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ESPN's Berman: "Feets Don't Fail Me Now"
ESPN/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

Posted on 12/31/2005 5:11:20 PM PST by governsleastgovernsbest

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To: All

To all who think "feets don't fail me now" isn't racist, I can only ask you to trust me that it has its roots in the worst kind of racial sterotype.

If Rush Limbaugh had ever used the phrase, I have absolutely no doubt it would have been blared all over the MSM immediately with headlines along the lines: "Limbaugh Employs Racist Stereotype".


41 posted on 12/31/2005 5:38:59 PM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: discostu

Ahh, I didn't say that the statement was racial. I was merely pointing out that it was used, a lot, in old films and at the time was a sterotype of black people. Black people were scared of ghost etc. Today, I doubt if most people would consider it racist. However, I do believe that the liberals would call a conservative on it if it was used by one in any context what-so-ever. Thanks and have a good day.


42 posted on 12/31/2005 5:40:05 PM PST by calex59
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Chris Berman is liberal, but one thing I respect about him, was that he defended Rush Limbaugh and is still friends with him and the 2 of them do talk now and then.


43 posted on 12/31/2005 5:41:23 PM PST by Sonny M ("oderint dum metuant")
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To: saquin

You may be correct in your feelings, but that doesn't change the reality of the situation. You seem to lack a bit of understanding of cultures other that your own.


44 posted on 12/31/2005 5:41:57 PM PST by DanTheAdmin (THIS SPACE FOR RENT)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

White people got feets, black people got feets...all God's chirruns got feets.


45 posted on 12/31/2005 5:42:18 PM PST by RichInOC ("...And look at him go!...And he could...go...all...the...way!")
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To: Petronski
You're wrong.

Hm. OK, so there's an old racial angle to it, that I did not know about until just now. Berman is without doubt the same way -- it was a fitting comment, and funny in context.

There's absolutely no way Berman thought he was making a racial comment, and the only racial sentiment involved belongs to ... Mark Finklestein, who decided we needed to make a racial issue out of it -- and for laughable reasons, at that.

The whole premise of Finklestein's article is preposterously stupid.

46 posted on 12/31/2005 5:43:24 PM PST by r9etb
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Thank you - I was beginning to think I was the only one who understood the history of the phrase.


47 posted on 12/31/2005 5:44:44 PM PST by DanTheAdmin (THIS SPACE FOR RENT)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
...I will throw one of my new Timberland boots through my new HDTV screen!

Then hop in the Beemer to go to Starbucks for a double decafe latte with chocolate sprinkles to calm your nerves?

.

.

.

Sorry, but that was an incredibly yuppie post.

48 posted on 12/31/2005 5:44:50 PM PST by Richard Kimball (Tenure is the enemy of excellence.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
To all who think "feets don't fail me now" isn't racist, I can only ask you to trust me that it has its roots in the worst kind of racial sterotype.

Horse manure. The only way it's racial is because YOU ARE MAKING IT racial. For everybody else, it's just something funny that was said by cartoon characters.

49 posted on 12/31/2005 5:45:03 PM PST by r9etb
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To: r9etb

I believe the preposterously stupid angle on this is "I've just heard of it, so it can't be a big deal."


50 posted on 12/31/2005 5:45:14 PM PST by Petronski (I love Cyborg!)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
This is Mantan Moreland, the black actor who made the "feets don't fail me now" line famous. It was a classic racial stereotype of a frightened black man.


51 posted on 12/31/2005 5:46:23 PM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: r9etb

I think his point is: had a conservative said it - all hell would have broken loose...


52 posted on 12/31/2005 5:46:41 PM PST by DanTheAdmin (THIS SPACE FOR RENT)
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To: DanTheAdmin
You may be correct in your feelings, but that doesn't change the reality of the situation. You seem to lack a bit of understanding of cultures other that your own.

Don't be so sanctimonious.

I'm well aware of other cultures and well aware of the history of stereotypes and how hurtful they were. This is simply one that, in my opinion, has been virtually stripped of its original connotations. Most people wouldn't be able to tell you if it originated with Stepin Fetchit, Abbott and Costello or Bugs Bunny. And that is not necessarily a sign of historical ignorance but is a sign of how coopted the phrase has become. I can picture all three characters saying it. Lou Costello looked just as foolish when he cowered, stammered and ran away from ghosts.

When said in 2005 about a white guy, and after all the years of being used in different contexts, there is simply no racial connotation intended.

53 posted on 12/31/2005 5:47:26 PM PST by saquin
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To: Petronski
I believe the preposterously stupid angle on this is "I've just heard of it, so it can't be a big deal."

And you knew it was racist ... when?

Stupid knee-jerk reactions to a statement that was learned from Saturday morning cartoons, as a funny thing said by a talking animal, cannot be understood as racist, nor meant as racist. To suggest otherwise is worse than useless: it makes you look stupid and petty.

I would suggest that the only people making this a "racist" issue are the ones who are pounding the table about it being racist.

I am certainly not going to accept your "racist" tag, because I am not a racist, and the statement isn't either. Sorry, but perhaps you should give your knee a rest.

54 posted on 12/31/2005 5:50:11 PM PST by r9etb
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To: DanTheAdmin
Thank you - I was beginning to think I was the only one who understood the history of the phrase.

You're not. But there are also many who understand that history doesn't stand still and phrases that were once meant in a racist context can be coopted by the larger culture and stripped of their original racist meaning. That certainly hasn't happened with many or most stereotypes or phrases but I believe it has happened with this particular one.

55 posted on 12/31/2005 5:50:21 PM PST by saquin
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To: r9etb; Petronski

Berman is 50, plenty old enough to be well aware of the racist overtone of the phrase.

I'm not saying Berman is racist, but I am saying that if Rush had said the same thing he would have been excoriated by the MSM.

Do you disagree? Do you really think Rush Limbaugh could use the phrase "feets don't fail me now" and the liberal media would look the other way?


56 posted on 12/31/2005 5:50:27 PM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: r9etb

I'll bet anything you are under 40.


57 posted on 12/31/2005 5:51:17 PM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: r9etb

Methinks you doth protest too much. LOL


58 posted on 12/31/2005 5:52:46 PM PST by Petronski (I love Cyborg!)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Another racial controversy. Well, zzzz........

Sorry, I fell asleep.


59 posted on 12/31/2005 5:52:51 PM PST by rcocean (Copyright is theft and loved by Hollywood socialists)
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To: DanTheAdmin
I think his point is: had a conservative said it - all hell would have broken loose...

A conservative (apparently) did say it -- and he is a fool for making the comparison. It's a dumbass comment, and his "point," such as it is, is a stupid one. This is just another lamentable example of "conservative pundits" trying to manufacture a controversy about something idiotic. It just makes him -- and by extension, us -- look silly.

60 posted on 12/31/2005 5:55:28 PM PST by r9etb
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