"Black Hole" is now a racial slur?

[hack89]

the state of American science education on display in Dallas:

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/07/dallas-county-meeting-turns-ra.html

[Solon]

1. That entire conversation seems so strange...

The analogy only makes sense(and isn't offensive) when the term "Black Hole" is used, a "White Hole" is a theoretical object that is the opposite of a black hole, an object where everything falls out of it, rather than into it.

[FloriTexan]

22. Sorry for the Fox link....

but its the only one that I could find quickly. This guy is a joke here in Dallas. Always stirring the pot.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6953163&version=5&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

[Maddy McCall]

2. I was accused of being a racist in GDP because....

I opined that someone in there would have to "eat crow."

[Starbucks Anarchist]

4. Why can't they eat doves?

Huh? Well? :P :hi:

[Maddy McCall]

5. Hrmph!

You're so demanding!

:P

[skooooo]

3. Sounds like the guy was ignorant..

...as to what a "black hole" was.

[EbenezerMcIntosh]

6. I haven't seen any white holes in space.

Mostly just assholes. ;)

[aspergris]

7. I know a certain business

That put out a memo that discouraged employees from using the term "white out". It was deemed racially insensitve. The term to be used is "correction fluid."

[fishwax]

8. hmm ... i wonder if there is any video available

It appears there is no mention of this incident in the news, aside from this guy's blog and a few other places that cite the entry. The article says news cameras were rolling--seems like the kind of clip that would show up on youtube :shrug:

[BlooInBloo]

9. Heh - the 2 gazillion real racist things that got said today in Texas don't get reported....

Rather, only the one that makes white folks feel better does.

[Lex]

12. Funny how that works, eh?

nt

[skooooo]

13. Yeah I thought that too...nt

[pinto]

10. I think that's called conflating an issue.

:shrug:

[RB TexLa]

11. Price and Mayfield don't need much to go at each other over.

[Radio_Lady]

14. --

Conflagration in progress.

Reminder to stay away from this thread.

Warm regards,

Lady Ellen of Alpen Knoll

[Canuckistanian]

15. "Black Hole" is a reference for the "Black Hole of Calcutta"

A place where people are put away to die.

It seems pretty obvious to me.

[Common Sense Party]

18. No, it's not a reference to Calcutta. It is a reference to black holes

in space. 99% of the time people are referring to the deep space kind.

[cloudbase]

16. Reminiscent of the dustup over the use of the word

"niggardly" a year or two ago. It's nice to know that ignorance shows no prejudice.

[NYC_SKP]

17. May refer to Calcutta or the cosmic "black hole" where gravity is so strong

it sucks everything near it into the oblivion of ultimate compactness.

I have one in the back of my shop.

:hi:

[hack89]

19. A lot of clothes dryer come with them

though they do seem somewhat selective in regards to socks.

[Horse with no Name]

21. LOL I didn't read the entire thread before I posted

:toast:

[Horse with no Name]

20. There is one in the dryer as well

where else do you think those socks go?:shrug:

[Sanctified]

23. Black Hole was not used in a racist way however the term White Hole was.

I am really surprised no one called the other gentleman out for using a extremely clear racist term.

[Better Believe It]

24. Using The Scientific Term Black Hole Isn't A Bit Racist

And that is where the missing laundry socks go!

I swear there is a Black Hole in my washer/dryer. Does anyone else have that problem?

[kwassa]

26. I don't think you know the definition of the word "racist"

and racial is not racist. Something can be racial without being racist.

This whole incident is so trivial as to be beyond belief.

[Sanctified]

28. The term White Hole was used in a derogatory way to imply the color of ones skin,

sorry but that is racism.

[kwassa]

29. Derogatory is a matter of your personal opinion

where it might really be construed as descriptive rather than derogatory. Not racism. If everyone sitting in a hole is white, and not black, it could be descriptively called a white hole, and no value judgment is attached to that.

The people in question believed that black hole was derogatory, not knowing the scientific phenomenon of black holes in space. The term "hole" CAN have a derogatory connotation in a slang sense, and that was the misinterpretation they made.

The idea that one description is racist and the other is not is ludicrous.

[Lautremont]

25. In my town, back in the 80s, there was a well-publicized video store porn raid

in which the overzealous cops rounded up copies of the Disney movie "The Black Hole." True story!

My theory is that people ascribe racist or pornographic meaning to the term because they can't intellectually deal with the awesome time-bending physics the phenomenon implies.

[MrCoffee]

27. It's John Wiley Price v. Kenneth Mayfield...again

yawn. Wake me when one of them reaches for a gun.