Okay, this takes the damn cake

[Number23]

"Can someone please explain why it was acceptable for nearly all of us to refer to Bush as the"Chimp" and the "Chimperor" was acceptable? I "get" how the Post cartoon was racist but I wonder what it says about all of us that we would use "chimp" derogatorily to describe Bush? Since most of us are aware that such an appellation has been used to demean African Americans , were we not indirectly participating by using this description to mock Bush with derision?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8213526

Can't you just TASTE the feigned innocence and ignorance? :crazy: :silly: :crazy:

[M0rpheus]

1. The best thing about that thread was the lock message...

There's no racial stereotyping or ugly history in calling dumbya - a white dood- a chimp.

Besides, he looks like one.

best,
wakemeupwhenitsover

:rofl:

[Number23]

2. I know! The mods are definitely getting funnier and more creative with their locking messages.

:)

[M0rpheus]

3. I always check out the lock messages...

I do feel that some threads just go on too long, well past the expiration date of the "reasoned debate", especially the racial threads.

At least they have a sense of humor.
:hi: mods!

[bliss_eternal]

5. LOL! That's one of our funny moderators.

Most(if not all) of their lock messages crack me up.
:rofl:

:thumbsup: to wakemeupwhenitsover...!

[Brewman_Jax]

4. What REALLY takes the cake

is the defense of Jindal's name, Bobby vs. Piyush, by the "take the high road" hypocrites. Providing a vigorous defense of a political enemy while more important democratic issues fall to the bottom. :puke:

Where was that vigorous defense on the Prop. 8 and the NY Post cartoon threads? :grr:

[noiretextatique]

6. one of those screaming the loudest

about how racist it is to use jindal legal name is the same person who could not see any "malevolent intent" in that NY Post cartoon :puke:

[kwassa]

7. and he was taken to task for that obvious contradiction, too.

[Number23]

8. See THIS is why I love the AAIG

You guys are quickly becoming my refuge in the storm (of stupidity) that can be rather pervasive here.

I think it takes a stunning LACK of self-awareness to NOT see the difference between calling Jindal Piyush and the Repubs calling Obama Hussein. Is anyone on this board really, truly confused as to why this man renamed himself "Bobby?"

My experience with alot of white people is that usually THEY are the ones trying to shorten someone's name and have no genuine interest in trying to pronounce it correctly. I have many SE Asian and Arabic friends and EVERY LAST ONE of them has horror tales of trying to get folks in Western cultures to pronounce their names right. Siddhartha becomes "Sid." Nandini becomes "Nan" or "Nini." Mohammed becomes "Mo." And alot of times they go along with it to just to make their own lives easier.

But somehow, in the vast soup of cluelessness and confusion that is DU, referring to the man by his given name, a name that has NO NEGATIVE CONNOTATIONS WHATSOEVER (unlike the Arabic Hussein) is racist. :crazy: My personal take is that it says more about America than it says about Jindal that he had to rename himself "Bobby."

[Raineyb]

9. It certainly does.

Unless someone is calling him Pissy or something like that I don't have a problem with using his given name.

Someone likened it to calling Obama Barry. I don't know how using someone's given name is the same as deliberately using a diminutive that had been discarded years ago.

Granted, it may not be nice but then I generally call Republicans by various names. McCain has been McLame for over a year, Alphonse D'mento etc.

:shrug:

But it does say a lot more about America that even as a child he realized that in order to fit in he needed to change his name. Too bad he didn't outgrow that and to this day doesn't have the balls to not subjugate his ethnicity. I might have had some respect for him.

Upon reflection I probably still wouldn't respect him but at least shame of his background wouldn't be among the reasons why.

Regards

[Number23]

12. I was surprised to learn that a bunch of folks here

were deliberately calling Mitt Romney "Willard" because Willard is his first name but he goes by Mitt. That was a pretty wide practice on DU during the Repub primaries and the campaign.

But according to some, calling Jindal "Piyush" cannot possibly be considered the same thing because Romney has no color so calling him Willard is not racist. :eyes:

Like I said, the LACK of awareness here is stunning. At this point, even though I've never referred to him as anything but "Jindal," I'm about to start calling him "Piyush" because of how stupid all of this is.

[Brewman_Jax]

10. I've seen the same thing with those that have non-WASP names

they do it more often to make life easier, not as a slight to their ancestry.

As for Mr. Jindal's case, he needs to be reminded CONSTANTLY that he's a member of a political party that prides itself on racism and xenophobia. He will be thrown under the bus when he's no longer useful or gets tired of being a lawn jockey, like J.C. Watts.

[Number23]

11. And I have no doubt that's why the folks calling him Piyush are doing so

As for Mr. Jindal's case, he needs to be reminded CONSTANTLY that he's a member of a political party that prides itself on racism and xenophobia. He will be thrown under the bus when he's no longer useful

When you are a person of color who has chosen to play for the side that wants nothing to do with people who share your melanin quotient, other people will take any opportunity to remind you of that fact.

It's funny. I've not seen a single complaint here when Michael Steele is called an Oreo or an Uncle Tom. Yet somehow, calling Piyush "Bobby" Jindal Piyush is racist. Once again, DU has served itself a great big bowl of cluelessness on a racial issue.

[Brewman_Jax]

13. This is normal

and also goes back to one of the main complaints of race "discussions" is that white people have no problem with OBVIOUS OVERT SCREAMING racism, like a bunch of KKK's or skinheads marching down the street. They have a lot of trouble with subtle, less-obvious racism, esp. the code words. To most, REAL racists are sheet-wearing, confederate flag waving, NASCAR watching, pot-bellied, toothless, inbred stupid yahoos burning crosses and screaming "I hate blacks!" or "I hate n******!" They aren't "normal" people.

To add to the confusion, the "concern" trolls are out in force. The "just because they did it to us doesn't mean we should do it back to them, we're better than that" high-road hypocrites. Last time I looked, I thought this was Democratic Underground, not Non-Partisan Underground or Politically Objective Underground. Our political enemies shouldn't be getting protection, much less respect, from the board.

[Number23]

14. To me it's even bigger than that

It's not just about Jindal being a "political enemy." I'm not a Democrat, I'm an indie. So I don't really see things that way.

The issue to me is just the sheer stupidity and racial cluelessness these types of issues uncover. Some of DU's biggest "heavy hitters" :eyes: are some of the main ones saying that calling him Piyush is an ethnic/racial slur. Calling the man his NAME is a slur to these people. As far as I know, never in the history of this country have we had any geo-political conflcit with India or with anyone named Piyush. It simply does not have the same stigma, and is simply not the same as the Repub attempt to smear Obama by highlighting "Hussein."

And the fact that so many here don't get that is really quite alarming to me. But I'm encouraged because there are growing numbers of people here who are taking those folks to task. Calling him "Jindal" is the appropriate thing, and there is no way I'm ever calling him "Bobby" after all of this but no one can convince me that calling him Piyush is a freaking racial slur.

To add to the confusion, the "concern" trolls are out in force.

You are NOT lying. And not just on this issue. I just confronted one in an Obama birther thread. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8229969#8230474

He really thinks he's fooling people.