Ignoring the Code Words
It’s funny how most people weren’t willing to admit that Mel Gibson was a raving anti-semite until he actually shot his mouth off about Jews. Nevermind the fact that he embraced an anti-semitic tradition (the passion play), has used the same coded language as holocaust deniers (like his father), and that every bit of artistic license he took with The Passion was to the detriment of the Jewish characters. Until Mel came out and said how much he hates Jews, everyone was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Now the same pathetic charade is happening with Virginia Senator George Allen. It seems pretty clear to me that a man who hangs a confederate flag in his office, a noose from a tree, and tried to incite a race riot is a racist, but the willfully ignorant seem to buy the explanations that these were an expression of southern pride, part of a “Western memorabilia collection”, and some youthful hijinks. Now that Allen has used the word “macaca” to refer to someone with dark skin, will people finally recognize how racist this guy is? Despite the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any positive way to spin this incident, but I’d be willing to guess that the press will continue to look the other way, lest they be charged with bias.
5 comments »
Copy link for RSS feed for comments on this post
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
This jerkoff sounds like the perfect successor to Bush. A clueless fucking idiot completely enamored with himself and his “down-home charm” combined with the stupidity it takes to heckle somebody pointing a fucking video camera at you.
Republicans, please nominate this wannabe cracker fool. He is trying hard to follow the Bush-carpetbagger method, and he is too dumb to pull it off. And that’s saying something.
I know it’s a bit like rooting for a specific opponent in the playoffs, but I’d much rather run against Allen than McCain…
Comment by Mr Furious — August 15, 2006 @ 12:20 pm
Racism IS the politics of AMERICA, and BIGOTRY her soul.
Comment by Mike Meyer — August 15, 2006 @ 4:31 pm
I dunno, this all seems kinda speculative to me. I certainly hadn’t heard that term before, and I thought to myself: “Macaque? Like the monkey?”
Maybe he was just being a jerk. It sure seems in keeping with his character. Seizing on this as unequivocal evidence that he’s a racist, though, doesn’t seem likely to work. It’s already giving him more publicity and more of an opportunity to attack (which he did in his non-apology). Maybe we should focus on the other stupid things he’s done and said (of which there are plenty).
Comment by Ben in VA — August 16, 2006 @ 7:56 am
Just a jerk? Or racist?
Keep in mind, Alllen already has a reputation on matters of race…
What Allen did was clearly single out and ridicule the one non-white person there. That’s bad enough. Because he’s of indeterminate ethnicity, Allen assumes he’s foriegn, and “welcomes” him to America. That’s worse. He also calls him “macaca.” Twice. Clearly. That is a French slur for North Africans. Allen’s mother is French/Tunesian, and Allen speaks French. He knew exactly what he was doing.
At first I thought Allen was just making up a nonsense name for this guy, like seeing a black woman and singling her out, “Hey Shaniqua!” He’s already toeing the racist line, but once I heard about his family background…
Comment by Mr Furious — August 16, 2006 @ 1:20 pm
Well, yes, but…
I think I have more faith in his ignorance than in his worldliness, even with a French/Tunisian mother and speaking French himself. Hell, I speak French and had no idea what that meant – I’d never heard it before. He may have just missed it, because believe me, he is that ignorant.
Comment by Ben in VA — August 16, 2006 @ 1:27 pm