Yeah, I bet members of the KKK (of which this guy is clearly a member) work “Martin Luther Coon” into every conversation they can. It’s their “That’s what she said”.
I understand you’re trying to add ‘nuance’, but basically, people will either get punished for what are very likely unintentional slips, and very unlikely to be proven otherwise, or they won’t. That’s the practical reality. History lessons and virtue signalling by calling yourself ‘privileged’ doesn’t really change that practical reality.
I find it amazing there would be any disputing, even looking for a little wiggle room, that firing this guy was ridiculous, which it obviously was.
Based on the evidence presented, and it stands to reason that if there was really anything else to it, that would have been made clear.
Go fuck yourself San Diego.
OK, let’s take this a little further. Let’s say all racists, or anyone who ever says anything that could be even remotely construed as racist, should immediately be terminated from their jobs.
What then would be the cost to society in additional unemployment compensation, food stamps, welfare payments, etc.?
Worst case scenario, let’s say he’s a secret racist who has used the term off-air. What are they worried he’s going to do, forecast the weather inaccurately for black neighborhoods?
Virtue signaling is not a real thing. It is a snarl word coined by conservatives in an attempt to circumvent having to prove that their position was moral and their opponent’s was immoral. That way, any time a liberal made an appeal to morality, they would simply call it virtue signaling.
There are actually a lot of such snarl words in conservative discourse. SJW and PC are common. All describe things that a moral person would inherently do, and thus serves as a way to attack them and avoid having to prove them wrong.
In this case, it is being used to ignore nuance. Nuance is important. It is important that we look at the situation from not only the position of the person who got fired, but also from those who wanted him fired. You cannot come to a proper conclusion if you just have the facts from the defense and not from the prosecution.
It is entirely true that racist people will use excuses like “I just stumbled over my words” to cover things up. It’s entirely possible that this guy’s excuse is a lie–that he is used to saying Marten Luther Coon like the KKK does, and slipped up on air.
Thing is, I still wind up on your side, despite acknowledging this. The clip is not definitive, and so the only evidence we can use is his past history. A slip-up is in this case a valid explanation, and a likely one. It makes more sense to simply count this as a demerit and let him stay on, but be watchful of any other signs of racism.
That is, of course, assuming there’s no past history that we’re not being told about. In that case, this could be the final straw.
That is a nuanced position, and it does not mean I’m “virtue signaling” to state it. I wouldn’t even be “virtue signaling” if I fell on the other side. It would just be an argument you disagreed with.
They’re worried people will boycott their station. There’s not enough information to say whether he’s never used the slur in his life, or if he slipped up and used his private name for the park in public.
I don’t find monetary arguments in situations like these to be useful. It is very often the case that the right thing costs more money, or the wrong thing could save money.
I also think you misunderstand. When I (and I presume others) say “zero tolerance,” I don’t mean “anyone who ever says anything that could be even remotely construed as racist should be immediately fired from their jobs.” I’m referring to just saying certain words that are known to be slurs, even on accident.
And when I say “saying even on accident,” I mean “uttering the phonemes in order that would construct a slur in a context where said meaning would fit, but another meaning would not.” It’s rather restrictive. Another example might be making the sounds of “fag” when talking about a gay person.
I do think we still have to consider legitimate tongue mishaps. But I can understand those who say "No. Maybe it was just a slip of the tongue, but if we allow the slip of the tongue, then we let the actual racists get away with it.
And, to answer Vinyl Turnip, if someone actually is a racist, then the harm is that they are normalizing racism. They just said something racist on national TV. They just black people know that they can still get away with being racist and there’s nothing they can do about it.
Things don’t ever stay steady. If you aren’t fighting racism, then it will creep back in. Stopping any sort of bigotry requires a level of eternal vigilance. Because human beings are all naturally bigoted bastards. It’s our tribalist nature.
Still don’t misinterpret this as me defending the guy’s firing. Absent other incidents, I think he should have just gotten a mark to watch him more closely in the future. He should have to publicly apologize on air, saying that, while he slipped on his words, he knows that such language is very hurtful, and that he’s genuinely sorry and would strive to never say anything like that again.
I do have to worry that overreaching creates a negative stereotype of liberals, making our fight against racism harder. I wonder how many people will bring this guy up any time someone makes a legitimate argument. We have to be extra careful of making a mistake when it comes to punishing racism, for the good of the cause.
Al Roker has offered Kappell his support.
I hope another tv station offers Kappell a job. He deserves another chance imho.
Did Grover on Sesame Street recently drop the F-Bomb
Oh, man, that’s going to be another “yanni”/“laurel” thing, ain’t it?
First few times I played it, I heard “fucking excellent idea.” Then I read what it was supposed to be, and it morphed into that. I have to distract myself now to hear my original interpretation.
There is a British government minister named Jeremy Hunt who has had his name mangled several times now by various reputable newspeople, and in one particular way. The inadvertant misplacement of a consonant was perhaps more understandable when he was Jeremy Hunt the Culture Secretary, but it also continued when he was Health Secretary. Here’s a video compilation [accidentally rendered NSFW by the misplaced consonant].
Afterwards, Kappell replied, “Thanks Al, I coon… COULDN’T have done it without you.” Turns out, this professional meteorologist can’t get a sentence out without saying the word coon or some other slur. Yes, yes, definitely a racist that deserves his reputation ruined.
You know, relative to everyone else, there’s a disturbing amount of profane anagrams in BigT’s posts.
I could easily see “King Junior” tangletongued into “koon…” in the same way that “Jeremy Hunt, Culture Secretary” became something rude, and as a one-off I would tend to give someone the benefit of the doubt. If the individual had a history of questionable statements and behaviour regarding race, then I’d be inclined to be more sceptical.
As for immediately doing it again, as the Jeremy Hunt example shows (with the slip being repeated even after he became Health Secretary), once you’ve slipped up the verboten word gets stuck in your head and slips out far more easily.
Focus, America! Focus! Eyes on the balls…uhhh ball.
Don’t sweat the small muff.
STUFF…stuff!
n/m. Link already in thread.
Unfortunately, I have. It was 30 years ago when I was a teenager by another teenager, but yeah, he was dropping numerous racist terms, not in an ironic way.
That might not be the best example of how innocent mistakes can happen. Let’s put it this way, Jeremy Hunt has… not been especially popular in either of those roles. It’s a pretty common nickname for the guy in some circles.