Racist anti-Romney joke gets editor fired.

[monovillage]

David Chalian, the Yahoo News Washington Bureau chief, has been fired after getting caught claiming that “they” — Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans — “are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”

The implication: that Republicans’ decision to continue with their convention despite the hurricane hitting New Orleans means they don’t care about black people.

Chalian’s words were first caught by the conservative media criticism site Newsbusters. Yahoo! has released a statement apologizing for the comment and announcing that Chalian had been terminated.

It's a good thing that newsbusters spotted this egregious attack on Romney by the Yahoo editor and pushed for action.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs.../29/yahoo-editor-fired-over-anti-romney-joke/

 

[Blackjack200]

Hell yeah, party! Fuck all those poor people drowning, that's not the GOP base anyway.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I don't see how the joke is in any way racist (in what sense do you think it is?), though it was a stupid comment to make in public. It's not clear from that video, but it doesn't appear this joke was intended for the air, so it doesn't seem to me like something that would warrant firing him.

 

[OrByte]

wow...first the 2016 movie and now this?

Yahoo is really stepping in it bigtime these days over their politics...

better clean up its act fast.

 

[woodie1]

I could've sworn I heard about the possibility of a hurricane hitting the Louisiana coast for the last several days. If you stay there that is on you not the GOP.

 

[monovillage]

Hell yeah, party! Fuck all those poor people drowning, that's not the GOP base anyway.

Just think, if you were actually intelligent and had a real job you might get fired for making such a stupid, racist comment yourself.

 

[chucky2]

Damn hurricanes that just sneak up on people who poof! happened to end up right in its path. Everyone in America should do absolutely nothing but pray/cry while these people suffer. That includes those so worked up they're using electronic devices to write about it, rather than bawling in the street...

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Just think, if you were actually intelligent and had a real job you might get fired for making such a stupid, racist comment yourself.

In what sense is that comment racist? For a person with such a hair trigger about "racism," your quality control in detecting it is pretty questionable.

 

[monovillage]

Read it yourself.

David Chalian, the Yahoo News Washington Bureau chief, has been fired after getting caught claiming that “they” — Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans — “are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Read it yourself.

The joke was implicitly (and jokingly) accusing Romney of racism, or at least of being disinterested in black people. That doesn't make the joke itself racist. It was made by a white man, about another white man. It is in no sense racist.

I can only conclude that you suffer from delusions of racial persecution despite being a white male, and thus view all references to race as somehow racist. I am a white man but have friends and family members of color, and find your attitude really strange.

 

[monovillage]

Of course, a joke where a media editor makes a claim that the Republican presidential nominee partied while black people are drowning isn't racist? What a liar you are.

 

[Matt1970]

No reports of any drowning, so he is lying for one, and why would only black people be drowning?

 

[Atomic Playboy]

There's a difference between a joke being racist and a joke accusing someone else of being racist. In this case, the joke is implying that Republicans are racists who are happy when black people are suffering. That claim is not, in and of itself, a racist claim. If the joke were targeting Romney and company for their whiteness, then sure, that's racism, but it isn't; it's targeting their party affiliation. The joke isn't racist unless you contend that Republican is a race (why would it be... we already have "white." ZING!).

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Of course, a joke where a media editor makes a claim that the Republican presidential nominee partied while black people are drowning isn't racist? What a liar you are.

This is not a racist joke. It is a joke saying essentially the same thing that jackass Kanye West (who is black) said about President Bush in the wake of Hurricane Katrina: "George Bush (or, here, Mitt Romney) does not care about black people."

Again, the premise of the joke is that Romney is racist (or at least unsympathetic to black people). That doesn't make the joke itself racist. What group is it racist against? What individual? Are you saying its racist because it makes fun of a white person (which it does), even though the man telling it was white? Are you saying it's racist because it refers to black people (which it does), even though it doesn't paint them in a negative light and is entirely sympathetic toward them?

To put this in terms that will probably appeal more to you, a joke about Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton being racists against white people would not, without more, be racist either.

You are, I'm sure, feigning outrage about David Chalian's joke, and not seriously stupid enough to believe that the joke is racist. If I'm wrong, God help you, because you must walk around in a perpetual state of outrage and confusion.

 

[QuantumPion]

Obama didn't interrupt his campaign and fundraising schedule. And he is the CURRENT PRESIDENT, not some private individual running for future office. Yet Romney gets blamed for not caring about hurricane victims?

 

[chucky2]

If a "joke" involves race, wouldn't it by definition be racist? How could one frame a "joke" to include race, but not have the joke be racist?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good racist joke as much as the next person, but, framing this like it's not racist is stretching it a little too far.

“they” — Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans — “are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”

If he'd said that with no mention of race, black in this case, I'd completely agree with you that it's not racial. But he did. To me, that makes it a racial joke. How can a racial joke not be racist?

 

[monovillage]

If a Republican talks about welfare, he's a racist.
If a Republican talks about food stamps, he's a racist.
If a Republican talks about immigration, he's a racist.
If a Republican talks about the President's anger, he's a racist.

But if a Yahoo editor says that Republicans and Romney party while black people drown, it's not racist.
Like I said, What a liar you are.

 

[DaveSimmons]

This is not a racist joke. It is a joke saying essentially the same thing that jackass Kanye West (who is black) said about President Bush in the wake of Hurricane Katrina: "George Bush (or, here, Mitt Romney) does not care about black people."

Right, it was a joke about Romney being a racist, not a "racist joke."

I have no idea how accurate the jab is. Mormons did finally stop saying that blacks were "cursed" and inferior in 1978, so he might see them as fully human.

While unprofessional and deserving of a reprimand, I don't find this jab shocking enough to be an "egregious attack."

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

If a "joke" involves race, wouldn't it by definition be racist? How could one frame a "joke" to include race, but not have the joke be racist?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good racist joke as much as the next person, but, framing this like it's not racist is stretching it a little too far.

“they” — Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans — “are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”

If he'd said that with no mention of race, black in this case, I'd completely agree with you that it's not racial. But he did. To me, that makes it a racial joke. How can a racial joke not be racist?

A racist joke is one that makes fun of or criticizes a group of people based on their race. This joke is making fun of one person, based on his perceived insensitivity to black people. That is not racist. The fact that someone mentions race doesn't make them a racist, and the fact that a joke includes a reference to black people doesn't make it a racist joke unless it is a joke at their expense, because they're black - this is anything but that.

Again, how exactly is this a racist joke? You people just amaze me with your opacity.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

If a "joke" involves race, wouldn't it by definition be racist? How could one frame a "joke" to include race, but not have the joke be racist?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good racist joke as much as the next person, but, framing this like it's not racist is stretching it a little too far.

“they” — Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans — “are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”

If he'd said that with no mention of race, black in this case, I'd completely agree with you that it's not racial. But he did. To me, that makes it a racial joke. How can a racial joke not be racist?

Replace race with something else. "Republicans are happy to have a party with women drowning." Is that joke sexist, or is it simply saying that Republicans are sexist? "Republicans are happy to have a party with gays drowning." Is that joke homophobic or is it merely saying that Republicans are homophobic? Do you see how there is a difference between the two?

 

[cybrsage]

No reports of any drowning, so he is lying for one, and why would only black people be drowning?

Black people are notorious for being unable to swim. Of my boot camp class, we had about 2/5 of the recruits being unable to swim and all of them were black. Of those who could not swim, 3 of them were unable to learn how and had to be discharged (the Navy feels swimming is important).

I suspect it is due to the lack of places to actually swim in inner cities...not due to a genetic issue.

 

[cybrsage]

A racist joke is one that makes fun of or criticizes a group of people based on their race. This joke is making fun of one person, based on his perceived insensitivity to black people. That is not racist. The fact that someone mentions race doesn't make them a racist, and the fact that a joke includes a reference to black people doesn't make it a racist joke unless it is a joke at their expense, because they're black - this is anything but that.

Again, how exactly is this a racist joke? You people just amaze me with your opacity.

Are you seriously thinking the entire GOP is not implied in the joke? While I agree it is not a racist joke, I also do not think it was actually a joke at all. I think he was saying his honest, horrifically wrong and terribly biased beliefs and is calling those he disagrees with politically racists - following the DNC lead of calling the GOP racists and sexists.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

If a Republican talks about welfare, he's a racist.
If a Republican talks about food stamps, he's a racist.
If a Republican talks about immigration, he's a racist.
If a Republican talks about the President's anger, he's a racist.

But if a Yahoo editor says that Republicans and Romney party while black people drown, it's not racist.
Like I said, What a liar you are.

So are you saying all the other things you mentioned are racist? I don't think they are, without more. The fact that one side is making spurious claims of racism doesn't mean that we should cheapen that term to mean any reference to race whatsoever.

You are clearly a race-obsessed person. That is an unfortunate way to live even if you're a person of color, but when you're white it's just pathetic. Nobody is out to get you because you're white. Grow up.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Are you seriously thinking the entire GOP is not implied in the joke? While I agree it is not a racist joke, I also do not think it was actually a joke at all. I think he was saying his honest, horrifically wrong and terribly biased beliefs.

Let's say it is read to refer to the entire GOP. That still doesn't make the joke racist, because the GOP is not a body consisting solely of one race. (Indeed, there are many black Republicans, and one of them was, at least for a while, a contender for the Presidential nomination this year.) Saying that the entire GOP is unsympathetic with black people is not a racist sentiment - it's a sentiment that the GOP is itself racist.

For my part, I certainly don't think it's fair to paint an entire party with that broad a brush, nor do I think it was in any way an insensitive act to conduct the RNC with Isaac looming.

I thought it was pretty clearly a joke, and it drew a laugh from other people present. I take that to mean that Chalian was probably smiling and laughing when he said it (though as far as I know there is no video of that).

 

[monovillage]

So are you saying all the other things you mentioned are racist? I don't think they are, without more. The fact that one side is making spurious claims of racism doesn't mean that we should cheapen that term to mean any reference to race whatsoever.

You are clearly a race-obsessed person. That is an unfortunate way to live even if you're a person of color, but when you're white it's just pathetic. Nobody is out to get you because you're white. Grow up.

You're the one that's a pathetic liar. Trying to deny what is so obviously a racist joke. I hope you do a better job with your clients, but I doubt it.