When Someone Makes Racist Freudian Slips?

[Satchmo Distel]

What policy should be adopted in these cases? I think* she's made a racist Freudian slip at a moment of great stress. I agree she has to be fired (imagine being a viewer hearing that sentence) but I also feel some empathy, though perhaps more than I'd feel if she were a Fox anchor rather than an MSNBC one.

https://heavy.com/news/2020/01/allis...e-racial-slur/

https://www.thewrap.com/kobe-bryant-...alison-morris/

Fire her but don't vilify her for life.

*Caveat: It's possible also that she really did say "Nakers" as she claims, but I played the clip to two people as a blind test and they clearly heard it as the N-word.

[EIM]

I heard Nakers

[ad hoc]

I heard Nakers too. And I can't hear anything else honestly

[3 Colours Red]

Again, I heard Nakers.

Freudian slips are tricky to deal with - there's clearly no real intent to say what you've said but they do speak about what thought processes are racing through your mind at that moment. If she did have the N-word floating around in there... why?

[Simon G]

Definitely Nakers to me as well.

[EIM]

Obviously they should still fire her AND vilify her because this is the internet in 2020, but she's done absolutely nothing wrong there.

[Jah Womble]

She's explained what happened - why should she be fired? It's far more believable than what is being suggested elsewhere.

[EIM]

She's explained what happened - why should she be fired? It's far more believable than what is being suggested elsewhere.

Because, and I think this is really important, rather than tackle real racism which can be difficult and uncomfortable, we can make grand gestures like this which shows we care about the issue without having to understand it.

[Jah Womble]

Indeed. The media's propensity for ill-conceived public displays like that for purposes of self-exoneration knows no bounds.

[Satchmo Distel]

On reflection, yes, it's Nakers and firing her would be ridiculous.

TMZ leaking the news before his family had been informed is clearly a far more sackable offence but I suspect won't be dealt with that way.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/26/media...ant/index.html

[3 Colours Red]

TMZ are utter scumbags and revel in that fact.

[Tactical Genius]

Wow.
I mean wow.

However after the Danny Baker thread I shouldn't be surprised.
And I am not.

[EIM]

Wow.
I mean wow.

However after the Danny Baker thread I shouldn't be surprised.
And I am not.

About what?

[WOM]

Oh, no, you're not being serious are you?

[To TG, not EIM]

[Incandenza]

I definitely heard "the word"

[WOM]

Nakers for me, just like her perfectly plausible explanation. Far more plausible than 'perfectly cast for the Los Angeles N*ggers'.

[Satchmo Distel]

TG, you seem to take all such cases as literally displaying racist intent. No nuance or verbal slippage is allowed. I understand that I would react differently if I were black, for understandable reasons, but feel my reaction would be an emotional one not considering the speaker's explanations fairly.

WOM, I think you need more asterisks in that word.

[EIM]

I've listened again. I still hear Nakers. I can't even strain to hear the n word. It's possible I guess, but I just can't hear it.

I thought Danny Baker was a fucking idiot and his reaction to the whole thing spoke more about him than the original "gaffe". Not that it's relevant to this conversation.

[EIM]

"WOM, I think you need more asterisks in that word."

Why? Genuine question.

[Satchmo Distel]

Purely a personal preference, but I think in some parts of the US, it would be considered as needing more camouflage. Certainly as a teacher, I would avoid showing that many letters when quoting it, unless it were a really old source and I were teaching about an earlier period.

I don't pretend that any of this can be decided objectively.

[WOM]

TG, you seem to take all such cases as literally displaying racist intent. No nuance or verbal slippage is allowed.

Ya think?

I understand that I would react differently if I were black...

No, I think most black people can be objective. But it goes beyond that; the reference to the Danny Baker thread means he thinks we're all blind / deaf / racist white people cuz we don't hear 'it'.

[WOM]

Purely a personal preference, but I think in some parts of the US, it would be considered as needing more camouflage. Certainly as a teacher, I would avoid showing that many letters when quoting it, unless it were a really old source and I were teaching about an earlier period.

Right, but it's not Wheel of Fortune. You don't want people stopped dead trying to decipher what the word is. Now that we're on it, it's a bit of a bizarre practice to begin with. Like lowering your voice to quote when someone said something nasty, as if volume had something to do with it. But sure, I'll add more asterisks in the future.

[Tactical Genius]

Oh, no, you're not being serious are you?

[To TG, not EIM]

I am 100% serious.

At first I thought the posts were some kind of ironic pisstake of the presenter and her piss poor excuse.
Then it dawned on me you are all serious.

All I can say is that you are all entitled to your opinion.

These so-called gaffs are quite common. Do a youtube search for Martin Luther Coon when you get a spare moment.

[Tactical Genius]

TG, you seem to take all such cases as literally displaying racist intent. No nuance or verbal slippage is allowed. I understand that I would react differently if I were black, for understandable reasons, but feel my reaction would be an emotional one not considering the speaker's explanations fairly.

WOM, I think you need more asterisks in that word.

That's an unfair statement (especially the bolded bit). I look at these statements on a case by case basis and I can clearly see what you are alluding to here.

But as I said above, you are entitled to your opinion and i am of mine.

WOM, I don't think more asterisks are necessary, unless it is to get past company webfilters.

[WOM]

These so-called gaffs are quite common. Do a youtube search for Martin Luther Coon when you get a spare moment.

It's funny that you mentioned that, because I was going to as well. You know that they did a semi-scientific experiment after that last fiasco and asked, like, 100 people to read "Martin Luther King Junior Day" and an absurd number said Martin Luther Coon. King Junior is something the brain smashes together because when you read aloud, you read ahead and sometimes your brain stumbles. But I suspect you're not going to believe that.