That’s about all you need to know, isn’t it?
In February of last year, Joe Rickey Hundley was seated next to a young mother travelling with a lap baby. The baby cried, as babies will. Joe Rickey Hundley told the mother to “shut that n*gger baby up” and gave the 19-month-old boy a slap for good measure.
But he’s not a racist. Of course not. Also, he was having a bad day.
Story here.
Search terms leading to this blog suddenly included phrases like “Amy Chua is an idiot” and “Amy Chua sucks,” so I knew something was up. Apparently Chua is furthering her career as a professional troll.
P.S. You Suck is sadly among the top 100 all-time blog hits.
This is 7-year-old Jackson. He wanted to be a KKK member for Halloween, so his mother obligingly made him a costume.
Jessica Black, Jackson’s mother, says her brother had the same costume when he was in kindergarten and again when he was 13.
So it’s tradition. Just like the status quo and institutional racism. Continue reading
Subtitled: I initially laughed, but did stop when I got to the part about the guy being severely burned.
Ron Nielson, a 50-year-old Palm Bay (FL) resident, set himself on fire while reportedly attempting to light a wooden cross that he had soaked with gasoline. His wife heard him screaming and came out and doused the flames with the garden hose. He was airlifted to an Orlando hospital and reportedly has second-degree burns over 40-50 percent of his body.
Many of the news reports refer to Nielson’s actions as being Halloween-related. Continue reading
Ah, Ch*nk’s Steaks. The place to go for cheesesteaks, whatever those are. Never mind the racist name.
So after about a billion years, the owner of Ch*nk’s Steaks decided to rename it. Even though those proud anti-PC folks screamed their heads off. You know how they are. They whine about everything. They make mountains out of molehills. They see anti-racism in everything. Continue reading
So a customer wanted to know if Wilcoxson’s delicious ice cream contained pork gelatin. Of course the president of the company, Matt Schaeffer, was delighted to hear he had a loyal fan and rushed to provide an answer:
“We don’t deliver outside Montana, certainly not Pakistan”
Source. Here’s the screen capture:
So much going on in that brief nine-word response.
First, it’s factually incorrect. Wilcoxson’s does deliver outside Montana. Specifically, it delivers to Sheridan, WY, which the first poster lists on his/her facebook profile.
Second, it’s fairly curt, even disregarding the content. If somebody claims to “love” your ice cream, it would be good to acknowledge that.
Third, Schaeffer assumed the poster lives in Pakistan. Which means he maybe assumes all Muslims live in Pakistan. I suppose that isn’t too bad of a guess, since there are a lot of Muslims there. He should have guessed Indonesia first, though. Of course, there are millions of Muslims here, too. And there’s this little thing called air travel. Wonder if Schaeffer’s heard of it. I mean I’ve even been near Montana. Not that I’d brag about it or anything.
Finally, it’s just plain dismissive. Why wouldn’t you simply answer the question?
In any event, Matt Schaeffer’s pants are apparently on fire. Because he claims he was overwhelmed with work and just reacted to the facebook user’s icon which read “Pakistan.” If three brown people can spell out “Pakistan,” that is.
For those who ask “Why does it have to be racist? Why can’t it just be stupid?” I say “Well, why can’t it be both?”
Photo by seelensturm/flicker
The Worst Person on the Internet award hereby goes to @katiebrady12. At least for the next couple hours. After Sunday’s Ravens-Patriots game (which the Ravens won), Katie tweeted the following:
Hey, Smith, how about you call your bro and tell him about your wi— ohhhh. Wait. #TooSoon?
She was apparently addressing the Ravens’ wide receiver Torrey Smith, who had just learned his brother was killed in a motorcycle accident.
When I read this story, I made a lot of assumptions about Smith’s race and Katie’s race and socioeconomic background, which unfortunately were confirmed by later news reports. Just once I wish somebody would surprise me. The story also reminded me about the awful posts after the earthquake in Japan. On one bulletin board that was established to help families make contact with loved ones, some people were making false response posts reporting deaths.
Just one of the costs of racism. Because our brothers will never look like theirs. Because they cannot maintain their own humanity, they deny ours.
Sun image courtesy of weatherc1ipart.net
Another site bringing hate into the spotlight: UNL Haters. This tumblr was apparently modeled after a similar site at OSU. It posts screen captures of racist and other -ist tweets online.
These sites have faced predictable backlash and have heard just about every single one of the We Heard It Befores™. I find it especially ironic that these sites are being labeled “racist.” Because exposing racism is itself racist, yanno. Because if you discuss a problem, you are creating the problem! It’s your fault!
Comments around the internet additionally display just how unclear most people are about the concept of “free speech.”
Free speech does have some limits: Obscenity, libel and consumer affairs come to mind. Also the whole “you can’t shout fire in a crowded theatre” and the “fighting words” doctrine.
In any event, the biggest misconception many people have about free speech is that they have the right to say anything they please without any sort of consequences. Which isn’t the case. Once again, it’s about freedom from interference by the gubbermint.
They scream about how such sites are against free speech without recognizing that the bloggers behind those sites are exercising their own free speech rights. A novel concept, apparently difficult for many h8ters to grasp. Yes, folks have the right to post ridiculous, moronic, racist, sexist, homophobic tweets for the world to see. And people have the right to respond.
So anyway, if you’re so proud of your free speech, go ahead and tweet to the world. Don’t be surprised when the world turns on the light.
Thanks to Moogacat for pointing this out and serving as the exception that proves the rule. ;-P
Responses to this tweet?
Hahaha
LMAO.
This cracks me up.
Best. Headline. Ever.
It’s pretty hilarious when you say it.
hahahahaha I love it
Asian Americans think this is hilarious too. Because we never heard it before. Or it doesn’t bug us. Because we’re not like those other whining Asians. Because it is completely removed from the racist context in which we live. Because it’s just a silly little thing. Because it’s just in good fun. Because.
This is Te’Andrea and Charles Wilson. They were recently married. Just not in the church they attended. Why? Because “there has never been a black wedding at the First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs, Miss., since its founding in 1883.”
Geez, you gotta start sometime.
But the pastor said church members threatened to fire him if he married the couple. So he married them in an alternate venue. Because he didn’t want to lose his job, yanno.
Apparently the church allows black members and black employees. It just doesn’t want to host black weddings. And according to pastor Stan Weatherford, the church is now holding meetings to decide how it should respond if other black people want to be married there.
