Is Shaq a racist? or just naive?
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 11,336
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From: seattle
After reading a bit more on Shaq's responses I'm ready to state exactly how I feel. Forget "Shaq-Fu"
I say: Fu#k Shaq.
Here's a little bit from an editorial in Sunday's Seattle Times. The article is by Steve Kelly.
Quote:
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Shaquille O'Neal can't get away with this. He can't shrug it off with his typically impish, "Gee, I was only kidding."
A radio show recently aired audio of a television interview in which O'Neal made comments about Yao Ming, Houston Rockets rookie center, that were every bit as racist and stupid and ignorant as anything ever uttered by Trent Lott or John Rocker.
Talking about Yao, something Shaq often does with derision, O'Neal said, "Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.' "
O'Neal thinks he's a 21st century Renaissance man. He isn't. He's tried to be a rap star. He isn't. He's tried to be a movie star. He isn't. He's tried to be a comedian. He's not funny.
This week, Shaq thought he was apologizing. He wasn't.
Instead he mocked a columnist for AsianWeek, who had the audacity to criticize O'Neal for those remarks.
"I said it jokingly," O'Neal said, his apology sounding suspiciously Lott-like, "so this guy was just trying to stir something up that's not there. He's just somebody who doesn't have a sense of humor, like I do."
But this wasn't funny. This was racist and O'Neal was implying, as Lott did, that if the audience isn't laughing at him, it's because they lack a sense of humor. He's saying, "Mocking Chinese people is funny. Don't you get it?"
His comments are toxic and he doesn't realize it. Yao, a bright young man and a rising star, has heard similar comments in practically every arena in the league.
The first time I saw Yao in Portland, a group of fans in back of me was yelling the same kinds of things at him. People around those fans were laughing. They didn't get it either.
"I mean if I was the first one to do it and the only one to do it, I could see what they're talking about," O'Neal said.
That makes it OK? It's as if O'Neal is saying that anybody who was offended by his remarks either is too sensitive, too shrill, or too stiff. He's blaming the listener for his ignorance.
According to Shaq Daddy, it isn't racist if he wasn't the first to say it, and since he's not the only one, then what's the big deal? Hey, he wasn't trying to be original, so why all the fuss?
This is another example, like Rocker's three years ago, where the apology is every bit as offensive as the original remark. O'Neal is excusing every racist remark ever made by anybody to any group, because it's been said before.
"If I offended anybody, I apologize," O'Neal said.
In other words, if you're that weak that you can't take a joke, then, well, O'Neal feels sorry for you.
End quote.
I say: Fu#k Shaq.
Here's a little bit from an editorial in Sunday's Seattle Times. The article is by Steve Kelly.
Quote:
E-mail this article
Print this article
Search web archive
Shaquille O'Neal can't get away with this. He can't shrug it off with his typically impish, "Gee, I was only kidding."
A radio show recently aired audio of a television interview in which O'Neal made comments about Yao Ming, Houston Rockets rookie center, that were every bit as racist and stupid and ignorant as anything ever uttered by Trent Lott or John Rocker.
Talking about Yao, something Shaq often does with derision, O'Neal said, "Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.' "
O'Neal thinks he's a 21st century Renaissance man. He isn't. He's tried to be a rap star. He isn't. He's tried to be a movie star. He isn't. He's tried to be a comedian. He's not funny.
This week, Shaq thought he was apologizing. He wasn't.
Instead he mocked a columnist for AsianWeek, who had the audacity to criticize O'Neal for those remarks.
"I said it jokingly," O'Neal said, his apology sounding suspiciously Lott-like, "so this guy was just trying to stir something up that's not there. He's just somebody who doesn't have a sense of humor, like I do."
But this wasn't funny. This was racist and O'Neal was implying, as Lott did, that if the audience isn't laughing at him, it's because they lack a sense of humor. He's saying, "Mocking Chinese people is funny. Don't you get it?"
His comments are toxic and he doesn't realize it. Yao, a bright young man and a rising star, has heard similar comments in practically every arena in the league.
The first time I saw Yao in Portland, a group of fans in back of me was yelling the same kinds of things at him. People around those fans were laughing. They didn't get it either.
"I mean if I was the first one to do it and the only one to do it, I could see what they're talking about," O'Neal said.
That makes it OK? It's as if O'Neal is saying that anybody who was offended by his remarks either is too sensitive, too shrill, or too stiff. He's blaming the listener for his ignorance.
According to Shaq Daddy, it isn't racist if he wasn't the first to say it, and since he's not the only one, then what's the big deal? Hey, he wasn't trying to be original, so why all the fuss?
This is another example, like Rocker's three years ago, where the apology is every bit as offensive as the original remark. O'Neal is excusing every racist remark ever made by anybody to any group, because it's been said before.
"If I offended anybody, I apologize," O'Neal said.
In other words, if you're that weak that you can't take a joke, then, well, O'Neal feels sorry for you.
End quote.
Community Organizer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 11,336
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From: seattle
I feel you, BlkMagic. It makes me mad as well. I think that traditional cultural values have contributed to this "silent suffering" for a long time. I guess it's about time we started to assert ourselves in this society.
Gotta start someplace!
p.s. I'm curious to see if someone here will defend Shaq's moronic "defense" That would be amusing.
Gotta start someplace!
p.s. I'm curious to see if someone here will defend Shaq's moronic "defense" That would be amusing.
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,319
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From: La Mirada
I didn't mean "wack science" as in bad science, I meant it as using science to justify bad human behavior is wack. Listing all kinds of hate and racism, that doesn't do anything for the situation we have here with Shaq. Shaq talked some shit he wasn't supposed to, but he talked shit that a gang of poeple have done, and in time has created more and more pain in the Asian American community.
What he did was wrong. I don't 'hate' racism, it's not an emotional issue, it's a right and wrong issue. What he did was wrong, and he needs to be punished for it, as did others who spoke ill of minorities in sports.
I understand at the whole "look at yourself in the mirror first" deal, but we're not talking about Koreans or Chinese or Mandarins or Cantos or whatever, we're talking about Shaq, and his racism. Ethnic self segregation exists, so what, that has nothing to do with this. Yeah, everybody's a racist, but shit man, if you're a guy as powerful as a guy like Shaq, you shouldn't be saying "ching-chong dingaling kakadoodoo" and whatever taunting another player.
It doesn't help to justify his behavior, what he did was wrong, we can all agree in it, and take some money away from him, suspend him from a few games, and there, problem gone, for this instance.
What he did was wrong. I don't 'hate' racism, it's not an emotional issue, it's a right and wrong issue. What he did was wrong, and he needs to be punished for it, as did others who spoke ill of minorities in sports.
I understand at the whole "look at yourself in the mirror first" deal, but we're not talking about Koreans or Chinese or Mandarins or Cantos or whatever, we're talking about Shaq, and his racism. Ethnic self segregation exists, so what, that has nothing to do with this. Yeah, everybody's a racist, but shit man, if you're a guy as powerful as a guy like Shaq, you shouldn't be saying "ching-chong dingaling kakadoodoo" and whatever taunting another player.
It doesn't help to justify his behavior, what he did was wrong, we can all agree in it, and take some money away from him, suspend him from a few games, and there, problem gone, for this instance.
Community Organizer
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 11,336
Likes: 218
From: seattle
I kind of see your logic. I did not mock Shaq in the same way that he mocked Yao, however.
i didn't use "black" stereotypes to mock Shaq, did I? This gif (which I did not create, by the way) uses ASIAN stereotypes to mock Shaq. There is a difference.
Are we in agreement that Shaq's comments were racist then?
i didn't use "black" stereotypes to mock Shaq, did I? This gif (which I did not create, by the way) uses ASIAN stereotypes to mock Shaq. There is a difference.
Are we in agreement that Shaq's comments were racist then?
