US darling Ronald Reagan called black people "monkeys"

As usual, SC is off the rails here, but also as usual, he's gone too extreme on a legitimate gripe.
If the media running this story is more bothersome to you than the comments made, you should really stop and think about why that is and how you can adjust your attitude.  
Reagan, and the cult of personality that grew around him, influenced the entire direction of this country for a generation.  My entire life has been one big experiment in Reaganomics, the drug war, econo-militaristic foreign belligerence, and conformist nationalism.
So the media, once again, can't possibly win.
If they run it, the curmudgeons on one side say they are stirring the pot, if they don't run it, the whipper-snappers on the other side say they are whitewashing history.

Personally, I side more with the whipper-snappers, but that's because I've read the People's History lol

mrussel1 said:

rgambs said:

As usual, SC is off the rails here, but also as usual, he's gone too extreme on a legitimate gripe.
If the media running this story is more bothersome to you than the comments made, you should really stop and think about why that is and how you can adjust your attitude.  
Reagan, and the cult of personality that grew around him, influenced the entire direction of this country for a generation.  My entire life has been one big experiment in Reaganomics, the drug war, econo-militaristic foreign belligerence, and conformist nationalism.
So the media, once again, can't possibly win.
If they run it, the curmudgeons on one side say they are stirring the pot, if they don't run it, the whipper-snappers on the other side say they are whitewashing history.

Personally, I side more with the whipper-snappers, but that's because I've read the People's History lol

I personally am ambivalent as to whether this is news worthy or not. In fact,  I think it should be printed,  certainly not avoided.  At the same time,  considering Reagan's history,  the fact that he kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia,  MS, and the contemporaneous language,  no one should be surprised either.  LBJ's racial language was notorious and the subject of speculation for years.  If something came out that JFK, FDR, Ike,  any of them used language like Reagan, I would similarly be unsurprised. 

Would the media print it if that language was used by JFK or FDR?  

mrussel1 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mrussel1 said:

PJ_Soul said:

mrussel1 said:

mcgruff10 said:

Comment is made in 1971; I am trying to understand why this is a story.  

Im pretty most of our parents made a disparaging remark in 71, regardless of the country of origin. 

Um, a LOT of people in 1971 actually did not call black people monkeys. I can't believe you think that "most" people said stuff like that at that time. I guarantee you that my parents would NEVER use that language when talking about black people, and have never use any kind of racist slurs... And my parents are actually kind of racist! Even some racist people would think that was unacceptable in 1971 FFS.

I said disparaging,  not monkey.  So you say your parents were a little racist.  Doesn't that support my point? The word my parents tended to use was "ethnic", which was ironic since my dad was born in the Ukraine. 

You never heard the term ethnic used for people of color?  When I hear the term ethnic I'm not thinking Ukraine that's for sure.

What im saying is that the word was used to describe people different than us.  For example..'be careful when you go over to Prospect Avenue.. it's very "ethnic' over there."  The irony is that my dad was more ethnic than the Puerto Ricans that lived there.

Interesting.  It has to be a regional thing maybe?  The way you just described it is exactly how I've heard the term used in NY.

I guess it's like calling hillbillies "rural"?

Your parents using the term that way isn't disparaging to me.  

Fail to see how this is newsworthy.  You would be hard-pressed to find people from Reagan's era that did not say something racist at some point.  They still do today.  

mrussel1 said:

mcgruff10 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mrussel1 said:

PJ_Soul said:

mrussel1 said:

mcgruff10 said:

Comment is made in 1971; I am trying to understand why this is a story.  

Im pretty most of our parents made a disparaging remark in 71, regardless of the country of origin. 

Um, a LOT of people in 1971 actually did not call black people monkeys. I can't believe you think that "most" people said stuff like that at that time. I guarantee you that my parents would NEVER use that language when talking about black people, and have never use any kind of racist slurs... And my parents are actually kind of racist! Even some racist people would think that was unacceptable in 1971 FFS.

I said disparaging,  not monkey.  So you say your parents were a little racist.  Doesn't that support my point? The word my parents tended to use was "ethnic", which was ironic since my dad was born in the Ukraine. 

You never heard the term ethnic used for people of color?  When I hear the term ethnic I'm not thinking Ukraine that's for sure.

In central new jersey ethnic was never used as a negative term.  There were "ethnic neighborhoods", "ethnic food", etc.  When I think ethnic I think of eastern europe  or caribbean for some reason.  (maybe because my grandmother was lithuanian?)

Yes it was used that way too. But there was a subtle context available as well which was not overtly racist,  but implied "different".

Absolutely but not negative in anyway.

mrussel1 said:

mcgruff10 said:

mrussel1 said:

mcgruff10 said:

tempo_n_groove said:

mrussel1 said:

PJ_Soul said:

mrussel1 said:

mcgruff10 said:

Comment is made in 1971; I am trying to understand why this is a story.  

Im pretty most of our parents made a disparaging remark in 71, regardless of the country of origin. 

Um, a LOT of people in 1971 actually did not call black people monkeys. I can't believe you think that "most" people said stuff like that at that time. I guarantee you that my parents would NEVER use that language when talking about black people, and have never use any kind of racist slurs... And my parents are actually kind of racist! Even some racist people would think that was unacceptable in 1971 FFS.

I said disparaging,  not monkey.  So you say your parents were a little racist.  Doesn't that support my point? The word my parents tended to use was "ethnic", which was ironic since my dad was born in the Ukraine. 

You never heard the term ethnic used for people of color?  When I hear the term ethnic I'm not thinking Ukraine that's for sure.

In central new jersey ethnic was never used as a negative term.  There were "ethnic neighborhoods", "ethnic food", etc.  When I think ethnic I think of eastern europe  or caribbean for some reason.  (maybe because my grandmother was lithuanian?)

Yes it was used that way too. But there was a subtle context available as well which was not overtly racist,  but implied "different".

Absolutely but not negative in anyway.

For my mom,  it meant a little scary...

Yeah I could see that.  A little different but scary.  Like I remember my grandfather calling a church "ethnic" one time, I think it was eastern orthodox.  

mrussel1 said:

josevolution said:

Ethnic = Boom 

Boom?

Just messing here trying out some comedy relief Boom Gaspar lol 

Meltdown99 said:

Fail to see how this is newsworthy.  You would be hard-pressed to find people from Reagan's era that did not say something racist at some point.  They still do today.  

So were they supposed to suppress this newly found information?  How would that be any better?