Update on Terry Frei of the Denver Post and tweet about Japanese Indy 500 winner

I think you've hit on one of the other subtleties at play here. If Terry had said something like, "I don't like that the Russians won that Olympic medal, because their anti-doping system is a joke," that would be okay, because his reasoning would be a sporting one. Here, he admitted that he didn't like that a Japanese driver won the race BECAUSE OF WORLD WAR II. His resentment had nothing to do with the sport in question or how the race was won.

 

Eh. Wouldn't cling too hard to the "I'm not a racist, I'm a bigot!" argument.

 

I think Frei would admit - and actually has admitted - that his post was ill-advised and evidenced an emotional rather than a reasoned reaction.

To the extent that he was fired because it was deemed racist, though, he's going to defend it.

Does anyone here think the Tweet was justified, even accepting Frei's explanation? I don't think so. It seems, then, that the debate threads are:

1) Was it racist? (Most people don't think it was, I don't think, or at least not necessarily so.)
2) Does it even matter if it was racist or just simply nationalist? (Closer call that spawns a bunch of sub-debate threads.)

 

I would. I think "racist" is very much a difference in kind here that has enormous consequences for someone's reputation.

 

So were you called racist and I missed it?

 

I'm not sure what you're getting at there. But I'm saying I understand why Frei feels compelled to defend himself against that particular accusation.

There was a recent thread here where I noted that World Series ratings in Chicago were tamped down by the number of poor blacks who live in Chicago, and @Songbird made several posts needling me for thinking that dem darkies can't understand the baseball.

 

It IS semantics. "Racist" has come to denote more things that it reasonably should, but everyone understands what is meant. I'd liken it to the misuse of "ironic." If you're arguing that a guy who roots against someone strictly because they're Japanese and German people isn't a racist, well, you're splitting useless hairs.

 

Disagree. Strongly.

 

They think Arrieta's having a great season.

 

They actually won't start paying attention to baseball until tomorrow, when the NBA Draft is over.

 

This guy is gonna get a new job at the same time that you win this argument. Which is never.

 

The argument that "everyone understands that" "racist" doesn't actually mean "racist"?

Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable with my position in that one.