Is Suburban Obama Sign Racist?

Daily Herald ^ | 10/15/08 | Josh Stockinger

[WildcatClan]

You know what, on 2nd look I do believe it is. The sign appears to be metal and I can see no reason for the barbed wire fence there other than the sign. I hope the guy reads FR and will at least consider my idea about the nose lighting up.

[Lee'sGhost]

I thought use of Ebonics was advocated by the left. Part of what makes this so damn funny. It is NOT racist. Period.

[Lee'sGhost]

Uh...actually, it’s hanged.

[Past Your Eyes]

The owner of the sign said he had put up an earlier sign which was vandalized so he build a fence around this one. He didn’t say anything about electricity, though.

[Drumbo]

Please explain to me how this could ever be construed as racist?

I can try, but you need to suspend disbelief.

In the state of Virginia, in 1993 I attempted to get personalized license plates with my nickname (Drumbo).

The DMV computer "flagged" my application and it was rejected on the grounds that "Drumbo" constitutes a racial slur. Stunned, I appealed the decision and eventually spoke with a supervisor. The reasoning went, that "Drumbo" was akin to "Sambo" which the PC crowd had recently banned in the state (both the children's story from libraries and a popular pancake house on Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach called "Lil' Black Sambo's").

"How do you conclude that 'Drumbo' resembles 'Sambo' any more than it resembles 'Dumbo' the Disney elephant, 'Bozo' the famous clown or any of several Marx Brothers"? I asked.

In true bureaucratic fashion, I was told that under the "rules" of the DMV, which I assume was supported by some useless state legislation, any epithet resembling 'Sambo' was considered racist and summarily rejected. The suffix 'bo' was especially damning because it was a contraction of "Boy", an equally damnable racist phrase. You can't fight City Hall FRiends.

I reapplied with a new variation and received my new plates with no problems.



Evidently "Boy" had not been programed into the computer as a rejectable phrase. I covered the "Y" with white tape and drove happily with those plates for years.

[Marmolade]

Could you do something about the use of “and” instead of “an”? I see it all the time. Makes me nuts.

[Past Your Eyes]

I must admit to doing that myself on occasion. I usually catch it and fix it but, trying to be clever, witty AND fast, I don’t always fix every typo. Sorry.

[Marmolade]

No apology needed. It’s just something I noticed a lot, this past year. Sometimes in random posts, but what really got me was an online petition that had it in it.

But, as I say sometimes, if this is the worst of life’s problems, I can surely live with it.