I?m Backing Obama

[Bob Singleton]

warren zevon rip wrote:

> Bob Singleton wrote:
>
>
> > It's important that mistakes made by "the media", such as
> > calling Obama a black man, are not further perpetrated in
> > forums such as these.
>
> Is it? Is it really? Does the fate of US race relations and the
> American presidency really hang on the BGAFD O/T forum?
>


You missed the point completely, but then I'm not too surprised.

Just because something (in this case Obama being labeled black) is reported in the media doesn't make it so, and it's up to us all, as individuals or as groups, to try and put things right.

[Sam Slater]

It's nothing to do with political ideologies. Dictionaries have words for things that are both real or not real.

Take the following example:

God -noun 1. the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe.

Quoting the dictionary about the word 'race' doesn't make it real. It just means theres a common word people use -or used to use- to describe something (real or not).

Dictionaries log words, not facts, and so though the word 'race's' meaning is described when used in language, it doesn't make the meaning correct, factually speaking.

This was all I was pointing out.

[Sam Slater]

I remember, re: 1000 posts rule.

Didn't Arch Stanton do the same?

[Sam Slater]

And I wasn't saying the word is not used in the context you used it. I also never said you couldn't use it in the context you did. I just questioned the accuracy of using such a word, in such a context, considering recent advances and discoveries in genetics.

I'd agree with #1, but not #2.

[Officer Dibble]

?I thought Obama was mixed-raced, not black... or did you mean black as in "not 100% white"?...

It's important that mistakes made by "the media", such as calling Obama a black man, are not further perpetrated in forums such as these.?

I?m fully aware of Obama?s mixed race parentage. But in the public consciousness he?s black. He looks ?black? and most of his immediate family looks ?black?. He?s considered to be ?black? by almost all and sundry from the Clintons through Diane Abbot to Guardian columnists and contributors. People like these ?















Isn?t this just a bit of pedantic hair splitting, or is there some more pressing reason that we shouldn?t consider Obama to be ?black??




Officer Dibble







Officius Dibblus est amplus amor deus

[Bob Singleton]

Officer Dibble wrote:


I?m fully aware of Obama?s mixed race parentage. But in the public onsciousness he?s black. He looks ?black? and most of his immediate family looks ?black?. He?s considered to be ?black? by almost all and sundry from the Clintons through Diane Abbot to Guardian columnists and contributors. People like these

[SNIP]



His mother is white, his father is black, and while his skin is darker than mine, that does NOT make him black, anymore than it makes him white. Yet if I were to call him white there'd probably be an outcry, whilst most people seem to happily accept the black label.

The fact Dianne Abbott thinks he is black cuts no ice with me... she's been wrong about most things! Your posting links to media stories where he is categorised as black just proves my point that it's about time we stopped accepting what the media tell us to think.

Barack Obama is neither black nor white... he's mixed race and that's how he should be considered by all. If he becomes President, he'll be the first MIXED RACE one, NOT the first black one!