# Freepers make racist attacks on Malia Obama for wearing a peace-sign t-shirt **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 14, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011 "2009-07-14T18:13:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/201 "2009-07-16T04:55:59Z")
**mswas** , I think we just have an honest difference in perception, let’s leave it at that. **Chess** , show your coworkers the comments in context with the picture an ask them if it’s racist. What about that picture do you think evokes the word, “ghetto,” other than race? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/202 "2009-07-16T05:08:25Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > **mswas** , I think we just have an honest difference in perception, let’s leave it at that. Fair enough. I am sorry I accused you of being dishonest before. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/203 "2009-07-16T06:17:56Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Are you serious? The implication of being knocked up again is that she is a slut or a whore. The assumption that a joke about girl getting pregnant has to imply “sluttiness” says more about your attitude than Letterman’s. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/204 "2009-07-16T06:23:24Z")
Please let this end. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/205 "2009-07-16T06:52:26Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > The assumption that a joke about girl getting pregnant has to imply “sluttiness” says more about your attitude than Letterman’s. Oh wow another one who doesn’t comprehend the joke too. Most people don’t get pregnant by a ballplayer during a 7th inning stretch, but YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/206 "2009-07-16T06:54:14Z")
In the end the equivocations are just about trying to justify why it’s ok to talk shit about Palin’s daughters and not Obamas. What makes it scandalous is which party their parents belong to and not that they are young girls. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/207 "2009-07-16T06:57:29Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > In the end the equivocations are just about trying to justify why it’s ok to talk shit about Palin’s daughters and not Obamas. What makes it scandalous is which party their parents belong to and not that they are young girls. :rolleyes: Right. And that’s why the insults about Bristol aren’t sexist. They aren’t being made because she’s a woman, they’re being made because she’s a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/208 "2009-07-16T07:00:38Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Right. And that’s why the insults about Bristol aren’t sexist. They aren’t being made because she’s a woman, they’re being made because she’s a Republican. lol and jokes about Malia Obama are not sexist because they aren’t being made because she’s a girl, they’re being made because she’s a Democrat? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/209 "2009-07-16T07:06:53Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > lol and jokes about Malia Obama are not sexist because they aren’t being made because she’s a girl, they’re being made because she’s a Democrat? Nah, those are being made 'cause she’s black. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/210 "2009-07-16T07:17:36Z")
In another thread **Equipoise** asked, based on my fondness for Malia (and Sasha), why I haven’t condemned the comments certain posters made on the Free Republic site. The answer is twofold: One, I have been kept quite busy in other threads the last couple of days; and two, I knew that I would post my curiosity as to whether such outrage would follow if similarly insulting comments were made about Sarah Palin’s kids, and that I would then become embroiled in yet another thread that would take up even more of my time. Being a compassionate conservative and all, I feel a certain obligation to hang around and answer all or at least as many posts directed to me as I can, and I just didn’t feel I had the time to devote to it. Of course the comments made are outrageous. I took extreme umbrage when it appeared that **Equipoise** was attributing the same attitude toward Malia coming from me. It was infuriating! Still, I feel compelled to point out (and I know nothing about the Free Republic and have never visited its site prior to tonight) that there are hateful crackpots at every point on the political scale, and I doubt very strongly that the insults aimed at the Obamas are representative of the site itself. I could be wrong and if they are, then the site would certainly be deserving of all the scorn and hate being aimed at it. And I also can’t help but feel that if equivalent insults had been made toward Palin(and in one sense they have when Letterman referred to Palin’s “slutty stewardess” look - when’s the last time you heard any established entertainer or public figure call _any_ woman a slut in the last thirty years? It seems the sexist gloves are off when it comes to Republican women.) and her children, the same posters who are so outraged now would be laughing and verbally high-fiving each other over them. This based on comments I’ve seen around here about Palin and her children in the wake of the Letterman controversy. So while I think the comments in the OP are infuriating, I also think a lot of the outrage is parisan and manufactured, and that similar comments would be welcomed if the oxes being gored were the children of someone in the other party. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/211 "2009-07-16T07:27:27Z")
If it wasn’t for that one Letterman monologue, you guys really wouldn’t have jack shit, would you? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/212 "2009-07-16T07:29:31Z")
No, the response to it around here is where the asshole gold was to be found. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/213 "2009-07-16T12:44:56Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Most people don’t get pregnant by a ballplayer during a 7th inning stretch, but YMMV. That’s because they’re not trying hard enough. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/214 "2009-07-16T13:46:10Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There is no equivalence here. You can’t compare a joke about an adult, politically active, unwed, abstinence preaching mother getting pregnant again with calling an 11 year old black girl “ghetto trash” for wearing a peace symbol. You can, however, compare calling a fourteen-year-old a “whore” based on the political affiliations of her mother. That happened right here on this message board - no need to go scouring around other blogs at all. And yet nobody seems to be starting threads of outrage about it. Regards, Shodan PS - As if it will make any difference, [cite](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11238275&postcount=280). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/215 "2009-07-16T14:09:44Z")
That was **Vinyl Turnip**. Have you not read any of his posts before? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/216 "2009-07-16T14:25:34Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You can, however, compare calling a fourteen-year-old a “whore” based on the political affiliations of her mother. That happened right here on this message board - no need to go scouring around other blogs at all. > > And yet nobody seems to be starting threads of outrage about it. > > Regards, > Shodan > > PS - As if it will make any difference, [cite](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11238275&postcount=280). This is, I think, a valid point. While most parents would not condone a daughter in her late teens having intimate relations with her boyfriend, and in consequence conceiving a child out of wedlock, nonetheless a parent who loves his/her daughter would stand by the daughter – and relations with one boy do not equate to promiscuity. I’m not sure who and when this gimmick of picking on the faults of children of political figures began – the earliest I know of was FDR’s grown children, then a long gap to whispered rumors about Reagan’s son – it’s reprehensible, no matter the political leanings of the candidate or the age of the child. There IS a certain point at which the comments of the adult can be called hypocritical – if, for example, a candidate takes a public stance against something he or she, or his or her family member with his or her condoning the behavior, does in private and the fact comes out publicly. But that should (generally) not be held against the child. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/217 "2009-07-16T14:33:00Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > You can, however, compare calling a fourteen-year-old a “whore” based on the political affiliations of her mother. That happened right here on this message board - no need to go scouring around other blogs at all. One person made a joke in which the intent was to be _sarcastic_. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/218 "2009-07-16T14:52:57Z")
So I spent a bit of time poking around on Free Republic. Not a lot of time because I can only take so much of that kind of stupidity. And I realized that it felt familiar. It was like reading 4chan, if it was restricted to just one viewpoint. Free Republic is just like 4chan: it’s outlet for one of the lowest form of web denizen. The kind of person who just want to spout bullshit and hatred and not have to defend any of it, a place where similar people can spout similar hatred and bullshit together. The only real difference is that 4chan is an unrestricted site, and Free Republic is similar bullshit and hatred only. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/219 "2009-07-16T15:42:02Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > One person made a joke in which the intent was to be _sarcastic_. I don’t even know why we put up with **Vinyl Turnip** , anyway. All he ever does are drive-by snarky one-liners, which I suppose passes for wit amongst the dirty fucking hippies he hangs out with. Oh, and occassional bursts of flowery prose, like a community college English major, or something. And partisan. Very, very partisan. Oh, and bad puns. Atrociously bad! Three indictments pending and one before the court in The Hague. And telepathic plagiarism! Can’t tell you how many times I came here to say something, only to find that he had stolen my line _before I even posted it!_ A _nogoodnik_. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/220 "2009-07-16T15:50:10Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Not a single person mentioned race. Your earlier argument was dumb, but this is getting dire. Think carefully: might there be another reason your coworkers were hesitant to mention race in response to your question? What do you think your “poll” proves? I don’t expect an answer to the question about what was ghetto about the photo either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011.md?page=12)