political correctness concern-trolling jujitsu

here's fox news, trying to hype up the fact that barack obama referred to his bowling as being "like the special olympics or something":

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/19/obama-compares-bowling-score-special-olympics-tonight/100days/

are they unaware that they and their ilk have spent the last 20 years telling everyone to lighten up about such jokes? especially when the special olympics themselves have no apparent interest in this "story"?

there's a large element of truth to that, as large an element as pointing out that plenty on ILX would have jumped on (for instance) GWB saying something like this.

I thought it was in pretty poor taste myself, but I didn't hear the whole joke.

Obv Fox News concern trolling is lame.

that fox news article doesnt even seem like it's trolling that bad to me, they just sort of mention it happened. i saw an article in the times (london) that was waaaay worse

don't putting spaz

shitty cherry on top of a crappy week for obama

Biden is a big time Special Olympics supporter, so now would be a perfect time for him to give a speech and mention how his buddy Obama keeps putting his foot in his mouth. God love him.

oh it was just a dumb offhand comment. the apology is warranted and necessary, but tbh in context it went right by me. (the only thing that made me wince was leno's reference to a "waterhead dog," but i'm guessing neither leno or obama knows that waterhead is a slur of its own.)

Waterhead?

http://www.freewebs.com/waterheadrugby_u14_2006-7/waterhead%20team.jpg

I was watching this, and immediately thought ... yeah, I'm going to be hearing about that tomorrow morning.

(I'd particularly like to avoid ever hearing Sarah Palin's thoughts on this.)

if prince philip has said that people would've gone apeshit

lolbama

he even likes retard jokes *sigh* <3<3<3

Not a good joke, Barack.

Bam could have defused this with a Kingpin reference.

jujitsu is way more effective than passive-aggression, btw

um dude disabled people aren't (necessarily) retarded

xxxxpost

Now Joe Biden is going to have to make a speech about ice cr?m.

lol spaz c more like

gosh darn it that icey

It's an AP story, every big media outlet is reporting it, why would Fox not run it? It's news.

Thing is, I'd bet a retarded kid could bowl better than a 37.

This guy gets to choose what becomes an AP story, which also ends up on the front page of Yahoo, etc., etc.

the great under reported fact of obamas famous 37 is he let small children bowl the majority of his game

(As in: Karl Rove exchanged emails about Pat Tillman with Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier, under the subject line "HE-R-O." In response to Mr. Fournier’s e-mail, Mr. Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this," to which Mr. Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight.")

(I'd particularly like to avoid ever hearing Sarah Palin's thoughts on this.)

Referencing an old campaign line, Palin asks, “You know what the difference is between a hockey Mom and a Special Olympics hockey Mom? Nothing.”

I, I don't even know what that means.

lol @ fox running an AP story = hyping

earth to velko: editors choose what to run, what not to run, and where to place things. you think fox news runs every AP story that comes down the wire?

Still not seeing the hype here: http://www.foxnews.com/

No more than every other news organization in America has been "hyping" it.

well, fuck every other news organization in America too!

yeah, tracer, seems every news source running with the story. running a wire story is not "hype" per se, although obv. fox was not going to let this one pass

foxnews.com bringing the lulz tho

by camphost Maryland [Mar 20, 2009 1:57:08 PM]
Face it - he is trailer trash as the saying goes - You can dress him up and you can put a "tele-prompter" in front of him, but you can't put a brain in his head. So how is that Hope and Change working for you now? Remember that in 1936 the Germans were looking for hope and change also - and look what they got! Hitler was a GREAT speaker also, and he did not even need a tele-prompter!

its not going to stick anyway no matter how many people hype it

Hitler could also bowl better than a 37.

telly prompter

I'm confused - the story linked above says he bowled a 129. That's not so bad ...

He had Hitler's help.

I make these kinds of jokes about my abilities, but I'm not the President of the United States of America and I'm not expected to know better

It's above your pay grade.

the president isn't expected to make special olympics jokes because he makes more money than me?

"retarded"

isn't expected to is expected to not

Ha -- it's an allusion to Obama's remark last summer re abortion.

http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews_impact/2009/03/large_Kolan032009.jpg

"Bring it on, Obama!" says Kolan McConiughey, who is proud of the six Special Olympics bowling medals he's won as well as the fact that he's bowled five perfect games. "I challenge him! I'll show him how to do it."

Clearly what he meant was cripple and not retard.

it get's worse for obama....

Obama's First Round NCAA Bracket A Bust
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
After the first day of the NCAA basketball tournament, President Obama's bracket appears to be a bust.

The president, a self-described basketball junkie, managed to only pick 11 of 16 games correctly--or 69 percent.

CBS 2 imported Obama's picks, which were originally made for ESPN, into its Bracket Challenge game. Currently, the president ranks in the 27th percentile among all players.

Several contestants managed to pick every game correctly. CBS 2 traffic reporter Susan Carlson, who admits to watching very little basketball, picked 15 of 16 games correctly.

Perhaps Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was right when he said the president should be focusing on the economy, rather than picking NCAA brackets. Obama has picked Duke rival North Carolina to win the title this year.

Of course, several teams could still provide Obama with some much-needed "bracket stimulus.'' The president has been a huge basketball fan for years. He played in high school and routinely played pick-up games during the campaign with key aides.

he even likes retard jokes *sigh* <3<3<3

― ice cr?m, Friday, March 20, 2009 4:51 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haaaa

Man, sucks if you can't appreciate a light-hearted retard joke.

Joe the Plumber got hot and bothered in Washington Thursday night.

Appearing unable to contain his libido in the nation's capital, Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, expressed his sexual urge to a sea of conservatives gathered at Washington's Grand Hyatt hotel.

"God, all this love and everything in the room - I'm horny," Joe said on-stage.

Joe was accepting an award on behalf of the "liberal media" at the 2009 MRC's Gala and DisHonors Awards, a roasting of the "most outrageously biased liberal media reporters." Faux awards of the night included "the Obamagasm" and the "Media Messiah."

Joe, referring to himself as the "token redneck," received a standing ovation while waltzing on stage as "God Bless the USA" played overhead.

well, fuck every other news organization in America too!

― Tracer Hand, Friday, March 20, 2009 6:04 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

is it really the fault of the MSM that obama made fun of disabled athletes? gimme 1 break. would you have gotten het up about this if they'd been reporting GWB saying the same thing?

So if I've gotten this straight: gays>blacks>disabled on the ILX minority totem pole?

hows that

there's a flow chart about it in the mod request board

is it really the fault of the MSM that obama made fun of disabled athletes? gimme 1 break. would you have gotten het up about this if they'd been reporting GWB saying the same thing?

Not really, it would have been more LOL GWB made joke about retarded athletes, GWB is a retard, too.

^^^yeah response would've been more like "GWB admits to being retarded"

Stating the obvious in two different ways, but: (a) this isn't something that'll seriously be held against him by anyone who wasn't already inclined to hold stuff against him anyway; (b) it is precisely the kind of joke that's not good to make when you're president, for reasons I don't think need a ton of unpacking

News coverage can possibly be put down to "OMG look it is a news story about the president that does not involve numbers" (see also the dog)

btw I think Tracer's right about the right's disingenuous habit of trying to catch the left out on its own lefty sensitivities (see also adopting the language and the poses of the left and applying it to their own arguments); I don't know that the left does this successfully very often, except the occasional rhetorical flourish on the lines of "what about your precious free market" or whatever

The left does it to the right on morality ("oh Senator Vitter, how are your family values doing").

ah, yes, that's the main one

xp nabisco: I think it's unfortunate that the president can't make lighthearted jokes, and in a sense, I question whether it isn't good that he did so. If you look back at past presidents, a lot of the more popular ones did make jokes of this nature. I feel, and I'm sure a lot of the American people do as well, that the public performance of the presidency has become too staged and artificial (not just because of no-nos like this, but this is a significant aspect). Part of Obama's appeal (and Sarah Palin's, Ronald Reagan's, Clinton, GWB) is that he regularly comes across as "real."

I don't know that it's just a matter of "the president can't make lighthearted jokes." I mean, yeah, realness is a good quality to project, and maybe a little flap over the occasional joke is a perfectly good tradeoff for being able to seem comfortable and real. And I'm sure most people will interpret it as something that wasn't mean-spirited or cutting. But I don't think it's unfair or unfortunate that some people won't: I mean, the job of the president is one in which you legitimately can't seem to be flippant or dismissive about things people really care about; it's legitimate for people who care about such things to worry that the flippancy means the person in the position isn't sensitive to stuff they care about.

i dunno sarahel that's like being like "all feminists should just lighten up!" of course the president should be able to make lighthearted jokes

It might give the media something to talk about besides AIG this weekend. If only for a few minutes. The statement from the Special Olympics is good because it talks about this as a teaching moment. Maybe everybody that hates Obama will donate or volunteer, and everyone that supports Obama will do the same in a sensitivity race.

as far as the jujitsu goes, I notice Glenn Beck's column on the front page of Fox news is about an Illinois county requirement that requires homeowners to be fingerprinted to declare a sale. (it is somehow Obama's fault) Something could come from that national discussion that could be used in the various Voter ID debates (and fingerprint requirements for driver's licenses) we face each year.

It's too bad being confronted with double standards and inconsistencies doesn't seem to lead to deeper thinking.

and everyone that supports Obama will do the same in a sensitivity race.

Where everyone gets a gold medal?

I guess it really just boils down to a social politeness issue. Everyone involved in, for lack of a better word, minority rights is aware that people will make jokes or comments that are offensive to their group. I think that there were two goals that led to the "political correctness movement" - language/expressive change and attitude/belief change. They had more success with the language/expressive change part (at least as far as politics and government are concerned), though that's what saw the biggest backlash. It is a victory that it's "not ok to use such language in public," but to a certain degree it puts a damper on discussion of attitudes and beliefs.

xp s1ocki: all feminists should just lighten up is definitely one impression I get from ilx, though.

seriously?

jeez goole lighten up

I'm just here for the lols and to have somewhat nerdy discussions about music and things, but some ilx threads could seriously use some feminist "teaching moments."

^^ whether they'd be successful is another story.

So am I the only person that was kinda horrified by this?

Disappointed, no. Horrified, yes.

i wasn't disappointed or horrified, i was just

http://www.gigacrate.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/doh.gif

(which i think is really all the commentary it deserves. you make apologies and move on.)

hoos were u horrified by the thought that u might have unwittingly voted for a retard?

I should say I was very mildly disappointed. But yeah tipsy has it right.

by jimmortgage [Mar 20, 2009 10:48:04 AM]
Obama playing president is the real ret@rd, excuse my comment.

http://l.yimg.com/a/i/ww/news/2009/03/20/bushpalinobama.jpg

lol, the response that had to be made

“I was shocked to learn of the comment made by President Obama about Special Olympics,” Governor Palin said. “This was a degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world.

“These athletes overcome more challenges, discrimination and adversity than most of us ever will. By the way, these athletes can outperform many of us and we should be proud of them. I hope President Obama’s comments do not reflect how he truly feels about the special needs community.”

if I were firstly a fan of Obama's then I'd consider this a blessing, since it's taking the heat off the AIG thing. Since I'm not firstly a fan of Obama's but rather of good governance, I'm much more disappointed with the administration's handling of the AIG thing and hope the pressure stays on them to take care of that.

"our world’s most precious and unique people"

This kind of comment horrifies me a lot more actually. Fuck this they are all "special people" condescending fuckwittery.

“I was shocked to learn of the comment made by President Obama about Special Olympics,” Governor Palin said. “This was a degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world.

“These athletes overcome more challenges, discrimination and adversity than most of us ever will. By the way, these athletes can outperform many of us and we should be proud of them. I hope President Obama’s comments do not reflect how he truly feels about the special needs community.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/15/palin-cut-funding-for-alaska-special-olympics/

"I myself am the parent of a retard child." added Governor Palin.

xp s1ocki: all feminists should just lighten up is definitely one impression I get from ilx, though.

Strongly agreed. As much as race etc is a hot-button thing around here, everyone gives the strong impression that they are BEYOND sexism, past it and can afford to be as gauche/coarse as they want because OF COURSE their core beliefs are modern and progressive. Right? Right. I am of two minds about this so I mostly keep schtum.

^^^^^ this.

also, pointing out how pervasive and potentially dangerous that attitude is is a pretty by-the-numbers observation on most race threads. eg ppl hatin on vicemag post-racial attitudes, etc.

he shall be leon

This is parody, right? pic.twitter.com/mQzF091oAe

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