What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
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- mikiturner, on 04/15/2008, -31/+275I'll just point out that Rep. Davis is 49 years old; Obama is 46.
- tomgsmyth, on 04/15/2008, -13/+123He wrote a sincere apology and delivered it by hand... im not defending the remarks, but at least he reassesed himself as any self aware, free thinking person should do. please dont let this make front page with out putting up an article showing the rest of the story that would be as bad as the media sources that alot of us are disgusted by.
- HenvY, on 04/15/2008, -31/+123I honestly can't believe the hypocrisy here if this makes it to popular. While it was a stupid comment, there was obviously no racist intention, and even if there was it's far less offensive than what the digg comments section gets littered with WHENEVER an article appears focusing on a black person. Shame on you, digg.
- Lutremi, on 04/15/2008, -38/+111"Boy"? I live in south VA and honestly, older folks would call younger ones this despite their color. I see nothing wrong with the comment, and if anyone does, that might be just a little oversensitive.
- motbob, on 04/15/2008, -8/+78He apologized... here
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0408/Davis_ ... - rz8472, on 04/15/2008, -17/+82Which also means that Mr. Davis picked up his racist thinking AFTER the whole Civil Rights Movement of the 60s. Unless he was 5 years old, glued to the TV, and screaming, "those damn ****ers want to move into our neighborhoods!"
- whoreable, on 04/15/2008, -16/+75Also Obama was first elected in 1996 and this clown was just elected in 2004.
- Falldog, on 04/15/2008, -16/+71Mountain out of a molehill!
- benintn, on 04/15/2008, -20/+74My favorite part of the story is that the esteemed congressman from Kentucky was born in Montreal, Quebec.
- inactive, on 04/15/2008, -32/+81Failing to see the racism here. All I'm seeing are the usually bunch of ashamed and contrite white diggers messing up their emo haircuts whenever something approaches politically incorrect.
- WHUFCIrons2, on 04/15/2008, -13/+59Buried. This ***** is just stupid. Dailykos FTL.
- DeathJux, on 04/15/2008, -21/+66Setting aside the fact that "boy" has traditionally been used as a racially-charged term, long ago, what other reason do you have for a man four years Obama's senior calling him "boy?"
I would suggest using your brain instead of letting your mouth froth speak for you. - sullyz0r, on 04/15/2008, -17/+60Senator Obama is a SENATOR. It is a position of respect, and regardless of his race, the use of "boy" for a respected official is totally inappropriate.
- radiantarchon, on 04/15/2008, -16/+52can someone tell me what (in the article) that he was said was racist. i read it and got nothing. if the boy comment was the racist comment then you all need to get a life. I've been called boy many times by people not too much older than me. are they all racist?
- FemaCampBoy, on 04/15/2008, -94/+129i call white friends boy all the time. am i a racist against whites? i say "boy you understand me?" oh well, i guess we live in a world where this is worse than what manson's klan did to sharon tate.
- knulpm, on 04/15/2008, -10/+45He's a bigger racist than Foghorn Leghorn. "Boy, I say boy, you shouldn't be a runnin' for the office of tha presidency"
- KLowD9x, on 04/15/2008, -16/+48Wait...boy is now racist? Why did I not receive a letter?!
*****, I am just going to start talking to everyone in German because almost every English word is racist now. - GunnerMcGrath, on 04/15/2008, -10/+42The age thing is key here. My assumption when reading this was that this was a guy 20 years older than Obama, using "boy" as a term related to his age, not his race (for those of you who don't know, black people were referred to as "boy" a few decades ago no matter what the relative ages of the parties involved, and yes, it was a racial slur, albeit a softer one than the N word). the fact that this guy is only 3 years older proves that his apparent air of superiority towards Obama is based on race, not age.
- washington30, on 04/15/2008, -25/+52FemaCampBoy ,
The problem is Obama is not his friend and he is a grown man. Most real men don't like to be called a boy. The only way we can prove it was racist is to listen to the next conversation this senator has with a fellow senator and see if he calls him a boy. I DOUBT IT! - gravityboard, on 04/15/2008, -15/+42I'm beginning to suspect you missed the point of the article...
You're suggesting that WHAT you say is the only factor in determining a racist comment, but that completely disregards intent/HOW you say it. The oh-so-honorable representative of Kentucky quite clearly intended it to be derogatory and condescending so yes, it was pretty racist.
...And almost as ignorant as your dated reference to something that - excuse me... what the ***** does charlie manson have to do with this again? - Eezyville, on 04/15/2008, -8/+35"Boy" was often used as a derogatory term for african-american males before and after the civil rights movement. Its a way of talking down on us without calling us the N-word. When you refer to someone as a "boy" you are showing that you treat them as a child who is incapable of making rational decisions or do grown-up things and you are thus disrespecting their intelligence and maturity.
- twertyto, on 04/15/2008, -12/+38I'm not trying to defend this guy or his comment but how does calling someone 'boy' automatically make you a racist, bigot and ignorant. There are several different contexts that comment can fall under.
- WasabiBomb, on 04/15/2008, -11/+37If Obama had said something even vaguely similar, just imagine the field day Fox News and the Clinton camp would have.
I was raised in the South. I lived there for all of my life, until about three years ago. I've never referred to *anyone* as "boy". However, I've certainly heard it used by racist white folk (usually, sadly, some of my family). No matter what you want to call it, it's a condescending term.
It's especially inappropriate if you're talking about a presidential candidate. - inactive, on 04/15/2008, -13/+3815th Obama front page article today. Obama spammers are one organized bunch.
- galeninjapan, on 04/15/2008, -6/+31When will they ban that most racist of all words, "Boy" ?
- Duggan360, on 04/15/2008, -5/+30.....What? Is Obama a girl?
- monkeyrun, on 04/15/2008, -13/+37You do not call Obama "boy", how disrespectful.
People on digg call him "my lord". - maikai, on 04/15/2008, -28/+52This comment is offensive to African-Americans because of its use by Southern whites in the Jim Crow South to assert racial superiority. No one is making a comparison to any other atrocity, but to ignore it would be irresponsible. We all have to take a stand together about comments like these instead of saying essentially, "what's the big deal?". Everyone has to look out for one another...
- Dewhead, on 04/15/2008, -7/+31This is crazy. Men call each other Boy all of the time especially in the south. Its like liberals spend their entire lives looking for every little slight-real or imagined. I guess Rev. Wright calling white people horrible hateful names is okay but calling Obama Boy is somehow the crime of the century.
- inactive, on 04/15/2008, -20/+43So, am I to understand that if he had used the term "man's hand" this wouldn't be an issue?
Holy ***** *****, we're toast. You people jump on everything but what is important. I'll just sit back and watch you and your families starve while you're making sure nobody is racist, sexist, and every other buzz word of the day.
Once again, only a white man can be a racist. Christ, we have to watch everything we say if we are both white and male. Can't you see how easily you're being played? Do a search on Hegelian Dialectic and get informed. You may not like the fact that you're being played like a dime store fiddle but that doesn't change the facts. - fearlessfx, on 04/15/2008, -8/+30buried for being a waste of time.
- MisterFreeze, on 04/15/2008, -12/+33boy NOUN Offensive A male servant, such as a valet.
- MacEnvy, on 04/15/2008, -3/+24See, isn't that just the way? These damn foreigners coming in and taking our jobs! Of course, maybe he was just doing a job Americans "won't do" - represent ourselves in government.
- rhartman, on 04/15/2008, -2/+22Wow. As a Canadian, now it's my turn to be ashamed. Don't hold it against us a nation though, this kind of idiocy is universal.
- legalizeitmon, on 04/15/2008, -10/+30Buried for being sensationalist *****
- kolinkoolface2, on 04/15/2008, -9/+28wow he says boy to a black man even though he probably says boy to everyone considering where he is from, and he is automatically called a racist. Are you kidding me? I am not a big fan of republicans but this is getting ridiculous. What's next we call him Barrack Hussien Obama and get accused of name calling? oh wait that happened?
- moocow1452, on 04/15/2008, -1/+20Well, my little brother was addicted to Spongebob at 5, so you probably aren't too far off the mark.
- synaesthesia, on 04/15/2008, -0/+17I think in the spirit of the Obama campaign (and as they have done in the past when questionable apologies for offensive remarks have been given) its best to accept the apology at face value and move on to the real issues.
- vault, on 04/15/2008, -14/+31People say 'boy' all the time, what're you all getting upset over?
"Good 'ol boys"
"He's my boy"
"Boy, liberals sure are hypersensitive."
"Our boys" referring to the soldiers
etc. - john2kx, on 04/15/2008, -5/+22Obama isn't a child.
- StanleyKoolPrik, on 04/15/2008, -17/+34Politically correct, group-thinking automatons.
- funzo, on 04/15/2008, -1/+16dey took yer jeerbs
- Madrigalian, on 04/15/2008, -27/+42"This comment is offensive to African-Americans..."
What comment/word isn't? Could someone please make a list. It's very hard for some of us to keep up with...
ps. is nappy on the list? or just ho? - deadbaby, on 04/15/2008, -5/+20Yes, whites never do any of that stuff. NEVER.
- cadberry, on 04/15/2008, -4/+19the expression "man" was started by african americans a long time ago in response to white people calling them "boy" in order to degrade them.
- inactive, on 04/15/2008, -13/+28This is kind of a stretch, it's not like he said "That *****'s finger does not belong on the button." THEN, yeah I can see the justification for "Racist GOP etc."
I'm from Philadelphia, and when I was in Baltimore once, I called a co-worker at a restaurant "boy"--in Philly, the slang actually makes it sound like "bull," as in, "wassup, bull," etc. From where I'm from, it's common. That guy got PISSED.
So, yeah, i can understand the southern sensitivity to the word "boy," but I really don't think it was used here in quite a slam-dunk racist context. In my mind, this is quite a stretch and it's just further evidence of the "victimization complex" that the right-wingers claim the liberals tend to overexhibit. You guys really love to claim "racist" at every turn.
PS--I am voting FOR Obama, so don't cry "racist, racist." - BrainInAJar, on 04/15/2008, -6/+20Does the rest of the world though?
- patpl22391, on 04/15/2008, -3/+17Dailykos, mediamatters, firedoglake, huffingtonpost, moveon.org, rawstory, and crooksandliars are the worst and most biased places to get news. You call anyone who watches Fox News "sheep", yet Digg is dominated by people who don't think and just react emotionally without rationally thinking out and researching the story first simply because they don't get both sides of the whole story at the above mentioned sources.
- foofightrs777, on 04/15/2008, -7/+21"boy" is not a racist term. In this context however it is.
FUN FOR HOME: Walk up to the nearest black adult male you see and say "What ya doin', boy?" I'm sure he will respond quite pleasantly to you!
Bonus points: If you're white and have/fake a Southern accent.
And if you thought to yourself, "that's rascist" Well, it is. I'm not quite sure why some people don't get that. -
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