Oh. If I offended you, I'm really sorry.
So says Mr. Bobby Clampett, the Augusta golf announcer who referred to Wen-Chong Liang as "the chinaman" and then apologized with this:
"It has been a privilege to be here with you the last 2 days describing action of all of the players. In describing the Asian player Wen-Chong Liang if I offended anybody please accept my sincere apologies."
Um, Bobby. *IF* you offended anyone? You used a slur! Just apologize, tell me you were being a moron (because I've lived in Georgia and I know that some people down there don't yet know in 2008 that "the C word" is deeply offensive), and just say you're sorry without qualification. If I called your Momma a whore you wouldn't POSSIBLY be offended. You wouldn't MAYBE POTENTIALLY have a problem with me. You WOULD be offended! Just have the decency to apologize for real and sin no more.
I think I'm now more pissed off at his non-apology than I was at his original comment. And I continue to wonder how someone gets to 2008 without getting the memo on racial slurs...
UPDATE: I just read some of the comments on this on aol golf fanhouse. Oh my lord! They seriously don't think "chinaman" is offensive! The comments are all, "He's from China and he's a man, so he's a chinaman...just like there are Englishmen and Frenchmen." I'm stunned. Because it's really actually so very NOT the same, is it? Because then you'd say "Chinese Man" wouldn't you? Which *would* be like Frenchman and Englishman. I mean, yeah, a Jewish guy is technically at a certain age a Jewboy, but does that make it okay for you to call someone that? The N word is just a colloquial version of the word Negro which is Spanish for black, so what's the problem, right?
Argh.
2 comments:
Tears are streaming down my face. Good thing I finished my peanut butter sandwich or I would have a hell of a time cleaning my keyboard. You should be publishing these pieces or writing stand-up comedy. God girl, you're funny!
Alright, somehow I have made it to a ripe old age, and into 2008. While I do not think it would occur to me to call someone a "china-man" (or a frenchmen or englishmen for that matter) I do not see that it is NEARLY as offensive as the N word. Perhaps it is because I am not of Asian descent, but I am of Irish descent and don't take offense to the term "mick." Sometimes I think those who are younger that I are too sensitive.
G.
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