Tuesday, June 17, 2008

This is so not funny

Per TPM, someone was selling this button at the Texas state GOP convention.



This is vile, despicable and loathsome. And unfortunately, brace yourselves, because this is just the start. Selling them at the official Texas state GOP convention. Yeesh. I'd really like to see Republicans come out and denounce this, but I don't expect them to.

Update: Right on. The Texas Republican Party stepped up and did the right thing.
But the Texas Republican Party doesn't see the joke. Besides banning [Jonathan] Alcox from its future conventions, it's alerting the Republican National Convention about him. And officials say the $1,500 vendor's fee he paid to sell at the state convention is being donated to Midwest flood victims.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I actually had a liberal make a joke about this to me the other day and I had to call her on it. I mean racism is hard enough to challenge on an individual basis but when its institutionalized like this, people start thinking it ok.

Anonymous said...

Racism just isn't funny. Laughing at such jokes 1) shows the humorist as a racist, 2) drags our culture back to worse times, 3) exposes narrow mindedness, 4) is unacceptable, 5,) is very revealing of those who do it and those who tolerate it, and 6) should be challenged at every turn.

Good on ya, mate, for calling her on it.

As Tara has been arguing, racism isn't a D/R issue, it's a human rights/American issue.

Some fricking fool has come up with a doll depicting Obama as a monkey. I hope that guy gets sued for human rights violations and dragged before some human/civil rights council. My god. And this is just the start. This election is going to expose some really ugly aspects of American society.

Anonymous said...

Little Adam is having a spastic attack over this post, seems he just can't help but see racism all over the place, just not very close to home.

Nor does he seem to understand these were at a Republican convention, not just some random internet vendor.

Poor little guy, I think you gave him a fit.

Bubblehead said...

Alan,
Just wanted to make sure I understand. I know that it's wrong for anyone to say or infer that Sen. Obama is a chimp; in your opinion, is it also wrong for BinkyBoy to call President Bush "Chimp"? (Not picking on BinkyBoy -- I know it's a common name that progressives call the President. He's just the one from Idaho who does it...)
One of the things I like best about Sen. Obama is that he seems to be willing to move the country beyond the mindset of identity politics, but many of his supporters aren't quite as far out in front of the issue as their candidate is.

Anonymous said...

Is Pretzledent Bunnypants better? I can use that one from now on if thats ok.

How about reading jokes? Are those out?

Or maybe his inability to speak clearly, you know, his ability to confusicate.

Anonymous said...

And here might be the best comment EVAH from the brilliant Mrs. Little Adam:



Comment by Andrea Graham

I wouldn’t be surprised if a black person asked that very question, though. I’ve known some that take that sorta thing so far, when they play pool, they use the cue ball as the 8 ball and the 8 ball as the cue ball. So the black ball hits the white ball rather than the other way around. It still doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Doesn’t make that button any more intelligent. Just noting that kind of ignorance doesn’t require a melanin deficiency.

Human beings are all the same color: brown. We just come in different shades. When will we understand this?


Yes, some blacks use the 8 ball as the cue ball, so it is ok to be racially insensitive or bigoted.

Bubblehead said...

I knew I shouldn't have used BinkyBoy as an example. Let me re-ask: Alan, do you think it's OK for you to call President Bush a "Chimp" without being hauled before a civil rights board?

Anonymous said...

Bubblehead, I posted a fairly long comment answering your question. Unfortunately, it's lost in cyber space.

In a nutshell, no, it's not the same. Some will use code words and language to tap into negative images and feelings. Thus, if I call you a "cricket stomper" it evokes negativity towards Mormons.

Using code words, or referring to stereotypes, references the negativity as applied to a person whose group is associated with the negativity.

If I say to you, move over ya big ape, it's rude and insulting, but not code because you're white. If I say to you, move over ya cricket stomper, it's rude and insulting and is also singling you out for discrimination based on religion.

If I say to a black man, move over ya big ape, that's likewise bringing discrimination to the insult.

White middle aged males aren't negatively associated, as a group, with simians. So to answer your question, no, calling Bush a smirking chimp isn't the same thing.

I'll admit it was rude and insulting. I've pretty moved beyond such language in my blog.

Bubblehead said...

Fair enough. Interestingly, I've never heard of "cricket stomper" being used as an anti-Mormon slur -- although, if I remember right, it was actually the seagulls that helped us out in that particular instance. Maybe I'm just too sheltered... :)