January 10, 2008

COLORBLIND LYNCHING?

I heard on the news this morning about the golf commentator who made a joke about lynching Tiger Woods. I don't know what to make of it all, but one thing I did notice is that, if you look at the video, she obviously has no idea that she just said something offensive. There was no wincing, no wide eyes, no recognition whatsoever that she realized that she had just said something that could be construed as racist. None.

So what I wonder is this: isn't that progress? Is there something to the fact that a white woman could quip about lynching someone and have no notion of the racial overtones of what she said? I don't know, I'm really asking. It seems to me that it is a type of colorblindness to publicly make a comment like that. If she had any inkling that what she was saying was racist, she would've immediately reacted, I think. It's like she really didn't associate lynchings with black people. Heck, in a weird way, that's a good thing, right?

A colorblind lynching comment. How absurd. Makes me think of the South Park flag:

408flagbig.gif

I don't know what this means to people. I think the comment was in a different category altogether than Imus, and I genuninely don't think she meant to be racist. And Tiger Woods laughed it off too.

But Al Sharpton licked his chops and got ready for the cameras. Sigh.

Posted by Sarah at January 10, 2008 10:36 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I'm actually quite sick to death of the constant pointing to the fact that Sen. Clinton has a vagina and it's "about time we had a female president" and the references to Obama's ethnicity -- for the same reasons you mention about the Tiger Woods episode.

People don't hate the Senators because of gender or ethnicity - that's not an issue. I have no doubt that we'd elect a female or black president without thinking twice... if they were qualified. But I absolutely HATE the insinuation that because I would not vote for either of them I'm either a misogynist or a racist. I am neither. It's the POLITICS, stupid.

Gah.

Posted by: airforcewife at January 10, 2008 10:47 AM

There is obviously no free speech in this country any more. The 'lynch' remark had about as much to do with race as it did peanut butter: nada.

These people astound me.

Posted by: pam at January 10, 2008 10:53 AM