DeSantis Uses Racist Dog Whistle...

[carpedm9587]

Probably a southern thing.

Except I never heard it in New Orleans either. Odd...

[Cow Poke]

Except I never heard it in New Orleans either. Odd...

You didn't go far enough from "town".

[carpedm9587]

You didn't go far enough from "town".

Oh you have NO idea...

[Cow Poke]

Oh you have NO idea...

You're still alive.

[carpedm9587]

You're still alive.

I am - but just barely. My young self was a lot less careful than my 60-year-old self. I was wandering the projects of New Orleans at the tender age of 19. I really should NOT be alive...

[Leonhard]

So you are admitting you were outraged

Not much, just enough to say that he deserved the boos he got. Honestly its you guys who are looking for things to be outraged over, not me.

and didn't even bother to check what he had said?

I did check various copies of it, and they all clearly misreported it. Only one or two, which I found after Charles's post had the full quote. The others seem actually to have cited each other's headlines!

That's quite dishonest.

[NorrinRadd]

None of the those phrases are the one used by DeSantis, which was "monkey this up", not just "monkey".

Phrases such as "brass monkey", "powder monkey" and "monkey wrench" not having racist connotations doesn't whitewash the racist connotations of other phrases such as "porch monkey" and "banana-eating jungle monkey".

Again, I defy you or anyone else defending DeSantis to cite any usage of "monkey this up" other than the DeSantis one.

So the one and only use of "monkey it up" Google can find is this lone occasion where DeSantis used it, where nothing about the context suggested race (except in the minds of people who are themselves obsessed with race), where the usage is much like a variation of "monkey around" or "muck it up."

The only reasons to claim it must be a racist dog whistle are dishonesty and depravity.

[Mountain Man]

So the one and only use of "monkey it up" Google can find is this lone occasion where DeSantis used it, where nothing about the context suggested race (except in the minds of people who are themselves obsessed with race), where the usage is much like a variation of "monkey around" or "muck it up."

The only reasons to claim it must be a racist dog whistle are dishonesty and depravity.

"I've never heard that term before, but I'm pretty sure it's racist!" says the racist.

[oxmixmudd]

So the one and only use of "monkey it up" Google can find is this lone occasion where DeSantis used it, where nothing about the context suggested race (except in the minds of people who are themselves obsessed with race), where the usage is much like a variation of "monkey around" or "muck it up."

The only reasons to claim it must be a racist dog whistle are dishonesty and depravity.

That simply isn't true NR. The way monkey is used by racists is exactly the sort of under the table substitution this could be. Change "muck this up" or "mess this up" to 'Monkey this up' and to the racist you immediately obtain the alternate meaning. which is, plainly and simply, this:

Don't MESS this up by letting a MONKEY be governor.

It's clever in a way, Monkey carries a relevant double meaning in this case, and so it carries that meaning to anyone that is familiar with how the term is used in a racist context, not naive about how the term is used by racists.

So what we get back to then is what Carpe tried to get to, is there a reason to believe this politician would be motivated to make that little substitution on purpose.

But nowhere does it mean the people offended by that are 'dishonest and/or depraved'. That is, in many ways, a sick conclusion. Racism is NOT dead in this country. As far as we've come, we still have a ways to go. And it is nothing less than ignorant to pretend there is something wrong with the people that took offense.

However, it would be very simple for DeSantis to defuse this.

"Wow, I am so sorry. I see how that could have been taken, and I give you my word it was simply a mistake. Please accept my apology and know I work hard to make sure my speech and life relflects not one element of the depravity that would have made it possible for such a phrase to imply I was meaning that my primary issue with Gillum was related to his race. Gillum is a worthy opponent but we disagree on issues of policy."

So why can't he just do that (at least as of this writing I see no indication he has)? Because either it's not true (he did mean it to carry a racist impllication), he's clueless as to the effect of racism over history (and there are plenty here in that camp, so a real possibility) or he simply isn't capable of being gracious just like the Conspiracy Theorist in Chief.

Which again brings into view just how a man like Trump in office degrades this country and lowers the bar of public discourse to the point of real shame.



Jim

[Roy]

"I've never heard that term before, but I'm pretty sure it's racist!" says the racist.

In this case the racist is saying that he's never heard the term before, but he still knows it is not racist.

[oxmixmudd]

"I've never heard that term before, but I'm pretty sure it's racist!" says the racist.

That is absurd. I suppose you would have been ok with my racist waiter referring to his customers of color as Monkeys? Or with the people in Mims Florida that vocally expressed their satisfaction with the black couple being unable to find a seat?

Are you so callous that knowing that is how racists use the term that you can't empathize with how persons growing up and the target of such terminology might hear exactly what was reported and be sickened by it?

Or are you the fellow that just doesn't care about what has been done to black people historically by white people? They should just get over it - right? Sure a few lynchings happened here or there a long time ago, but nothing like that happens today. Right?

Is that how you think MM?



Jim

[Cow Poke]

Has anybody been able to show any kind of racist pattern in this guy at ALL, besides this "monkey" comment?

[rogue06]

Has anybody been able to show any kind of racist pattern in this guy at ALL, besides this "monkey" comment?

Stop trying to be rational in a discussion fueled by emotions

[oxmixmudd]

Has anybody been able to show any kind of racist pattern in this guy at ALL, besides this "monkey" comment?

Right now the strongest evidence is that he can't mount any kind of reasonable apology. If he was trying to maintain the image he was not racist, then the way to do that is to show that he is shocked to learn that term could mean something he never intended, and to make sure he apologized for the mistake. Saying his words could not possibly carry a racist meaning when it was in fact taken to mean exactly that by likely at least 1/3* of the people voting in Florida simply doesn't fly.

By doubling down, he rather looks more and more like he has either an inappropriately ignorant understanding of the issue of racism in this country and has no intention of learning more (i.e. finding out why a large number of people could have heard what they heard in that comment), or he actually is racist and wants the statement to stand.

Jim

* 16% black the majority of which because of their own experiences with racism and that term would have heard it that way, at least that many non-blacks both Democrat and Republican that would have heard exactly what I heard, plus some percentage of racists encouraged by his use of the phrase.

[Cow Poke]

Right now the strongest evidence is that he can't mount any kind of reasonable apology.

Jim, somebody who is a racist at heart isn't going to have just one little comment that can be taken out of context. I'm a little surprised that you're so quick to condemn, with so little evidence to back it up.