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My last rant was a bit... off-key, so I'll refrain from saying anything distasteful. Stay classy ESPN.
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
The twitter explosion of potential ESPN headlines was fantastically funny.
Link?
Not quite sure how to post them. Plus, they are irreverently funny and could offend those who get offended regardless of intent. Ramzy had a good one.
Here it is. And you're right, some of those are hilarious. Example: "Eagles win in a dog fight."
Some of those were brilliant.
I retweeted some of the best of them, so check out my twitter page if you want a little taste of the hilarity.
Your Seve Ballasteros headline was one of the best in my opinion.
ESPN has apologized. Well now, "Apology accepted, Captain Needa."
In case we needed any more reason to hate ESPN.
SMH.
"Chink in the armor" is a commonly used phrase. Just because Jeremy Lin is Chinese doesn't mean that it's now racist. There was no racist intent by ESPN, and they had no need to apologize. I can't believe I'm defending ESPN, but it seems a little ridiculous to be upset by it. We've gotten so sensitive and PC as a society that we're now lashing out at comments like this that weren't even intended to be racist, but due to choice of wording, can be taken that way if you think about it a certain way. I'm no advocate for racism, but come on now. Just one man's opinion. Judging by other comments on this post, I'm sure many will disagree with me.
If anything, the biggest problem is that ESPN is overreacting to one loss. God forbid the Knicks ever lose with Jeremy Lin, right? God forbid Jeremy Lin makes some mistakes in a game. I'm sure he's the only person to ever commit 9+ turnovers in a game. Right Sully?
Class of 2010.
^not trying to be rude..but you gotta be fuckin kidding right? It was not a simple accident..this whole Lin epidemic has been 99.83443457% (fact proven) ethnically driven. You don't just simply go to write an article on an emergence of a chinese basketball player that has been all the news the past 2 weeks and use "chink" in the title
*and don't take it as an attack on you...i just highly doubt there is any way the origin of the comment was from someone that out of touch
"Winter is coming" - Urban Meyer
Something can be both inappropriately racist and a mildly clever turn of phrase. ESPN should know better as one of the leaders in their industry, but given how often they placate to the lowest common denominator, I'm not sure it should be any kind of surprise.
i'm DEFINITELY not surprised by their use of it...i would honestly be beyond surprised if it was truly an accident
"Winter is coming" - Urban Meyer
Do they not have proof readers at the WWL? How can something like that make it all the way to a headline? NO ONE said "whoa, this looks bad"? smh
It is a brutal gaffe. Spick and Span is a commonly used phrase, but do you think it would be a wise choice of a headline for say a Victor Ortiz victory? No, it would be a poor choice, just like this was.
vacuuming sucks
I couldn't careless about the whole thing and agree about the whole PC thing. I'm sure it was unintentional. I'm sure they weren't trying to be racist. But one thing that I'm more sure about is that if this was someone else or some other network, ESPN would be the first to make a stink about it and they would make the biggest stink about it. You'd have guys on OTL tomorrow talking about who (PLURAL) should lose their jobs. Sportscenter would dedicate 10 minutes every hour to it. It would be in bottom line as "BREAKING NEWS" for an hour, demeoted to "THE LEAD" for the day. ESPN is the first to overreact and criticize anyone else in the sports world go farting downwind. And now that they do it, the double standards are in full effect. And that is what I will make my stink about.
Call me a "Chink" in anything and I'll tell you if it's racist.
It's offensive to see that word used in any phrase or context.
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
It's offensive to see that used in the idiom "Chink in the armor?" Seriously?
chink in one's armor - A vulnerable area, as in Putting things off to the last minute is the chink in Pat's armor and is bound to get her in trouble one day . This term relies on chink in the sense of "a crack or gap," a meaning dating from about 1400 and used figuratively since the mid-1600s. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chink+in+one's+armor
The idiom and the racial slur are wholly unrelated. ESPiN should have known better in this situation, but the idiom in an of itself is not offensive. If you think it is, your just looking for racism in everything.
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
When you've been called a chink at least once in your life, yes.
There are plenty of other terms to use when talking about "a crack or gap."
I find it hilarious that people on here are defending the use of this term from the 1400s and 1600s. Welcome to 2012. Can I show you how to upload a video to facebook?
......
Back to Buckeye sports please.
Keep Calm and Ignore the Trolls.
Let's get rid of other common idioms then too. How about pain in the ass, piece of cake, etc? It's ridiculous to find that idiom offensive.
Probably a good time to re-read this comment and shut it down, man. You're not helping your argument any at this point.
Taquitos.
Agreed.
I appreciate your feelings, but the points supporting your argument are flawed.
Proposition #1: if you've been called a word that has both neutral/positive and pejorative meaning(s), at least once in your life, and the use of that word (i.e., in its name-calling version) offended you, therefore the word should not be used ever again, in any other contexts, even in cases when the intent is to use the neutral/positive meaning of the word. Examples of other terms that would have to be eradicated: jerk versus soda jerk; slang term for cigarette in England versus the derogatory name for someone who is LGBorT; (circus) freak versus get-yer-freak-on.
Proposition #2: that, if the etymology of a term, which is still in common usage today, dates to the 1400s or 1600s, then the age of that term renders it less legimate to some degree. Problem: the origin of MOST terms in American English date back to the 1600s, 1400s, or even earlier.
But I am still interested if you can make a better argument for why the phrase "chink in his/her armor" should be eradicated from the everyday usage. You might have a point, but let's begin with a valid argument . . .
Yup.
And again, let me reiterate, I was in no way defending the use of racial slurs in general, or the context to which the phrase was used by ESPiN. They are clearly in the wrong.
I was just saying the phrase, in and of itself, is not offensive. It'd be like demanding saltines stop using the word "cracker" because it's a slur for whites.
The Ohio State University, College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2006
The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Class of 2009
I am a fan of Jeremy Lin, couldn't be happier for the guy. He's a great talent and polite humble dude with a Harvard education.
That being said the media..including Espin has blown this guy up wayyyyy too much! To much coverage and hype for the kid. Not hi fault at all just like their lovefest with Tebow. The comparisons of both those guys are Rediculous as well..Tebow was a HS all American, went to to top athletic program..won the Heisman..was a 1st round pick.
ESpin is truly an embarrassment!
Run_Fido's favorite word is strawman.
To be honest, it took me a minute to figure out what everyone was mad about. Of course, I'd heard of that word being used in the racial sense, but even knowing everyone was mad, when I saw the headline that usage of the word didn't occur to me right off the bat, and probably never would have until someone else would tell me I should be mad about it. Maybe I'm just not pedisposed to looking for a reason to get offended.
You don't need to look to far to be offended by this incredibly stupid gaffe. That word is to people of Chinese descent as the N word is to African Americans. It matters little if it was unintentional. That's what I have the most problem with. Not realizing that something is inappropriate is just as bad.
The N word doesn't have alternative definitions. The word in question here is mostly used in ways that have nothing to do with the race, so I don't think the two are equivalent. By your definition, we should be very careful to never use the truncated slang form of raccoon when talking about the animals rampaging in our yard every night and someone should figure out another word to replace "cracker" on all of those boxes in our pantry.
Not knowing that a word in a normally innocuous phrase, would be offensive when used describing an athlete of Chinese descent, is equivalent. And yes, everyone should be more careful about the words they use in everyday speech. It's called good manners. Oh, and I have those pesky critters in my backyard and I have never referred to them as anything but racoons because using the shortened version is a word I prefer not to use in any context.
The point is that they weren't describing him, though. Does it really make sense to say "a chinese man in the armor"?
I'm sorry, Pam. With all due respect (and I do respect you), I feel that our society has gotten out of control when people seem to comb through every written thing just looking to find some alternative meaning that is offensive, and if there is an alternative meaning, then that alternative (gosh darnit!) MUST have been what the writer meant.
Maybe a copy editor somewhere shouldn't have allowed that in because part of their job is to prevent potential unintended PC backlashes, but in this case, using the word in its "racist" sense in that title makes no logical sense whatsoever so I really don't get the fingerpointing and allegations of racial insensitivity.
I have a minority wife and many friends that are minorities (hell, I'm a minority by far in my neighborhood) so I am not ignorant of this stuff at all... I just think this whole PC-thing has gotten ridiculous.
With all due respect LA, I too think the whole PC thing is out of control & still - this should never have happened. Period. Using the word 'chink' in reference to an asian man in a headline of a story about him is stupid & inexcusable. Everyone knows that the word has a double meaning - the fact that it caused this kind of a stir is proof that it was a very obvious mistake. Speaking for myself who is also married to an Asian woman - I saw it (the headline) & thought WTF??? Whether or not the writer meant it or not it was just plain dumb that it made all the out into the public eye.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
LA hasn't disagreed in that the mistake was stupid. Everyone here will agree to that, but the hypersensitivity must stop. There was no malicious intent behind the person's article or title for that matter. Nothing that the writer said was intentionally demeaning. Let's move on folks and not get into such nonsensical tizzies over this.
Ok & I'm saying yes the world is too sensitive...but in this case the sensitivety is warranted. Whatever the intention of the writer the headline was way out of line, stupid, & people have every right to be angry about it. Plus it's ESPN...so it's got that going for it...which is nice.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
William, I have shoes older than you, so I remember a time when children with Down's Syndrome were called "Mongoloids", when the N word was used in everyday conversation or when doing a children counting game "eenie meanee mynee mo, catch a ...... by the toe" If someone said those things today, would it be PC gone amuck if that person said they didn't realize in 2012 that it was offensive? It does not matter what the intent was. That it made it to print and then stayed up on the website for 30 minutes is shocking. About as shocking as if someone called my nephew a Mongoloid.
Sorry but the N word is still used in everyday conversation, just listen to half the music that is produced today. The usage of that word is still well and alive. As for the usage of mongoloid, of course that is utterly wrong, I highly doubt that anyone would use that term in this day and age for someone that is afflicted with Down's Syndrome. I never disagreed that the usage was stupid, I do however find the utter backlash stupid. The use of mongoloid more often than not carries a negative connotation, as does the N word. Chink however is a word that carries various meanings, one of which is derogatory, yet it is also used to describe the condition of an object. That being said the manner in which the author used the term was not derogatory, yet people are getting into an absolute tizzy over something that is nonexistent. If a headline were to say: "Sandy Koufax, Absolute Money in the World Series", would people be blowing up over it? No. The reaction to this is an overblown case of hypersensitivity. Also my age has little to do with my understanding of derogatory terms, their usage, and "How it was back in the day." One, I can read books, so I know "How it was back in the day", secondly I was raised in the South following Judaism, I've experienced Anti-Semitism face-to-face. So let's not act like my views on this matter are naive or are misconceptions.
Some people believe that the old commonly used phrase "a chink in his/her armour" should be eliminated altogether from the language - that ANY usage of this phrase is automatically racist.
People cease to amaze.
The way I viewed the world when I was 18 as compared to my parent's view was naive and full of misconceptions. While my veiws don't mirror theirs at the same age, they are much more in line with what comes with age, wisdom and experience. Your age has plenty to do with it, trust me. All the books in the world can't teach you as much as having been there. Your Sandy Koufax analogy is preposterous BTW.
Preposterous? How so? The one title describeds Koufax's success in the World Series, the other describes Jeremy Lin's mistakes in a single game. They're one in the same. There isn't any malicious intent behind this title folks. An editor should have caught it, they didn't, let's not vilify them over something that isn't there.
No, they are not. Intent has nothing to do with it. I don't believe for a second that there was anything malicious intent however that does not absolve ESPN for being so out of touch that they let it slip. And I will vilify them all I want. They most certainly deserve it.
Yes the N word is still used....by african americans. I refer you to this to understand: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reappropriation
Are you trying to say that makes it more acceptable?
It is acceptable for them to say it, not a white person. I can't believe this is still a topic of conversation in 2012. They get to say it, I don't.
Yeah, it's really sucks to be white and not be able to throw out the N word whenever you want. It's so annoying!
I don't think that was the poster's point and that certainly isn't my own. I think that just because one belongs to a certain race or ethnicity that doesn't make it "alright" for them to use those slurs.
Yeah, my point was that I'm white so I get to call myself a cracker or honkey but I don't get to use any other racial slurs. I seems to me that Williams point is that they shouldn't be used at all because it's not fair that only members of a group get to use their own racial slurs. Maybe I'm wrong.
My point isn't about it not being fair. It's that it doesn't matter your ethnicity/race, it's wrong no matter what.
But that's the point, it ISN'T wrong if a group of people decides to take a racial slur and turn it on it's head and use it within their group.
No it is wrong. It's that simple.
Mongoloid is still a commonly-used term in anthropology to refer to people of Mongolian descent. Are all anthropologists who work in Asia and use that word in their scientific papers insensitive?
I'm not baiting or anything... I'm just curious how people think about these things. The use you cited is certainly inappropriate as it was intended to be an epithet, but Mongoloid has a legitimate meaning. Mongols are an ethnic group and "-oid" simply means resembling. It is the same as me being a Caucasoid.
The argument here, however, seems to be that regardless of intent the word can't be used because some a-hole somewhere decided to use it as a slur.
It is quite clear that this was an intentional use of the word. I don't understand how people can't see this. Maybe the person who did this didn't know how insensitive it would be to use that word, but they clearly meant to use it. ESPN uses plays on words all of the time in their catchy headlines, it is part of their shtick (see "linsanity" or "linning" as past examples). It isn't like the name of the team is the NY Knights, then maybe you could have an argument that the title was referencing their nickname. But it's not, the title was a clear reference to Lin.
They should have stuck with name plays like, "Can't Lin Them All".
Sorry, Rdubs... I just can't agree with you on that. To the best of my knowledge the derogatory use of that word is so out of vogue I could really foresee younger staff not even knowing there was a derogatory usage. If that word were never used to demean Asians, would you say the headline makes no sense? The headline made perfect sense.
The derogatory use of that word is not out of vogue at all. It isn't, trust me.
Maybe I don't hang out with enough racists to know.
I still want to understand... the implication is that if any word has been used in a racially-insensitive manner then it can never be used again, even for its original meaning. That has been reinforced here many times. Of course, there are vastly different uses of the English language across North America, and other cultures speak English as well. Is there a reference I can go to somewhere to find out what words have been misappropriated by bigots so I can be sure I don't inadvertently use them in an innocuous sense and get called a racist?
These things just make me shake my head. There is so much of it that it drowns out the real racial issues that do exist.
I am saying that it doesn't make sense in the context of ESPN unless they are referring to Lin. Their headlines are very intentional and use plays on words nearly every time.
So they directly use a racial slur? I'm sure of that. /sarcasm
Why didn't they say "knick" in the armor. It's possible they didn't realize how insensitive it would be, but they showed a picture of him and it just seems pretty clear to me.
Because "Chink in the Armor" is a well known idiom. Is "Knick in the Armor" a well known idiom? No it is not.
Because "chink in the armor" is a saying that has been around forever. Sorta along the lines of having a "monkey on your back" or someone being a "pain in the ass". It's just a saying, and it's not the same if you change the words. You would sound kinda weird if you were stressed about something and you told someone you wanted to get the "primate off your back"... alternative wording but not really the same thing.
^This.
You're making a claim that the author directly used a racial slur, and that you're sure of it? How pious of you.
We do have a word for 'cracker'. Honky.
Even if the usage was accidental, Pam hit the nail on the head: how could this make it to the front page without someone catching it?
It certainly was intentional. Every writer wants a catchy headline phrase to capture the readers attention. You see it daily. I love that it happened to Espin. ;)
How can you even make that claim? It was unintentional, of course someone should have noticed this, buts let's get off the high horses folks. It wasn't meant in a demeaning fashion. I'll have to agree with Labuckeye on this one.
If thinking an internationally known sports media should have used better judgment and good taste puts me on a high horse, throw me the reins
No but acting incessantly outraged over it is.
Incessantly outraged? Not just outraged? LOL Ok sweetie. Get back to me an about 10 years, the 40 year age differnce won't be quite as enormous then.
Sweetie? Let's not demean other people Pam, isn't that why you're vilifying ESPN in the first place?
She never calls me "sweetie". :(
Sweetie is demeaning? That was not my intent. See how that works?
It can certainly be "considered" belittling and offensive. See how that works?
Or you could just by hypersensitive looking for negativity and maliciousness where it doesn't exist.
My point exactly..
Not really, but I am going to let this one pass. I don't usually respond to your posts for the same reasons I don't respond to my son when he claims "its not fair" when I don't let him take the car. One day he will get why, but not now. Same as you.
Very careless by the ESPiN writer and editors responsible for this gaffe, no question about it. How could they not know that some people would react hysterically to such a blunder?
Speaking of manners, though, is it good manners to just assume that the responsible party at ESPiN would do such a stupid thing intentionally even though people who are at least moderately sophisticated enough to understand the PC ramifications would know that the negative hysterical reaction would outweigh any benefits from posting the headline?
On the positive side, it gave some non-Asians another opportunity to trumpet their progressive bona fides.
Doubt very highly it was intentional - just can't see that either...but only the writer of the words will ever know for sure.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Exactly, there was no derogatory backing to it. So let's not go fire and brimstone on the author for this.
Yeah I'm not going fire & brimstone...it's more ESPN I'm after here. I get your Sandy Koufax analogy but what if that same headline you wrote of somehow had the word 'kike' in it (I too am a jew so I'm allowed to write that). That word only has only one meaning so that would be impossible but the point is that it's more akin to the derogatory nature of the word 'chink'. Also, as a guy who once watched my wife get called a gook to her face - this probably ruffles my feathers more than most. On the whole I'd say Denny said it best - but I'm also standing by the my original statement that I do see why people got pissed and believe in this instance some 'hyper sensitivity' is justified.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Simply put: be smarter about editing headlines.
Taquitos.
Yes.
The real story is...THE HORNETS?? WTF?
Lulz
For what it's worth, though it would have obviously been better if an editor would have envisioned how their headline could be perceived and nixed it before it ended up on the internet, I think the rush to judgment that it was intentional is silly. How would it be in ESPN's interest to piss off however many million asians live in the United States, as well as potentially damage whatever interests their parent corporation has in business in China? As a person who spends a significant amount of time word-smithing documents that are ultimately used for public proceedings for multi-million and billion dollar interests, I think the fact that headline got there was an inept mistake on someone's part, but at the same time I feel pretty bad for whoever it was that made that mistake.
Relevant.
There needs to be a "Like" button.
If there's doubt, don't. I'm sure whoever wrote this at ESPN probably thought they were being clever, not racist. However, regardless of what the majority think, what was said is offensive to many. That's worth enough to choose another phrase. For the level of education and experience held by the decision makers at ESPN, this was careless.
Gordon Gee's signature is on my diploma. I'm proud of that. Class of 2008
They didn't hesitate to blow up the Kobe incident. Yet the moment it's in house, they do a quick apology, and change the subject.
And while I agree that everyone is uber sensitive these days, how you can let something like that be a headline makes me question if it wasn't done on purpose for more hits. Especially when this same Network made Stephen A Smith apologize for saying "pimp smacked" on air. Heck, they even bleeped out Brady saying "I sucked".
"YOLO" = I'm about to do something extremely ignorant/stupid & I need an excuse to do it.
I find it a bit a bit ironic that so many Buckeyes are offended by this headline, which I find insensitive(but funny as hell at the same time). Yet Gee can say anything absurd and it's "yes, but he's the best college prez in the universe!"
The liberal media types are supposed to have this politically correct stuff down pat, but they must just be racists, I guess.
I guess it just depends who says the absurd stuff that makes it racist.
"Political correctness is tyranny with manners." Charlton Heston(1924-2008)
You started out ok.
Then you wrote your second paragraph.
Taquitos.
Just out of curiousity - did Gee say something racist? Serious question.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
There is a big difference between absurd and racist.
Agreed - he said some whacky stuff but nothing racist to my knowledge.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
Eh, the whole "Polish Army" nonsense could be construed as racist. He was technically belittling an entire ethnicity with what he said, but also never said "Polack" or "Pole" (intended as a reference, not used with any intent of course). Granted, I could be rationalizing to a certain extent, but if he'd have used that terminology I'd have been a lot more upset (I'm part Polish, for whatever that's worth), and I think the news media would have been a lot more justified to sensationalize his comments.
Bottom line is that we'll never know if it was an honest mistake that got past a few boneheaded copywriters and editors or if it was an intentionally malicious slander. But that doesn't matter, what matters is that suddenly, casual racism has entered the lexicon of sports media. It's disgusting, and I'm appalled. Not by this individual event, but because of the fact that this isn't the first thing we've seen.
The lack of media professionalism is horrendous.
Oh - Never saw or heard that particular comment...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
http://www.elevenwarriors.com/buckshot/2012/01/gordon-gee-slips-up-again
Very over-sensationalized in my opinion. I think it was a slightly feather-ruffling comment that only made the news cycles because E. Gordon Gee tends to occasionally fail on his zingers.
Yeah I'm almost always pretty entertained by EGG but I could see where that one was taken as more than the typical gaffe.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
I am an American of Polish descent, and I don't recall ANYBODY ever losing their job over a "Polock joke," or using some Polish stereotype, such as Gee did with the Polish Army comment. I don't think Gee should lose his job over it, but I guess some races are in the "protected" group. Poles are not one of them, evidently. Neither are the Irish, Italians, etc.
"Political correctness is tyranny with manners." Charlton Heston(1924-2008)
Poles, Italians, Irish etc. are not a race. They are ethnic groups of caucasian.
Look, I'm an ABC (American Born Chinese) and I'm not going to say that I speak for everyone, but I don't think that the phrase "chink in the armor" is offensive. However, taken in context of the story it is racially insensitive.
I've said it for years, but the majority of people I see think that it's not racist if it doesn't involve black people. I've had people, whites and blacks, come up to me and ask how the chinese buffet is going or "what kind of chink" I am. I don't ever date asian women, which admittedly is kind of weird, but I've been out with my white girlfriend and had someone holler at her "why you with that yella fella."
This past week has been ridiculous.
ESPN was the last drop before the cup spilled over. A lot of people have been on edge, so something that may have been dismissed before, is suddenly a big deal now.
Jeremy Lin is changing the game right now. He's the first American Born Chinese athlete of note, he's bringing a spotlight to how asian americans are viewed and making people rethink whether those perceptions are fair.