# 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:** 12
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/221 "2009-07-16T15:53:45Z")
Call it common decency, but it seems to me that the children of public figures, especially the ones we elect, ought to simply be out of bounds. No, you can’t rip Bristol for having a child out of wedlock, no, you can’t do the same to Malia for wearing a t-shirt. Once that child reaches the age of majority, he or she is fair game, until then, no. See, we’ve managed to drag this thread out for three pages based on comments we know, we KNOW were tasteless, wrong and unncessary. Sure, it was a joke. Sure, free speech and all that, but just because we can, doesn’t always mean we SHOULD. Granted, Letterman wasn’t racist and bugfuck crazy, but his comments were, none the less, tasteless and unecessarily mean. The freepers OTOH are obviously hovering in the vicinity of bugfuck and deserve no attention from thinking people other than to tie a proverbial bell around their necks so we can always hear them coming. ---
**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, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/222 "2009-07-16T15:58:15Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > One person made a joke in which the intent was to be _sarcastic_. So it’s okay if it’s a joke. Good to know. Oh, I know perfectly well he doesn’t mean a word of it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/223 "2009-07-16T15:58:29Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > The freepers OTOH are obviously hovering in the vicinity of bugfuck and deserve no attention from thinking people other than to tie a proverbial bell around their necks so we can always hear them coming. This is a good idea, actually. The trail of slobber and foam helps us to TRACK them, but doesn’t do all that much to warn beforehand. ---
**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, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/224 "2009-07-16T15:59:58Z")
> [@](#): > > No, you can’t rip Bristol for having a child out of wedlock No one did, but we can rip her mother for letting it happen while advocating policies which forbid education about birth control, and we can rip Bristol (as an adult), for becoming an activist for the same policy that got her pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/225 "2009-07-16T16:04:19Z")
> [@buttonjockey308](#): > > Call it common decency, but it seems to me that the children of public figures, especially the ones we elect, ought to simply be out of bounds. No, you can’t rip Bristol for having a child out of wedlock, no, you can’t do the same to Malia for wearing a t-shirt. I generally agree with this. However, to me, it doesn’t apply to the most recent round of Bristol comments. See, Bristol chose to use her status as the child of a public figure to become a public figure herself. Therefore, she’s in bounds. I’m not going to argue whether the actual comment was tasteful or not (I don’t think it was), the fact is that she has now, voluntarily and by her own actions, opened herself up to commentary including (perhaps especially) commentary regarding the out of wedlock 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, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/226 "2009-07-16T16:05:37Z")
Is there a lefty equivalent of Free Republic? I often hear Bill O’Reilly bitching about Kos and DU as “hate sites,” and reviling them as the “most vicious sites on the internet,” but I’ve never actually read much of those sites. I think I’ve clicked one or two links to Kos, I don’t remember ever even going to Democratic Underground, and I’ve never waded into the comment sections on those sites? Are they comparable? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/227 "2009-07-16T16:16:17Z")
Democratic Underground is closer to Freep than DKos. During the presidential primaries last year I was checking out both of them daily, but DU eventually lost me because of its intense echo chamber qualities…I’m liberal but I’m not completely wacky burn-the-republicans far wingnut leftist. Daily Kos is a bit more deliberative, and abusive comments (death wishes or threats on ANYONE, including Republicans, for example) are dealt with by hide-rating and eventually banning. I’VE actually been seriously warned (as in “Do this again and you will be banned”)over there (for a one-time trespass…I snarkily changed the tags on what I saw as a homophobic diary) and I’m a fairly middle-of-the-road liberal. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/228 "2009-07-16T16:18:35Z")
Not comparable, at least at Daily Kos. From time to time there are forays by individuals into froth-spewing, but respectable swaths of the regulars will smack the frothers down for it. The sort of naked vitriolic filth spewed by the Freepers isn’t tolerated. It’s a strongly partisan site, yes, and strongly opposed to the rightwing, but I have never seen at Daily Kos the kind of widely accepted and uncensured disgusting crap that is the norm at Free Republic. ETA: What **jayjay** said. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/229 "2009-07-16T16:40:20Z")
Besides which, Markos provides SOME degree of site discipline. Wingnut conspiracy theories are verboten…he WILL instaban you if you post a Truther diary. Trutherism, Birtherism, etc can be DISCUSSED as phenomena, in passing, but you cannot write a diary advocating those positions. Debunking, yes. Advocating, no. There have been quite a few anti-Birther diaries (not the least of which are the recent ones criticizing the reservist who only volunteered in order to sue (represented by Her Birtherness herself, Orly Taitz) on the basis of “forcing” Obama to prove his citizenship). ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/230 "2009-07-16T16:52:38Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > 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. You are wrong. Extremely, extremely wrong. For godsakes, these people think ANN COULTER is sexy! I’d say DU is similiar to the Freeps. Right after 9-11, there was a thread that actually suggested Bush was behind it all, and it was getting pretty long. **jayjay** Truther? Birther? Da’hell? (A Birther, I would imagine, is “Obama was born in Kenya!”) But what the hell is a Truther? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/231 "2009-07-16T16:57:46Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I’d say DU is similiar to the Freeps. Right after 9-11, there was a thread that actually suggested Bush was behind it all, and it was getting pretty long. > **jayjay** Truther? Birther? Da’hell? (A Birther, I would imagine, is “Obama was born in Kenya!”) But what the hell is a Truther? You defined it yourself without knowing…a Truther is a 9/11 “Bush Did It!” conspiracy theorist. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/232 "2009-07-16T17:05:07Z")
> [@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 Heh, well, you seem to be fairly outraged, yet you couldn’t be arsed to start a thread on it, so why should anyone else? ---
**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, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/233 "2009-07-16T17:07:26Z")
> [@](#): > > …a Truther is a 9/11 “Bush Did It!” conspiracy theorist. Well, of course not! If GeeDub had planned it, the planes would have crashed together in midair, 100 miles out to sea. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/234 "2009-07-16T17:18:48Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > You defined it yourself without knowing…a Truther is a 9/11 “Bush Did It!” conspiracy theorist. Huh. Figures. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/235 "2009-07-16T17:50:20Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Umm, well there is the fact that Malia Obama is not low-class, unkempt, dirty, poor, or uneducated > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Well, if polled, I probably wouldn’t bring up the black thing because it would look kind of racist. But people do use it in that context. Besides, why would anyone refer to Obama and his family as ghetto in the unkempt way? Really? Do I have to do the thinking for you all? Do you not understand how insulting jokes work? There’s no rule that say you have to make truthful claims, or ones backed up by objective evidence. The purpose is to be hurtful and scornful, not to make a well thought out argument. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What about that picture do you think evokes the word, “ghetto,” other than race? The way they’re dressed, obviously. [snaps fingers] Pay attention now…stay with me here. I’ll say it slowly for you so you understand. It doesn’t have to be true to be insulting. > [@Marley23](#): > > might there be another reason your coworkers were hesitant to mention race in response to your question? What do you think your “poll” proves? Not when I mention explicitly that it’s about the photo in question, and asked if ghetto is a racist term and what it means to call someone “ghetto”. Thus, the responses of ‘low class’, ‘impoverished’, etc. Our resident black guy, Brian, had trouble grasping how that could be considered racist. He said he’s seen a lot of racism in his life, but the term “ghetto trash” doesn’t really rank anywhere. “I guess it could be said _by_ a racist,” he says, “but the term itself isn’t really insulting [to blacks particularly].” I find it strange that when you hear the word “ghetto”, you think of black people. Is it that you think all black people live in ghettos or that ghettos contain only black people? If you didn’t like the example of the Jewish/immigrant ghetto comments, how about a Latino? Have you ever heard of a Latino ghetto, in say, Los Angeles or San Diego? ---
**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, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/236 "2009-07-16T18:00:34Z")
Let’s pretend that the girl in the picture was lily-white, with blonde hair and blue eyes, but dressed identically. Do you think anyone would have referred to her as “ghetto” then? No? Yeah. _That’s_ why it’s racist. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/237 "2009-07-16T18:16:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > lily-white, with blonde hair and blue eyes, but dressed identically. Do you think anyone would have referred to her as “ghetto” then? > > No? YES!! YES THEY WOULD!! I grew up with a woman down the street that let her house fall into the worst shape of any in the neighborhood. Her windows were covered in plastic, weeds overgrew the sidewalk, she was always strung out on god-knows-what, and had the police over her house all the time, breaking up some fight or another. She was as white as I am. You know what the neighborhood called her? Ghetto street trash. This just in: My Korean (by birth) boss weighs in on the subject. She grew up in a ghetto- a real American success story of the pulled-up-by-bootstraps variety. She went to a high school that drew from two very different social strata. The rich kids referred to the poor kids (all of them, including the whites) as, you guessed it, ghetto street trash. I showed her the comment where the poster says ghetto=nigger. She said “Wow. That person is…misguided.” Are you _now_ willing to acknowledge that ghetto != black? ---
**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, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/238 "2009-07-16T18:20:24Z")
Wow. Rock solid anectdotal evidence. Gotcha ya,\*\* RNATB\*\*. ---
**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, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/239 "2009-07-16T18:25:57Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > This just in: My Korean (by birth) boss weighs in on the subject. She grew up in a ghetto- a real American success story of the pulled-up-by-bootstraps variety. She went to a high school that drew from two very different social strata. The rich kids referred to the poor kids (all of them, including the whites) as, you guessed it, ghetto street trash. _sigh_ Malia Obama is _one of the rich kids_ (or at least she will be by the time Dad gets done with the post-Presidency lecture tour circuit). ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011/240 "2009-07-16T18:26:05Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Wow. Rock solid anectdotal evidence. Gotcha ya,\*\* RNATB\*\*. Unlike your scientific, rigorously controlled peer-reviewed data that ghetto=black? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freepers-make-racist-attacks-on-malia-obama-for-wearing-a-peace-sign-t-shirt/503011.md?page=13)