Would calling Obama illiterate have been better?

One big problem here is that we are arguing from the specific. You say you're not racist. Someone else says that they mean nothing more by "articulate" than well-spoken. I will grant you both that on a personal basis. However, racism in this country is so marbled through all our cultural and social -- and, yes, political -- institutions and it is so marbled in such a way to advantage white people. ("Race," of course, strictly speaking, being a cultural and not a scientific construct.) Language is different because it has been made to be different here. Now, if any parent actually told their kid that, your answer would be that, no, you have to listen to me because that's the only way everybody here learns. And the civil-rights movement was not specifically about saving the souls of white people, or even specifically about "equal rights." It was about calling the great bluff in the Declaration of Independence.

 

but again, my issue becomes racism is a white on black thing only. it's not. it works every which way but loose.

yes, parents have told me that, and children that. and it's only reinforced at home, so there's little I can do to help the child see that, yes, in fact, you should respect authority, no matter the color of that persons skin.

I understand the purpose of the movement. I just think that some people will never evolve from their thinkings (on any side) and therefore, it will always be an issue. Much like class envy, etc. But when I'm the one who has to suffer in silence, because my opinion is "wrong" isn't a fair thing either.

 

I'm not saying they're full of shit JR. Jesus Christ on a moped, would you quit bunging up? I said no one, not a black person, not Oriental, not anyone, can claim they know what I meant. Articulate is a code word? Only for people who speak that fucking language.

When I say articulate, I mean articulate. And for you or anyone else to assume you know what I meant is sheer idiocy. I'm definitely a liberal but this is stupid shit, whether the people quoted in the story are "articulate" or not.

 

"Articulate" is a perfectly good word.
It's also code.
This is the problem in America.

 

Alley, you're missing the point.

What you meant or claim to have meant is irrelevant to what we're talking about.

It's how the word is decoded by the listener. And surprise, they see a completely different meaning.

It's got nothing to do with you or me. That's the point.

 

Is there a non-code word which would have made Biden look like less of a doofus?

 

There is no word in the language that would make Biden look like less of a doofus.

 

Articulate is a fucking compliment.

 

And my point is, it's not my fault a perfectly legit and nonoffensive word has been turned into code and "evil" by others. I am going to continue to use that term because it's not perjorative, despite what a particular swath of people might think, and I'm certainly not going to be quiet when and if anyone says "What you're really saying is..." Get bent. I know exactly what I'm saying.

 

PopeDirk hit it on the head.

Obama is articulate compared to anyone. So I'm fine with articulate.

Colin Powell, on the other hand, is an average speaker. Articulate used to describe him, well, I can see where Chris Rock is coming from.

 

"Plagiarist." That implies intent and not dooficity.

 

“Historically, it was meant to signal the exceptional Negro,” Mr. Dyson said. “The implication is that most black people do not have the capacity to engage in articulate speech, when white people are automatically assumed to be articulate.”

and

And such distinctions discount as inarticulate historically black patterns of speech. “Al Sharpton is incredibly articulate,” said Tricia Rose, professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. “But because he speaks with a cadence and style that is firmly rooted in black rhetorical tradition you will rarely hear white people refer to him as articulate.”

and

But here is a pointer. Do not use it as the primary attribute of note for a black person if you would not use it for a similarly talented, skilled or eloquent white person. Do not make it an outsized distinction for Brown University’s president, Ruth Simmons, if you would not for the University of Michigan’s president, Mary Sue Coleman. Do not make it the sole basis for your praise of the actor Forest Whitaker if it would never cross your mind to utter it about the expressive Peter O’Toole.

Anyone here heard of semiotics?