*Blatant attempt to stir the left wingers*

Refugee Refugee Refugee! Come get me for offending you, Jesse Jackson. What a joke. Three-fourths of the people who are displaced don't even know what refugee means. And seriously, do you think that anyone who is is honestly offended by this term? Is political refugee an oxymoron or is it simply the sole meaning. Or is refugee just another way for the man to hold us down.

I think of a refugee as someone looking to start a new life somewhere else after fleeing a horrible situation at home. I think most people would love to return to their homes in the devastated areas, so it's valid to call them temporarily displaced. I do believe there is some "political correctness" at play here though, which is lame.

saying that the word refugee is racist is completely retarded and ethnocentrist.

That's my point. It just triggers my gag reflex the way people sift through things until they can find something about the things that are offensive to them. They then blare this from every media accessible person and turn a no problem situation into a problem. Don't infer that I'm calling Katrina a no problem situation, either. Believe me, I'm living it. It's this piece of minute garbage that bothers me.

Jesse Jackson fights for what is right, in all the wrong ways. And quite possibly for all the wrong reasons. (Yeah, I think he's pretty self-serving.)

Did black people choose Jesse to be their "spokesperson" or did the media...or Jesse himself proclaim to be King Negro?

As my wife, brother-in-law and Cedric the Entertainer say-"Fuck Jesse."

Steve

Hey Mike, I know you never really wade too deep into the political discussions, but I can infer that by voting for Jindal, and a lot of other things you post, that you are probably a Republican. But what does that MEAN? Do you believe government has a responsibility to its people?

In situations like this who do you expect to respond? Do you think that Katrina should be a local, state or federal problem? or that all of this can be solved through The Red Cross and Churches?



I don't mean to call you out, but one thing that I WISH would happen because of all of this is a rational discussion amongst the citizens of this country about what they expect from all levels of their government, and how to implement that.

If you would rather not discuss this, i understand, or if you'd feel more comfortable, feel free to PM me.

Great article about him in the GQ issue with Tom Brady on it. It goes into this, and what Steve says about "King Negro"

I agree with Jesse Jackson. These people are not refugees. They're U.S. citizens.

The media began using the word, refugees, to make the story much more dramatic as if it wasn't already.

what the hell is going on here?

always??

Certainly not. but why is it okay to refer to Palestinians/tsunami victims/Sudanese as refugees, but when the term is applied to americans whose homes and lives were destroyed, it's racist? Isn't that inherently stating that we can't have refugees in this country, no matter why they're in that condition? I don't even know where racist is coming from, but I feel like calling the victims refugees is more of a slight on our government than anything else, which it probably should be.

I don't recall anyone saying that the word is racist. By definition, the term does not apply to the people of the Katrina disaster.

Main Entry: ref·u·gee
Pronunciation: "re-fyu-'jE
Function: noun
: an individual seeking refuge or asylum; especially : an individual who has left his or her native country and is unwilling or unable to return to it because of persecution or fear of persecution (as because of race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion)


Source: Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

refugee

n : an exile who flees for safety

Let me just say that 20 years ago, Jesse Jackson was the single most exciting political figure left of Reagan. Since his '84 speech, he's taken a bit of a turn toward the inciteful (rather than insightful), but shit...we have a cocaine addict in charge of the country, an oilman with a bum ticker as #2, a token as secretary of state and, until recently, a guy who lost an election to a dead man in charge of the country's interior security. Is the random Jesse Jackson outburst any weirder than the day-to-day actuality of what really goes on?

i use the strict literal interpretation in that they are seeking refuge, but I see your point.





oh, it's happening.

good band name.

And fuck him again. King Jesse holds no sway on my vocabulary. I was shocked to see how quickly the media switched off to the term "evacuees" after Jesse hopped on his bullshit podium. The only two talking heads I've seen so far who were willing to call bullshit were the normally avuncular Lou Dobbs and that bow-tie wearing, jock-sniffing right-winger Tucker Carlson.

Can't we just say "evacuees" and be done with it?

For God's sake, I don't think the people not living anywhere near their homes for the next who-knows-however-many months give two shits about what they're labeled. If I were in that boat (and thank God I'm not) I'd be pretty fucking pissed off that this much mental energy and effort is being directed on such an inane topic instead of, you know, bringing the states of LA, AL and MS back and figuring out how to keep a Katrina-level disaster from happening again.

Forest from the trees people.

I say we should mix reparations into this and give all of the African Americans who lost their homes/belongings new condominiums and a brand new car for every family.

40 acres and a mule. Let's do Reconstruction again. Just give the condos and cars to the African-Americans, though. You Euro-, Asian-, and Latin-Americans can get nothing and soak in it.

OPA, you just won't let it go, will you.

Loogar, I'll get back on that when I have a bit more time. I'm typing this as my students work on their warm-up activity. It's titled "Why homosexuals are bad".

Well, you have to inundate them with anti-ghey messages, otherwise, how will they know which kids to beat up??!?

an election win under his belt & it's all "gangsta righty" up in dat ass