White Men Can't Jump: Political Correctness 101

FoxNews ^ | Friday, March 26, 2004 | Eric Burns

[Michael2001]

It isn't always easy to be politically correct. Sometimes, in fact, it's an outright struggle.

For instance: you hear a statement that you're sure is politically incorrect. Your nerve endings tingle. Your juices start to flow. Oh boy, you say to yourself, here's yet another example of injustice in a society absolutely riddled with the stuff. You cannot wait to tell teacher and get patted on the head.

[speedy]

I wonder if this guy defended Rush Limbaugh when he made his statements about Donovan McNab.

[SouthernFreebird]

Silly, that was football. Basketball is different.

[speedy]

Well shut my mouth, you are indeed correct. I suppose Bob Ryan, using his same racial philosophy of sports, roots against black players in hockey and resents Tiger Woods's success in golf. Aren't they white sports the way basketball and football are black sports?

[Bubba_Leroy]

I try so hard to be politically correct, but I just can never figure out the rules. For example, why is it that "people of color" is politically correct, but "colored people" is not?

[Pearls Before Swine]

For example, why is it that "people of color" is politically correct, but "colored people" is not?

Because its harder to say?

[mhking]

I wonder if this guy defended Rush Limbaugh when he made his statements about Donovan McNab.

Actually, if memory serves, Eric Burns (the author of the piece, and host of FNC's Fox News Watch) did defend Rush.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

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[Bubba_Leroy]

Then what about the word "negro"? You aren't allowed to use that word unless you are referring to the United Negro College Fund.

[speedy]

Hi mh -- well, then he does have the virtue of consistency. It's just that even recognizing the extraordinary success of black athletes in basketball and football, it seems illogical to categorize them as black sports, no others need apply, just as it would be to get irritated at black hockey players. I remember Frank DeFord from Sports Illustrated, discussing the Boston Celtics in the 1980s and saying his admiration for their success was tempered by the fact that they had too many white players (they had three white starters -- Bird, McHale and Ainge -- all of whom were perfectly capable of excelling at their positions.) Now he might have had a point if the team had few black players and consistently performed poorly, but since the whole point is to win games, and the Celtics were winning games, I couldn't imagine why it would make a difference. I think most fans just want to see the best athletes, and a team that was stacked with underachieving white guys would not have much of a following.

[Victoria Delsoul]

The politically correct can't think.

I totally agree with that.

[jocon307]

"Then what about the word "negro"?

There is nothing wrong with that word. I make it a point to use that word often, esp. to my one friend who gets really annoyed.

The esteemed Stanley Crouch agrees with me, and he's a negro!

[Coleus]

Black man can't swim.

[Choose Ye This Day]

How about ice skate?

[Coleus]

Black man can't play hockey or figure skate.

[line drive to right]

I'm white, 5-10, and when I was young, I could get most of my hand on the rim.

[NYCVirago]

Last year, the Globe suspended him for a month for saying on a Boston TV station that someone should "smack" Joumana Kidd (search), wife of NBA star Jason Kidd (search), because she so often showed up at courtside with the couple's young son, thereby making herself more attractive to cameras.

What astonished me about that story was that it seemed like Ryan got more flak (and more of a punishment from his own employer) for just saying that Joumama Kidd should be smacked, than Jason Kidd got from the media and the NBA for actually smacking her a few years ago and getting arrested for domestic violence!

[Coeur de Lion]

Agreed. But, I've noticed, though I might be mistaken, that Stanley Crouch typically uses Negro when he's speaking about them in a setting or time when it was the accepted form of address. Otherwise he uses the more acceptable euphemism. I think how he uses it, shows a certain subtlety and is intended to specifically point out the absurdity of "politically correct" speech.

[Jorge]

White men don't need to "jump".
They rule the world. And make no apologies for it.
That's reality like it or not.

[SENTINEL]

Frank White, owner ATK motorcycles mid jump.