SEC=UGA Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Really, someone can't make an allusion to one of America's literary masterpieces and not have to apologize for it... Ridiculous. Rep. Doug Lamborn's office says the Colorado Republican regrets any misunderstanding over his comments on a Denver-based radio show. Lamborn spoke to KHOW-AM Friday. He was responding to comments about whom voters would hold responsible for actions on the nation's debt ceiling when he said he thought voters would blame the president. Lamborn said: "Now I don't want to even have to be associated with him. It is like touching a tar baby and you get it — you're stuck, and you're part of the problem now." Some people consider the term "tar baby" to be a racial epithet. Lamborn's spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen said in a written statement Monday that Lamborn simply meant to refer to a sticky situation. She says Lamborn sent an apology letter to President Obama. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBunz Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 There's a reason Disney has never released Song of the South to VHS/DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 There's a reason Disney has never released Song of the South to VHS/DVD. Song, song of the south Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth Gone, gone with the wind There ain't nobody looking back again Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch We all picked the cotton but we never got rich Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat They oughta get a rich man to vote like that Sing it... Song, song of the south Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth Gone, gone with the wind There ain't nobody looking back again Well somebody told us Wall Street fell But we were so poor that we couldn't tell Cotton was short and the weeds were tall But Mr. Roosevelt's a gonna save us all Well momma got sick and daddy got down The county got the farm and they moved to town Pappa got a job with the TVA He bought a washing machine and then a Chevrolet Sing it... Song, song of the south Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth Gone, gone with the wind There ain't nobody looking back again Play it... Sing it... Song, song of the south Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth Gone, gone with the wind There ain't nobody looking back again Song, song of the south... Gone, gone with the wind... Song, song of the south. Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth. Song, song of the south. Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth. Sing it... Song, song of the south Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth Gone, gone with the wind There ain't nobody looking back again Song, song of the south Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth Gone, gone with the wind There ain't nobody looking back again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billay Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 UNC fans are Tar Heels. I'm pretty sure "tar baby" is racial however you cut it, and to use it in referencing the first ever African American president? I think any push-back that arises out of such a comment is well-deserved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAYER Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 That's just good southern music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajncajn Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billay Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Tar Baby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Really, someone can't make an allusion to one of America's literary masterpieces and not have to apologize for it... Ridiculous. What he said, apparently: Lamborn said: "Now I don't want to even have to be associated with him. It is like touching a tar baby and you get it — you're stuck, and you're part of the problem now." I dunno, although I'd really like to give the benefit of the doubt to Lamborn because there's way too much of this "ooh, I'm offended" nonsense everywhere these days, I can't help but think this is very clumsy - perhaps deliberately so - at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 UNC fans are Tar Heels. I'm pretty sure "tar baby" is racial however you cut it, and to use it in referencing the first ever African American president? I think any push-back that arises out of such a comment is well-deserved. I guess that article I posted with regard to the lack of knowledge of American history is pretty accurate. The stories, mostly collected directly from the African-American oral storytelling tradition, were revolutionary in their use of dialect, animal personage, and serialized landscape.[15] Brer Rabbit and the Tar-BabyRemus' stories featured a trickster hero called Br'er Rabbit ("Brother" Rabbit), who used his wits against adversity, though his efforts did not always succeed. Br'er Rabbit is a direct interpretation of Yoruba tales of Hare, though some others posit Native American influences as well.[16][17] Scholar Stella Brewer Brookes asserts, "Never has the trickster been better exemplified than in the Br'er Rabbit of Harris."[18] Br'er Rabbit was accompanied by friends and enemies alike, such as Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear, Br'er Terrapin, and Br'er Wolf. The stories represented a significant break from the romantic fairy tales of the Western tradition: instead of a singular event in a singular story, the critters on the plantation existed in an ongoing community saga, time immemorial.[19] Throughout his career, Joe Harris actively promoted racial reconciliation as well as African-American education, suffrage, and equality. He regularly denounced racism among southern whites, condemned lynching as barbaric, and highlighted the importance of higher education for African Americans, frequently citing the work of W.E.B. DuBois in his editorials.[26] In 1883, for example, editorials from the Atlanta Constitution challenged those of the New York Sun that alleged "educating the negro will merely increase his capacity for evil." The Atlanta Constitution editorial countered, stating if "education of the negro is not the chief solution of the problem that confronts the white people of the South then there is no other conceivable solution and there is nothing ahead but political chaos and demoralization."[27] Harris's editorials were often progressive in content and paternalistic in tone. Harris was unwavering in his commitment to the "dissipation of sectional jealousy and misunderstanding, as well as religious and racial intolerance", In 1904 Harris wrote four important articles for the Saturday Evening Post discussing the problem of race relations in the South that highlight his progressive yet paternalistic views. Of these, Booker T. Washington noted: "It has been a long time since I have read anything from the pen of any man which has given me such encouragement as your article has. [...] In a speech on Lincoln's Birthday which I am to deliver in New York, I am going to take the liberty to quote liberally from what you have said."[31] Two years later, Harris and his son Julian founded what would become Uncle Remus's Home Magazine. Harris wrote to Andrew Carnegie that its purpose would be to further "the obliteration of prejudice against the blacks, the demand for a square deal, and the uplifting of both races so that they can look justice in the face without blushing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I'm pretty sure "tar baby" is racial however you cut it, and to use it in referencing the first ever African American president? I think any push-back that arises out of such a comment is well-deserved. of course you do. there aren't a lot of cards left for obama supporters to play. The Tar-Baby is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes. In modern usage, "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional contact. The tar baby is a trap that should be avoided. seems like a pretty good analogy for the point he was trying to get across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) Well I ate at this place a few years ago in Myrtle Beach. Why is there no uproar about this place? Edit: BTW, don't go there...it's terrible. Edited August 2, 2011 by Puddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darin3 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) Well I ate at this place a few years ago in Myrtle Beach. Why is there no uproar about this place? I thought that this restaurant was shut down or re-named... maybe they renamed the chain, or Denny's or equivalent bought them, and this one in Santa Barbara remained named as it was back in the day. E2A: There used to be one in my hometown, and I didn't even know one still existed in the town I went to college at. Also, for those that don't know.... Sambo Edited August 2, 2011 by darin3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 does anyone remember eating at Little Black Sambo's pancake joint growing up? I had the book, too. they still have the story in kids books, but now little black sambo is an indian (dot). I'm not really sure why one is racist and the other isn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billay Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Is tar baby a racist term? Like most elements of language, that depends on context. Calling the Big Dig a tar baby is a lot different than calling a person one. But sensitivity is not unwarranted. Among etymologists, a slur's validity hangs heavily on history. The concept of tar baby goes way back, according to Words@Random from Random House: "The tar baby is a form of a character widespread in African folklore. In various folktales, gum, wax or other sticky material is used to trap a person." The term itself was popularized by the 19th-century Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, in which the character Br'er Fox makes a doll out of tar to ensnare his nemesis Br'er Rabbit. The Oxford American Dictionary defines tar baby much like Romney used it, "a difficult problem, that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it." But the term also has had racial implications. In his book Coup, John Updike says of a white woman who prefers the company of black men, "some questing chromosome within holds her sexually fast to the tar baby." The Oxford English Dictionary (but not the print version of its American counterpart) says that tar baby is a derogatory term used for "a black or a Maori." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesVikes Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 The statement wasn't intended to be racist. It was a dumb thing to say and it displays the intelligence level of the author as not at par with the president. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 (edited) I think Billay's point makes sense (and I also agree with Az's interpretation (even though it seems Az missed what the Representative actually said)). Calling the bill a tar-baby is fine. Calling President Obama a tar-baby is not so fine. Edited August 2, 2011 by wiegie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I think Billay's point makes sense (and I also agree with Az's interpretation (even though it seems Az missed what the Representative actually said)). "I don't want to be associated with him. It is like touching a tar baby." being associated with him at this point is like touching a tar baby. I'd say it's only racial if you want it to be. and obviously plenty of people want it to be... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 I think Billay's point makes sense (and I also agree with Az's interpretation (even though it seems Az missed what the Representative actually said)). Calling the bill a tar-baby is fine. Calling President Obama a tar-baby is not so fine. Does he not clarify the he is not using it in a derogatory, racist, manner? He is using it in the context of being a trap. If he had said, "Obama is a tar baby..." maybe you have a point, but his own description at the end eliminates any doubt that he is not using it in such a context. It is like touching a tar baby and you get it — you're stuck, and you're part of the problem now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Does he not clarify the he is not using it in a derogatory, racist, manner? He is using it in the context of being a trap. If he had said, "Obama is a tar baby..." maybe you have a point, but his own description at the end eliminates any doubt that he is not using it in such a context. ok, let me get this straight. It is ok because he didn't say "Obama is a tar-baby", he only said Obama is "like a tar-baby". Gotcha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 ok, let me get this straight. It is ok because he didn't say "Obama is a tar-baby", he only said Obama is "like a tar-baby". Gotcha. any wonder why wiegie is talking about this and not the economy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbpfan1231 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Anyone who really thinks that was a racist comment is LOOKING for things to be racist comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billay Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Anyone who really thinks that was a racist comment is LOOKING for things to be racist comments. Frankly, it doesn't bother me, and I doubt it bothered the President, and I also agree there are times where people get their panties in a wad over nothing at all. But I'm also not surprised that this comment offended some people, and I can see why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 ok, let me get this straight. It is ok because he didn't say "Obama is a tar-baby", he only said Obama is "like a tar-baby". Gotcha. And described what he meant by "tar baby". He was not using it in a manner that was degrading to Obama or Obama's race, his remarks following the words "tar baby" clearly indicate that. Rather he was speaking in the context of making a deal with Obama would be akin to him sticking his pecker in a hornet's nest. But, instead of using the parlance of "sticking one's pecker in a hornet's nest" he used "tar baby", which is an allusion to a character, for lack of a better word, from an Joel Chandler Harris/Uncle Remus book and an allusion which anyone with a third grade or better education should understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 You don't have to be a tar baby, to be in my show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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