# Has a false accusation of racism ever caused significant harm to anyone in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 26, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-false-accusation-of-racism-ever-caused-significant-harm-to-anyone-in-the-us/684635 "2014-03-26T21:17:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-false-accusation-of-racism-ever-caused-significant-harm-to-anyone-in-the-us/684635/81 "2014-03-27T22:18:25Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > But if he wasn’t a racist and just said something that could have been interpreted that way, wouldn’t that qualify as a “false accusation of racism”? IIRC, it pretty much ended his career on MNF, so I’d call that a significant harm. It’s impossible to know what’s in his heart, so we can only go by what he said. He shouldn’t have called the guy a “little monkey” – he should have known better, and afterwards he should have apologized. In light of that, and in light of his continuing success as a sportscaster, I don’t think he qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-false-accusation-of-racism-ever-caused-significant-harm-to-anyone-in-the-us/684635/82 "2014-03-27T23:16:30Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I just disagree, partially because we seem to differ on some of the events that transpired. For instance, just there you wrote that Mr. Jacobowitz “spent thousands of dollars hiring a lawyer”, but that may not be an accurate statement. Do you have a cite for the assertion? I do, but it’s via a paid service – a copy of his complaint filed in the Court of Common Pleas, in which he identifies his damages. It’s true that in settling the lawsuit – years after the events – those fees were partially repaid. But surely you agree that having to part with thousands of dollars for a period exceeding a year is itself a significant consequence…yes? > [@](#): > > But there’s lots of stuff that I wouldn’t want to have happen to me because it would be unpleasant but that doesn’t rise to a level any reasonable person would call “significant harm”, and I have yet to see anything in Mr. Jacobowitz case that seems to rise that level. > > FWIW, I agree completely with the characterizations of the other two situations you mentioned. I’ll keep this in mind for our future discussions. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-false-accusation-of-racism-ever-caused-significant-harm-to-anyone-in-the-us/684635/83 "2014-03-28T05:09:58Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I’m aware of that, but under given it produces an automatic mental association with it’s phonetic cousin nigger, it is probably a word I would avoid using on the record in a political discussion. I am also sure that Howard regretted using it as soon as he saw the reaction it induced in his audience. Second this. I am aware of the meaning of the word “niggardly” but I still would be very careful using the word: it’s not a common word and there’s as strong a likelihood of any audience associating it with nigger as the correct meaning. That’s not giving ground to ignorance, that’s just an acceptance of how spoken language works. I want to convey a meaning as clearly as possible. I need to be careful using words that have double-meanings or sound a lot like a much more well-known, rude, word. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-false-accusation-of-racism-ever-caused-significant-harm-to-anyone-in-the-us/684635.md?page=4)