
You know what Smith? I find it offensive that you are even implying that there's a comparison of the offensiveness-level between the c-word and the n-word. That because of the n-word's historical context, it is absolutely flagrant to use it, but every other word might be up for discussion. That is fucking ridiculous and offensive.
On another note, I agree with a lot of Skip Bayless's points. I'd rather have oversensitivity than undersensitivity any day. And if someone finds some type of humor offensive, why don't people just STOP using that "humor"?? Seriously, is the world so devoid of creativity that if people don't have their offensive jokes, humor is just going to die?
So, let me get to MY point, Mr. Smith. I dunno how you ended up on a 12 minute rant about the black community's responsibility in Jeremy Lin being called a chink, but here's the REAL issue at hand. The personal racism that Jeremy Lin has faced in his basketball career is only a slice of the issue. The bigger issue is that in the past week, there've been three separate sports journalists who've used that chink phrase in the past week. Am I just seriously missing something? Is "chink in the armor" a standard phrase used by sports journalists to discuss a weakness in somebody's basketball game? Is it alllll just one big coincidence that they've all used this phrase with regards to Jeremy Lin? Or do all sports journalists just have this amazing collective ESP when it comes to a certain Asian American basketball star?
Perhaps the most likely answer in this case is that rather than an amazing collective ESP, the American consciousness is collectively affected by institutional racism. The kind of racism that prevented college scouts from taking Jeremy Lin seriously when he led his high school team to a state championship. The kind of racism that led him to be undrafted. The kind of racism that somehow has sports journalists on at least three separate occasions refer to Jeremy Lin as a chink when discussing his perceived weaknesses. And I haven't even included the other instances of racism, such as some stupid Fox journalist making a tired old joke about Asian men's penis size, or some other idiot who referred to Jeremy Lin's small eyes.
Take each racist incident separately, and you might, MIGHTTT, MAYBE BUT NOT REALLY want to defend someone with the "he didn't know defense", or the "it was just a joke defense". But add up all those separate incidents and what you have is something that goes waaaaay beyond "oversensitivity" to racial issues.
Oh, one last thing Smith. Contrary to what you've said, you DO NOT speak for the whole black community.