Language matters

[ashling]

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[Smarmie Doofus]

1. I don't think it'll hurt him much. The $$$ media is in love with him.

And apparently he was defending the power elite's pet project of this era: disaster-capitalism-izing public education.

There's truckloads of wealth to be had there.

They'll make this go away.

[Plucketeer]

2. Language IS important

But carrying PC to extremes is also a pitfall. I grew up using "boy" as an exclamation of excitement - STILL DO - and I was never even close to a black person til I got into the service. ---- and that's clearly what Christie is doing with it here. If you don't like Christie - that's one thing. But don't be hangin' stuff on him that isn't true.

If I exclaim: Boy, it's HOT out today! I've diminished NO ONE.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Rupert, is that you? You don't waste any time.

Christie grew-up in NJ. He's been around black people his whole life. If he doesn't know that's it's insulting to call an AA adult male "boy" he's too stupid and/or ignorant to be governor of any state.

But as I said... there is much (twisted) love for this guy. He'll get away w. it.

[ReallyIAmAnOptimist]

4. Exactly, and

sadly he is the best the GOP has to offer.

[Mr.Bill]

6. I don't agree.

BOY it's hot out today, is a long way from I hear you BOY. It was pointed at a specific person and it was personal. This is a major screw-up from Christie.

[Plucketeer]

7. Right

Now enlighten me with a straight face, had the fella in the audience been white - HOW would this have been jumped on?

And as for the preface in the opening of this video - WHEN WAS the last time African -Americans had to suffer the "coloreds" and "Whites Only" signs. I had a black supervisor in GEORGIA in the early 80s (This was at the Lockheed aircraft plant in Marietta, Ga). Please, don't fiddle with what I learned from him about what the past had been like. Hell, he wouild have laughed out loud at the protestations of this Christie clip!

[Mr.Bill]

8. The guy in the audience wasn't white.

You have no point to make when you start with that premise. Whites have no history of being called BOY as a demeaning term. I grew up in an ethnic neighborhood. My high school was 49% hispanic and 39% black. You had less of a chance of getting your ass kicked if you used the N word than if you called a black guy BOY. Fighting words. Then and now.

For the record, I'm as white as Karl Rove and grew up in the 50s and 60s in California.

[Plucketeer]

10. Keep tryin' folks

Call me Rupert - call me what you want. Unless this video clip was doctored, I know what I saw. And BTW, While I was stationed at McGuire AFB in '67, I had a barracks room that my lily white backside shared with 3 blacks. Go on - school me about what means what.

[Mr.Bill]

11. I'm not here to school you.

Go to my old neighborhood and call a black man BOY. You'll get all the schooling you need.

[talkingmime]

13. The difference is that Governor Krispy Kreme would have used "sir" instead.

[Plucketeer]

14. SO - knowing as we do, about

Newark and other NJ towns with black leaders - not to mention the various staff that answer up the steps of the governor's chain of command - we have to assume that Christie cuts loose with this slander on all of them as well. After all - gotta keep 'em in their place. Maybe there's coloreds only drinking fountains and bathrooms in the capitol offices too. Last time I was in NJ was '67.

If you don't like the guy - fine. I'm not a fan of his either. But to try and hang phony intent on one agitated word - that's just wrong. Isn't there enough hatred in this world to where we shouldn't have to lifting up the carpet to find it? First I was made to feel awkward in using the word "gay" - even tho songwriters and crooners had used ti for centuries - when it was hijacked by homosexuals. Now I have to look left and right before I exclam "Boy!" ?????
I can see myself asking a new mom "Was it a girl or an infant male human?"

[talkingmime]

15. I think there's a big difference between "Boy is it hot" and "Get me a drink, boy."

I know that's not what he said (his actual quote wouldn't fit in the subject line), but that's the context in which he used it. There are a lot of situations where words have different conotations depending not only on the situation and manner in which they are used, but also with respect to the individuals involved and the triggers associated with that.

Richard Pryor used "nigger" all the time, but George Carlin wouldn't dare. Actually, Pryor used "honky" a lot too. If Carlin had done that he would have been chastised. Female comedians get away with using "bitch" and "lezbo" and nobody blinks, but male comedians have to be cautious with those terms.

The way Christie used "boy" in that clip was a context that is clearly belittling and offensive. I forget the movie, but in a similar situation the black character responded with "Who you callin' 'boy', boy?" I sort of wish the gentleman Christie was demeaning would have fired back with that line.

[Plucketeer]

17. Sure

and isn't it amusing to consider that if the questioner in the audience had been white or even hispanic, we wouldn't be having this discusson. Nigger, spic, wetback, chink - I see the offense in those. I even see what's wrong about "boy" in the way you're fighting to make this incident mean.
I'm telling you it's a judgement call here, and folks just TOO edgy or TOO anxious to find fault are out of line. You've not read what I've said in earlier posts. Can you IMAGINE Christie getting short with a black subordinate and dressing them down with that term? He'd have to resign to stop the fury - and probably even that wouldn't quell it.

yeah - sure - you're Right - you win - PLEASE, make sure YOU leave the last post to this. You'll wanna make sure that your notion is the one that caps the bottle. Oh wait! That phrase probably paints one as an alcoholic! Oh me, oh my! What have I done???

[talkingmime]

18. (urp) I'm not as think as you drunk I am. Still, it was overtly racist.

I have mixed feelings about Christie. He's had his good moments and his bad, but that one was solidly in the "bad" category. Why is it that white people (I'm one) feel the need to denegrate people who are not white? In the greater scheme of things we are the minority on this planet - by a lot. I don't just mean whites, I mean humans. We're the minority (by a lot) mammals on the planet. The cetaceans alone outnumber us, but whalers are working on modifying that equation.

I just don't get it. I grew up with kids from all ethnicities and never thought about the "white v. non-white" thing. It wasn't until I was a very young adult that I experienced it first hand and I was shocked.

[smallcat88]

5. pretty sure he knew what it meant

Not being raised with racism I had no idea that calling a black man (or anyone else) 'boy' was considered insulting till I was in my 20's. Once I found out, I was careful not to do it. Ignorance is an excuse only until you know better.

[Plucketeer]

9. I'm "lily white" by the most discerning standards.

And I've had folks use this explative/exclamation regarding things I've done or been associated with. It's the same as saying "Dang" or "you betcha" or Wow, or whatever, to make a point. I'm a progressive, but I'm NOT a progressive equivalent to a Tea Partier - and I refuse to cross that line!

[talkingmime]

12. Words escape me.

[02potato]

16. Sigmund is KO for the count!