Sensitivity and the symbols of racism

Perhaps this had something to do with popularizing the correlation between hanging and the oppression of the black community?

It wouldn't be the first connection I make myself if I saw a shirt of someone being hung or whatnot, but I guess it's a rampant point of view.

It was the use of the word "lynch" that pushed it over the top. If she had said "they should probably take him out back and gang up on him", there probably wouldn't have been as much of a flap. But "lynch" brings to mind the practice of hanging black men. It's a felony and a designated hate crime, and it's incredibly racially charged.

I still don't get why the editor was fired. He wasn't encouraging lynching, he actually did the right thing by taking the opportunity to address racism in the sport and used a powerful image on the cover to draw people's attention.

Goddamn do golfers suck.

You did take a history course in high school, right? The KKK's primary tactic against Blacks was lynching.

The moral of the story: if you're a journalist and if you like your job, stay away from 'lynch'. Just look at that guy who badmouthed 'Kane & Lynch'. Coincidence? I think not.

He showed poor taste. But yeah, he shouldn't have been fired.

And it's important to keep in mind the distinction in connotation between "hanging" and "lynching". Hanging is more associated with a legal sentence; lynching implies a mob getting together and deciding to hang someone, and is so inherently connected with racism in the South.

Now here's a question -- suppose she had said "hire some goons and make him disappear like Jimmy Hoffa"? Would there be a huge outcry from the Italian-American community? And would anybody outside that community be as outraged?

It's poor taste if it's a joke. This was supposed to be a somber image which evokes strong emotions specifically to prove just how powerful the use of the word 'lynch' can be. It's not only not poor taste, it's much more meaningful than the editor of any golf magazine should have the talent to do.

Technically, "lynching" does not mean hanging, although that is the most common association. It actually refers to mob violence and/or execution without a proper trial, and so covers various types of beatings, tarrings, etc.

In America, however, the term is so tied to (specifically) racist violence in the South that there is very little to be gained from using it ever. If you want to talk about a hanging, just say "hung". Save yourself the trouble.

Edit: Dickson already touched on this..

This is the country in which a man was fired for using the term niggardly correctly.

Really? Link?

Right here.

He actually resigned, he wasn't fired, but it was still ridiculous that it even came to that point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controv...22niggardly%22

The Wikipedia entry has stories on it. The best is this one -

Let's get Niger and Nigeria taken off the map next.

That Wikipedia article actually mentions that the incident is rumored to be the inspiration for Roth's novel.

Of course, the whole focus on a few instances of stupidity takes away from the real point.

Which point? That people are overly sensitive to truck driver's t-shirts? Or that racism still exists? (*gasp*)

ETA: Or that things related to lynching might be perceived as racist, even if they're just meant to pertain to hanging people for non-racially-motivated purposes?

(Also, who wears a shirt depicting a hanging, anyway?)

The whole 'misdirect the conversation to silliness of racism out of control' thing just serves to make people more comfortable with the way things are and not worry about the fact that change still needs to be made.

Take, for instance...the fact that someone said (jokingly) that other golfers should lynch Tiger Woods in order to stop him barely made a blip on the radar. Cut to a magazine putting a provocative image on its cover to draw attention toward racism in golf, and the news of the editor getting fired over the image is going to draw more attention than the original racist comment.

I would hardly saw the lynch comment barely made a blip.

It didn't. And It certainly didn't have the attention this firing is getting.

Example -

The commissioner of the sport is saying that the photo which was in reference to an article covering what was said is actually worse than what was said. Essentially, saying racist things isn't as bad as talking about the saying of racist things. Golfworld should have had the good sense to let this get swept under the run while no-one noticed.

Racist comment? "inappropriate and unfortunate".

Photo which speaks to the racist comment? "outrageous and irresponsible".

That story was all over the place. The cover thing wouldn't be half of what it is if the original story hadn't been a big deal.

And in response to your next post, no one was taking issue with the magazine wanting to discuss the incident and dive into the issue of racism, the problem was slapping a noose on the cover.

No it wasn't. It was mentioned in passing, unless (I would guess) you read golf websites/magazines.

...or read news websites, or watch ESPN, or watch cable news programs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkysGhnbdr0

It's very funny.

Jacob, it was a throw-away article on all of those websites. I didn't say it wasn't covered.

But seriously, let's get into a semantics argument about website coverage. That's the point here.

You made it sound as if only golf fans were aware of the first incident. I was merely pointing out that if someone like ME was aware of it, it was certainly being covered more.

But I don't want to derail any further, so please go back to solving the country's race issues.

I'm not a golf fan (obvious), so how would I have known?

I'm not offering solutions to anything, Singer. I guess it's stupid to even talk about it, though! Let's discuss the rough times we're all going to have by not being able to use a term for stingy that isn't similar to nigger.

Same as myself, I imagine.

Back on point, the fact is that nooses have been in the news quite a bit recently, from the Jena 6 trial to several other incidents (just google "nooses in the news" for a more comprehensive list). So I tend to agree that, after the "lynch Tiger Woods" remark, the first thing that would pop into my mind to put on the cover of a golf magazine issue devoted to the problem of racism in golf would not have been YET ANOTHER noose.

Condescension is always the best way to get a conversation back on track.

The original post in this thread was someone asking about how a hanging on a tee-shirt could be considered racist or insensitive. If you don't see how someone mentioning that the word "niggardly" was also considered offensive and led to a resignation could be a part of the conversation, then I apologize.

When did I say I don't see why it's part of the conversation? I took part in the fucking conversation!

The ONLY point I was making was that it's stupid to focus on anomalies like the 'niggardly incidents' when discussing race. That's it. It's the sort of discussion that gives reverse-racist shitheads their material (and, no, I didn't say anyone here was such a shithead), so when I say it takes away from the point, I'm talking about the conversation at hand turning into a 'Ultra PC America' whack-fest, rather than an honest discussion of the kinds of things that offend groups of people.

I was simply curious as to the situation. I knew about the golf one, didn't know about the firing one, so I asked for the situation to be explained.

I know. It's not a big deal. I merely threw out a comment about how it's stupid to focus on those incidents. That's all.

People threatening to hang one another in the rural south? Honestly scary. People refusing to hire, promote, or give opportunities to people because of their ethnic, religious, sexual, or other background (when entirely unrelated to the job)? A tragic reflection of the ignorance and baseness of some sectors of society. Some jackass making an insulting remark about a multimillionaire? I think Mr. Woods will get over it.

Someone who has had every advantage in life (which, I am under the impression that Tiger Woods has had, seeing as he's mostly spent his life golfing and is now incredibly wealthy) isn't going to be materially harmed by such insults. What if this was an insult against his other ethnic background? His religion? What if this was a white guy? A white woman?

Would everyone care if a rich white female athlete was insulted? Or an Asian? Hispanic? What about intertribal or interethnic insults between people of differing African descent?

Honestly, isn't it kinda stupid to give that much of a shit what some idiotic jackass says? I mean, if someone said "Let's lynch that Australian golfer!" wouldn't we all think "crazy idiot" and not give that guy any announcer airtime but otherwise blow him off as an asshole? What about someone joking about assassinating the president? It's not like people don't make jokes to the effect of 'the only reason no one shoots Bush is because we don't want Cheney running the show.' Why should a black guy be treated differently when there is no difference in consequence?

This is not the Jena 6. This is not an entire town having a segregated prom night. This is not kids not getting into college, not getting jobs. This has no material effect on Tiger Woods.

Seriously, read a fucking book.

Also, for anyone seeking to understand the meaning of the word "lynch" and its connotations in American culture, please Netflix "Unforgivable Blackness" at the earliest possible opportunity. For starters.

How would the Kama Sutra apply to this situation?

Also, did you want to have a dialogue, or are you just trying to be insulting? I know what the fuck lynching means and I am aware of the connotations. However, a casual remark implying threatening to kill a wealthy, successful man regardless of his race just doesn't garner that much sympathy from me. As I understand the situation (I wasn't there) this was not an actual lynch mob or a serious threat. It was an idiotic asshole making an incredibly rude and stupid remark. Who gives a shit what such an idiot thinks or says? Aside from, apparently, Rath?

It's not that he was threatening to kill a wealthy, successful man, it was the manner in which he was threatening to kill him. Context, as they say, is everything. As others have tried to state in this thread.

This whole thread:

What context makes it such a big friggin' deal? Seriously? The fact that Woods has some African heritage and the term has particularly negative connotations for African-Americans? As I said above, when it's serious, when it's a threat (and not a stupid remark in reply to a comment that they'd have to "gang up on him" to stop him, and not actually said as a threat), when it keeps people from progressing it's a big deal. When it's an asshole revealing his (or her) true colors, treat it for what it is. Woods himself said it was a "non-issue."

As I said before, if someone had made an equivalent remark about someone of any other race, religion, etc. would it be a big deal, and if so, bigger or smaller of a deal than this (pre-idiotic-magazine cover)?

Seriously, you're about two steps away from bitching about how you can't use the N word.

I really don't think there was any malice in her words, it was more like ignorance of how charged a word like "lynch" is. I don't think this was a case of supressed racism peeking through, just a cute blonde golf correspondant who didn't know any better.

Nigga, please.

First off, you're completely misunderstanding what I'm saying. When I posted, all I was doing was saying that it's stupid to focus on random instances of stupidity (the niggardly problems) when discussing race. It makes it seem as if such things are part of the real problem (they're not). Whenever a discussion about race starts to hint at things getting too-PC, the discussion is heading in the wrong direction. That doesn't mean it isn't funny, they're just anomalies.

That said, I really don't get what you're trying to say now. Because Tiger Woods is wealthy, and was raised in a much higher-class household than most of us, we should just ignore when people make racially insensitive comments directed toward him? Whether or not it was a 'real threat' doesn't matter in the least here. If she had made a joke about Lee Travino making a run for the border, or trimming the greens on his days off, that's just as wrong, regardless of whether she meant harm or if she's best friends with him.

The other problem that you're not taking into account here is that golf, more than any other major sport out there, has serious issues with racial, religious and sexual discrimination. They've been fighting an uphill battle with their sport being seen as a 'good old (white) boys club' for decades now. Augusta National admitted their first black member in 1990, and they only did so under threat that they'd have the Masters taken away from them. When Tiger Woods went on to win his first Masters tourney, one of the major players in the sport mentioned how he hoped he didn't serve fried chicken and watermelon for his dinner.

So, when you then have an announcer for the network which promotes your sport make a joke about lynching the only prominent Black American athlete in the game, it takes people back to these issues that they've had in the past. There's a lot of distrust that the black community has for the golf world, and saying something like this threatens to end any of the goodwill they've received (and speaking to the point I was making earlier, the PGA only looks worse when they are apologists for the announcer, yet decry the magazine cover as being waaaay over the top).

Such being the case, it's only appropriate for a major magazine which is focused on golf to talk about it, and to use an image which speaks to the true insensitivity of the remark that was made. Yeah, you want to joke about lynching, but the photo reminds us how real and powerful that word is.

In other news, Orentia tsutsugamushi, the harvest mite spokeslarva for the NAACP's (National Association for the Advancement of Creepy Parasites) had this to say:

"It's hard enough to get work and scholarships now as it is, considering, in our parasytic nymph stage, we're known for causing unsuspecting campers and hikers discomfort and itching, but now... We have to worry about losing our jobs, merely for the fact that our name ("Chigger") rhymes with a racial slur of some sort?"

When informed that "Chigger" is also defined as a derogatory, slang term (US English) for a person of Asian origins who acts "urban", whether through speech, clothing, alleged gang affiliation, possession of bling, Orentia tsutsugamushi responded with:

"Figures..."