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First off, I don't know what the hell that Bachmann woman is talking about. Waving a tar baby in the air? That doesn't even mean anything.
But regarding the first one, yes, it's all a big conspiracy, saying stupid things like "tar baby" in order to slip a racist comment into the newspaper that nobody could possibly notice but us. We almost got away with it too, until softblueyz foiled our evil plans.
There are some folks who are too stupid to understand the language. There is nothing wrong with the term tar baby. There are those who are looking for dog whisle code words everywhere.
I would guess, you would plead ignorance of the meaning of the phrase, "calling a spade, a spade" also.
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
-Sigmund Freud
The use of many of these expressions has connections to racism but may used innocently as well.
Since this is the case, shouldn't the burden of proof that the use of these terms is anything but innocent be on the accuser?
If not, we are going to end up with a very long list of "whites only" forbidden words.
As for "tar baby", Br'er Fox constructs tar baby from tar and turpentine hoping to trick Br'er Rabbit into touching the tar baby. Once initial contact is made (a punch), the situation can only become worse as Br'er Rabbit becomes more and more attached to the sticky tar from which tar baby is constructed.
It's an object lesson intended to teach children that their temper and lack of self-control can be their own worst enemy.
There is far more involved in this story than a simple "sticky situation" as some of our more ignorant posters have suggested.
Bachmann's charge that Obama is waiving a tar baby in the air casts him in the role of Br'er Fox, a known trickster, but the people throwing the race card would never know this.
Count on the LSM to not mention the story and go right for the sleazy headline.
The use of many of these expressions has connections to racism but may used innocently as well.
Since this is the case, shouldn't the burden of proof that the use of these terms is anything but innocent be on the accuser?
If not, we are going to end up with a very long list of "whites only" forbidden words.
As for "tar baby", Br'er Fox constructs tar baby from tar and turpentine hoping to trick Br'er Rabbit into touching the tar baby. Once initial contact is made (a punch), the situation can only become worse as Br'er Rabbit becomes more and more attached to the sticky tar from which tar baby is constructed.
It's an object lesson intended to teach children that their temper and lack of self-control can be their own worst enemy.
There is far more involved in this story than a simple "sticky situation" as some of our more ignorant posters have suggested.
Bachmann's charge that Obama is waiving a tar baby in the air casts him in the role of Br'er Fox, a known trickster, but the people throwing the race card would never know this.
Count on the LSM to not mention the story and go right for the sleazy headline.
[quote=softblueyz;23971683]Just about as dishonest as someone claiming it was a reference to a "sticky situation". Or Santorum discussing "blaa people".
Because they are a minority (of republicans?), doesn't excuse them from making statements that are or can be construed as racist.
A liberal can construe anything to be racist. This is especially true now that we have a president of color with an indefensible record of consistent failure. Obviously you are unfamiliar with the story from which the "tar baby" character comes. Therefore you have no clue as to the actual charge being made (Obama is a type of Br'er Fox).
Racism is about POWER. The very fact that Barack Obama is in the President of the United States is a threat if you believe that social, economic and poltical power in the United States is based on White dominance.
That's why you see the attacks like this against him.
Was it racist when John Kerry used the term a couple of years ago?
Alright. Lemme school you youngun's on something and maybe you'll understand.
The term "tar baby" comes from a series of books by the fictitious author "Uncle Remus." The stories are about southern blacks and are basically a retelling of African folk tales. The first was published in 1881, and among the tales told is a story about Bre'r Rabbit and Bre'r Fox (Bre'r being a shortened version of the southern term "Brother." It has church connotations.)
Bre'r Fox is always trying to catch Bre'r Rabbit, but Rabbit is too crafty and quick for him. So, Fox makes a "tar baby" to trick Rabbit. It's in the form of a baby and made of sticky tar. (I won't go into how it worked and how Rabbit got away), but the significant fact about the story in relation to today is that in that book, it was originally called a "N----r Tar Baby." It was still rendered that way even when I was a kid because I had the book and remember it well.
You see, the use of the "N word" used to be far more common than it is today. None of we whites really stopped to consider the offensiveness of it until the Civil Rights movement came along and directed our attention to our moral failings as a race. Consequently, at some point, the word n----r was removed from the Uncle Remus story and the sticky trap just called a "tar baby."
But, the term still retains it's offensive quality because of it's previous name.
Get it now? I don't know how old the politician is who used the term which is the subject of this thread, but if he's at least as old as I am (62), he knew very well what he was doing. If he's younger, like many of y'all, he may be excused because he didn't know any more about the history of the term than you do.
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