Color Stupid

[CARLHAYDEN]

Lewis Diuguid of the Kansas City Star recently asserted that the term "socialist" is a "code word for black."

Funny, I always thought the color term was "red."

It seems that anything not complimentary said about Obama is deemed "racist,"

I guess that's easier than dealing with facts.

[MODU]

Don't you know?  Anything that is a criticism is a code word for racism.

[Adam Griffin]

Baffling.

[Alcon]

Any link to his article?  Seems dumb on surface, but I'd at least like to read the argument first.

[Sam Spade]

http://voices.kansascity.com/node/2493

[CARLHAYDEN]

http://voices.kansascity.com/node/2493

Thanks Sam,

Was about to post it myself.

[Alcon]

Yep, dumb.

Thanks.

[cinyc]

Don't you know?  Anything that is a criticism is a code word for racism.

Welcome to the future under the Obama administration.

[angus]

Funny, I always thought the color term was "red."

when you and I were growing up, red meant communist.  (not always socialist, though.  pink usually referred to socialist.)

Nowadays, every chick in my class has PINK written across her ass.  The guys know what I"m talking about.  Especially in the summertime.  What is it with all the PINK stuff?  I suspect it must mean something, but I am always a bit afraid to ask, lest they notice that I'm noticing their asses. 

And nowadays, apparently red means republican.  I can name four book titles off the top of my head with the word red somewhere in it, and it is understood that red is code for Bush Country.  And I don't have enough digits on my hands and feet combined to count the number of times, daily, that I read the word red, understood to mean either Republican, traditionalist, "conservative," Bush supporter, or McCain supporter. 

So, pink and red, which when we were young meant, respectively, socialist and communist, now apparently have something to do with, respectively, the buttocks of college girls and Republicans.

[War on Want]

Don't you know?  Anything that is a criticism is a code word for racism.

Welcome to the future under the Obama administration.

lol

[MR maverick]

Hate to say it but If McCain wins it will  be because the other candidate was black.

Thats how history will view it because like I have already said McCain has lost on the merits.

His only hope is race, and its kinda sad to see McCain go down this road because i really don't think he's racist. McCain just wants to win and if its by racist votes then so be it.   Theres a give and take then selling yourself to the devil.

[angus]

I will say that the author at least gives a nice historical context.

There are too many problems to put it concisely, so putting aside prose and the usual niceties of posting, I'll just do it CarlHayden style, replete with enumerated concise points:

1)  Few of us are libertarian or socialists, but somewhere in between.  Most American politicans borrow a bit from the socialists and a bit from the libertarians, and come up with their amalgam that they think best fits the current needs--or "crises" if you prefer the mass media terms--and Obama and McCain aren't any different.

2)  Sure income redistribution is a socialistic idea, but it's silly to call every politican from Lionel Jospin to Barack Obama to Viktor Yushchenko, and every one in between, a socialist just for borrowng a few intelligent socialist ideas.

3)  Blacks are generally more leftist, economically, than whites.  This is true not only in the United States, but also in other countries, such as South Africa and Brazil, where the descendants of Europeans co-exist with the descendants of Africans.  In most cases, the ancestors of these descendants were put in awkward positions of subservience/dominance, often with legal restrictions of economic development (anti-literacy rules and so on), so it's not surprising that these descendents are often opposed economically.

4)  Socialism is probably not a code for black.  It's probably code for exotic and anti-capitalist, and therefore unAmerican.  Just as fascist is code for unAmerican.  Although since one is more often associated with leftist unAmerican and the other with rightist unAmerican, different demographics have, naturally, picked up on the terms.

5)  McCain is probably not a racist.

6)  Obama is probably not a racist.

7)  The Kansas City Star is a rag.  The editorial pages of the Kansas City Star have always pushed a progressive agenda.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  I just think it's important to be truthful.  Its owner is the McClatchy company, headquartered in Sacramento, with a mission of "community service" according to its website.  It's subsidiaries always endorse Democrats, and always work to destroy the reputations of Republicans.  For example KCStar has endorse Obama.  (I, too, have endorsed Obama) but consider its endorsement:

A stronger economy

Obama is best suited to lead the drive to reinvigorate the economy, repair gaps in financial regulations, make tax policies more equitable and provide help for Americans in need.

A safer world

Obama realizes the need to shift more military resources from Iraq to Afghanistan, home of the 9/11 terrorists. He is also committed to closing dangerous gaps in homeland security.

A healthier America

Obama believes access to health care is a right. He would make coverage more affordable to more citizens and stop insurers from penalizing people for getting sick.

A new energy outlook

Obama wants to boost renewable energy and encourage more efficient vehicles, buildings and appliances. He doesn’t back excessive offshore oil drilling or a rush to build nuclear plants.

U.S. leadership abroad

An Obama presidency offers hope for the U.S. to rebuild frayed alliances and gain respect in places like Germany (seen in photo). VP nominee Joe Biden brings strong foreign policy credentials.

A safeguard for liberties

Obama wants judges who won’t favor the strong at the expense of the weak. He offers hope for a Supreme Court that would reject excessive executive power and protect precious freedoms.


Given its position, and that of its affiliated newspapers, and the fact that it has a market on the border of a hotly contested state (one that Obama won in the primaries but one that usually Republicans win) and another state that is staunchly Republican which may add to its frustrations, it should come as no surprise the newspaper features an article which attempts to link McCain's camp with racial bigotry, even though it is unwarranted.  About as unwarranted as those stories which attempt to link Obama with terrorism or Islam, in fact.

8http://)  None of this is new or surprising.  It's just the way we play politics in this country:  mislead, and try to cover your candidate's weaknesses by fabricating or exaggerating weaknesses in another.

[platypeanArchcow]

Funny, I always thought the color term was "red."

when you and I were growing up, red meant communist.  (not always socialist, though.  pink usually referred to socialist.)

Nowadays, every chick in my class has PINK written across her ass.  The guys know what I"m talking about.  Especially in the summertime.  What is it with all the PINK stuff?  I suspect it must mean something, but I am always a bit afraid to ask, lest they notice that I'm noticing their asses. 

And nowadays, apparently red means republican.  I can name four book titles off the top of my head with the word red somewhere in it, and it is understood that red is code for Bush Country.  And I don't have enough digits on my hands and feet combined to count the number of times, daily, that I read the word red, understood to mean either Republican, traditionalist, "conservative," Bush supporter, or McCain supporter. 

So, pink and red, which when we were young meant, respectively, socialist and communist, now apparently have something to do with, respectively, the buttocks of college girls and Republicans.

I've been under the impression that it's meant to draw attention to their asses with the mismatch of the written color "PINK" and the background color, which in the version I've seen is blue.  There's some name in psychophysics for this effect, where people take longer to parse color words that are written in the "wrong" color.

[TomC]

Don't you know?  Anything that is a criticism is a code word for racism.

Welcome to the future under the Obama administration.

Obama's said he's making Diuguid Press Secretary?

[angus]

Funny, I always thought the color term was "red."

when you and I were growing up, red meant communist.  (not always socialist, though.  pink usually referred to socialist.)

Nowadays, every chick in my class has PINK written across her ass.  The guys know what I"m talking about.  Especially in the summertime.  What is it with all the PINK stuff?  I suspect it must mean something, but I am always a bit afraid to ask, lest they notice that I'm noticing their asses. 

And nowadays, apparently red means republican.  I can name four book titles off the top of my head with the word red somewhere in it, and it is understood that red is code for Bush Country.  And I don't have enough digits on my hands and feet combined to count the number of times, daily, that I read the word red, understood to mean either Republican, traditionalist, "conservative," Bush supporter, or McCain supporter. 

So, pink and red, which when we were young meant, respectively, socialist and communist, now apparently have something to do with, respectively, the buttocks of college girls and Republicans.

I've been under the impression that it's meant to draw attention to their asses with the mismatch of the written color "PINK" and the background color, which in the version I've seen is blue.  There's some name in psychophysics for this effect, where people take longer to parse color words that are written in the "wrong" color.

I kind of thought that for a while, but I've noticed it in a much broader context.  For example, about eight blocks from my house is a shopping mall with a Victoria's Secret store.  You may be familiar with the chain:  most of the items are either women's undergarmets (panties & brassieres), lingerie, or pajamas, with a few trinkets like earrings and necklaces tossed about for good measure.  And a hideous but somehow stylish hat or two (often a beret) hanging on a partially assembled mannequin.  But lately (as in, for about six months or so by now) they have been full of PINK items.  This pink must be the same brand, or the same message, because it's written in the same Numbers-on-NFL-Jerseys-style font.  P I N K.  Sort of like that, but with more serifs.  And the letters are sometimes in pink, but, as you point out, often in some other color, such as blue, red, brown, grey, or even checquered like the table cloth in italian restaurants or even in plaid.  I think it must have some deeper sociological significance.  But maybe I'm reading way too much into the whole thing.  I really could just ask someone, but I think it's more fun to wonder about it.  Is it a reference to the end of prudish feminism?  A sexual overtone?  A big ole pink hole meant to be explored?  A breast cancer awareness, perhaps?  Or neo-nazism disguized so well that no one except the clinically insane would even think of neo-nazism?  Or maybe it's just the psychological effect to which you refer, apparently successful as it has made me wonder about its significance to the point even of writing about it.

I just don't know what this particular four-letter word means, other than the denotation of a particularly relaxing color, probably the only color we saw during the nine months we were developing as foeti, and therefore probably the most familiar color of them all.  One thing's for sure, its scrawl across the daisy duke-cut sweats on young women gets noticed.

[cinyc]

Don't you know?  Anything that is a criticism is a code word for racism.

Welcome to the future under the Obama administration.

Obama's said he's making Diuguid Press Secretary?

This is not the first time Obama, his surrogates or a MSM ally has cried "racism" at the first hint of criticism.

[Brittain33]

This is not the first time Obama, his surrogates or a MSM ally has cried "racism" at the first hint of criticism.

The world is full of lots of people who say stupid things. So what? Take them one by one. Believe me, Obama and his campaign have had to err on the side of silence far more often than they've been able to address issues like this. It's like Jackie Robinson, who had to keep his mouth shut and take it while crowds tried to goad him into a reaction.

[angus]

Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon.
Going to the candidate's debate.
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Every way you look at this you lose.

Some think it's about Mrs. Roosevelt.  Of course, she was a female- and black-rights activist, always helping everyone but herself during the Great Depression, and often seemed to have been running the country as much as FDR, but never would have actually won the presidency because she was female.

Others just associate it with the film, The Graduate.  After all, Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence" and "Scarborough Fair" were also used in The Graduate, but they had appeared on earlier albums.  But this simon and Garfunkel song was not heard by anyone till the movie opened.

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio,
Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson.
Jolting Joe has left and gone away,
Hey hey hey.

This seems to have been a reference to long-gone heroes, or to a time left behind by the time the beatniks appeared.  Dimaggio was a bit miffed, according to newspaper accounts of the time, since he was still very much alive at the time of the song's release (although he retired from baseball in 1951).

I think it's a fine lyric.  And one appropriate to this thread.  Saving capitalism through socialism?  The way FDR did?  Or maybe like GWB is trying to do now?  Maybe we take a socialist idea or two, once in a while, but no, there are no socialists here.  No racists, fascists, communists, or nazis either.  At least no so many as you might think, if all you ever do is watch the talking heads and read the editorials in the newspapers.  No socialists.  Only Democrats and Republicans.  Calling each other names.  Like they always do.  Like little children.  Children are so impressionable, and so often confused.  That's why we must hide things from them sometimes.  I suppose we ought to hide things from the candidates as well.  That campaign bubble turns them into little children, by the time the campaign's over.

Hide in the hiding place where no one ever goes.
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes.
It's a little secret just the Robinsons' affair.
Most of all you've got to hide it from the kids.

And, no offense to the avowed (and apparently more-enlightened-than-the-rest-of-us) atheists,

Hey, here's to you, Mrs. Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know.
God bless you, please Mrs. Robinson.
Heaven holds a place for those who pray,
Hey, hey, hey

amen.