Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

The Harper government will not be distracted

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, March 11, 2011 1:34pm - 71 Comments

Conservative Senator Don Meredith wants Michael Ignatieff to apologize for a phrase that is not inherently racist.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley wants a federal employee in Brampton disciplined for sending an insulting email from his government account to a Sun columnist (who, it is probably necessary to note, volunteered for the Conservative campaign in 2008).

Tags: , , ,
Bookmark and Share
  • Dot

    From one Don Meredith to another:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3xsDv6yCnY&fe…

  • avr

    The Bugs Bunny fixation is amusing, as if that sourcing alone were proof enough the phrase couldn't be racist.* Where are you, Weinman? Time for a Censored 11 post in TV Guidance, I think…

    *It isn't, but proven etymology never stopped baseless accusations of racism for the use of harmless antique slang before.

    • tobyornotoby

      It's where I get my opera references too

      • Keith in Brampton

        Of course, a clip of Igy uttering the phrase will feature prominently in the next round of attack ads accusing Iggy of being American. I mean, what real Canadian would utter that phrase?

        • auntie-em-m

          Yeah, what 'real Canadian' would use the expression tar baby in Harper's Parliament?

          Notice Polievre's smart*ss line didn't make it to their attack ads … yet.

  • tedbetts

    The term "cotton pickin'" pre-dates slavery in the cotton business.

  • brooster2

    Surely a pejorative and slanderous comment on catfish everywhere. You fishist! Next you'll be calling them bottom feeders. Shame!

  • Keith in Brampton

    When my daughter was in daycare, she came home singing "baa baa white sheep." The daycare workers had never seen a black sheep and assumed it was some kind of racial epithet.

    Wrong! (history of the phrase can be easily found; here's one source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_sheep)

    Sometimes, people just don't know the origin of a phrase and read into it an incorrect negative meaning not intended by the speaker. That says more about the listener than it does about the person speaking.

  • Crit_Reasoning

    The "cotton-picking" thing is as lame as the "tar baby" thing with Poilievre last year. Fake political correctness run amok.

    • Lucky Luke

      I tend to agree….although I do remember finding the 'tar baby' comment a bit jarring if not for the sole reason that it is truly a strange and obscure reference to make given….well… any context.

      The 'cotton-picking' reference is..as you said…just lame….although not unheard of.

    • John D

      Except 'tar baby' has been used as a racist term (although it has other meanings, and Skippy was definitely using the non-racist meaning).

      • CAPS

        Since it's Polièvre I hate to agree with you but I have to agree wit h you.

    • tedbetts

      Not as lame, but lame for sure.

      Cottin picking has no racist connotation and has never been a racist epithet.

      Tar baby does have racist connotations and clearly has been used and can be used as a racist term. I don't think Poilievre used it in that meaning, even in a sublte coded way. So it's not fake political correctness run amok. It's just plain old fashioned political correctness run amok but the one or two MPs who raised it. Although "run amok" is probably also a bit strong as they accepted Poilievre's apology, if I recall.

      • Lucky Luke

        Did he apologize?

    • EeeOar

      The "tar baby" was lame,
      but the "cotton picking" thing is lame….er,
      ………..than that.

      [youtube yl67TNDW-0Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl67TNDW-0Q youtube]

      On the lameness scale (with 0 being not at all lame and 100 being the lamest), tar baby scores a 59, while cotton picking scores an impressive 82.

  • bergkamp

    Interesting how all these white, middle class liberal supporters get to decide what is racist and what isn't.

    When a left wing ethnic person complains about racism, Cons are source of all evil of and must be punished of course but when black person complains about racism from the left we have a discussion of origins of expression and a quick dismissal of complaint of racism.

    Makes it glaringly obvious that white liberals don't actually care about racism, they just like to use it as cudgel against opponents.

    And I wonder if Iggy will be distracted from his democracy under assault message after a Liberal Senator was convicted of fraud today.

    • Keith in Brampton

      There are racists of every political stripe and ethnic / racial description. But I really don't think this particular expression is a racist one. I certainly would not have associated it with race.

      There are people out there who are overly sensitive to anything they think might have ANY racial overtones. We normally say such people have a chip on their shoulder. (Try to find a racial overtone in THAT one!)

    • John D

      No, facts and history get to decide too. Please provide any source, even one, that shows there is a racist history to the term. This isn't a matter of opinion – it is factually not a racist term.

    • CAPS

      I would imagine the good Senator was put up to it by the PMO or CPC HQ (same thing basically).

    • Richard_S_Argent

      You don't actually believe a single word of anything you just wrote, do you?

      We have a very recent and well documented example of a similar example from the right. Pollievre used the term "tar baby", many people (including myself) originally assumed the term had racist overtones but the benign origins of the term were quickly sussed out, the story petered out, and everyone learned something new about the etymology of the word…I mean it's pretty amazing that "tar baby" ISN'T racist, isn't it??

      Nothing you wrote has any resemblance to reality in any way whatsoever.

      • bergkamp

        I am right wing and for the past 15/20 years I am constantly told by left wing types that I am racist, sexist … etc. When I disagree with people, I am told that it does not matter what I think, it only matters what accuser thinks. If a woman says I am sexist, than I am sexist. If an asian man says I am racist, than I am racist. What I think/said does not matter.

        But when Con makes an accusation, libs talk about etymology or crack wise about bugs bunny and just about do/say anything other than take person seriously. So I definitely question liberals and their ethics when it is based entirely on someone's political beliefs.

        And your Pollievre example proves my point. You had no idea what tar baby meant but you decided to believe someone was racist, regardless of your ignorance. And only because Pierre is a Con – you would not have made racism accusations if it was MP from any other party, I bet.

        • Richard_S_Argent

          Poor white, male, conservatives…won't somebody please give you a fair shake? How you guys make it through this cold, harsh, world is a mystery…that you do so with such quiet dignity only makes me respect you more.

          (and you clearly didn't read a word of what I said re: tar baby. Of course I initially thought it had racial overtones…just look at the word. BUT when the etymology of the term came out, I said to myself "huh, learn sumpin' new everyday" and moved on. Like everyone else did. Note that I NEVER said that I assumed Pollievre was racist because he used the term. I know he's a bigot for his earlier comments about aboriginals…but that's a story for another day.)

        • Keith in Brampton

          I agree that there are some on the left who are all too willing to make assumptions… and there are some who take full advantage of that to scream "racist" whenever they think they will gain some advantage by doing so. Thankfully, they are a (admittedly vociferous) minority. I for one think they are idiots.

          Apparently, though, the left no longer holds a monopoly on this idiocy.

    • tedbetts

      When he shows, in his own explanation of why he thinks this term is racist, that he doesn't even know the meaning, use or history of the term, then yes I think it is fair to dismiss him even quicker that a conservative dismisses real charges of racism. Especially, in the politically charged atmosphere of Ottawa where the PM is desperate to change the channel.

      Unless of course, he's also bringing a complaint against our broadcast networks for broadcasting a favourite term of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.

  • Patchouli

    I'm more than a little upset about your choice of the word "black" to describe a negative mark to be put on the Igster's record. Please apologize. With sincerity.

    • Holly Stick

      (Clutches pearls. Faints.)

  • Reverend_Blair

    Do we really want Michael Ignatieff to start saying "golly gee willikers"

    I would actually to see that.

    • tobyornotoby

      Partisan!

      ;-)

  • Out There

    The goal here is to distract people from the Conservatives being accused of contempt of Parliament: to drown out signal with noise. It might work.

  • danby

    Perhaps you don't know that the Ignatieff family were very prominent in the Russian cotton dynasties of the 1800's.
    Michael's book from 1984, The Grand Bolls of Russia; The Fabric of Family, explores (amongst other things) the relationship between the expensive, labour intensive picking of the cotton, the decline of Tsarist taxation rates, and the eventual collapse of the Monarchy.

    Given his family history, I think he is more than justified in using the expression "cotton picking" and I think that Senator Meredith owes him an apology

    • Jan

      And never mention thread count to him. God, he just goes on and on and on. Worse than Martha Stewart.

      • danby

        That's why they call him The Count

  • frobisher

    The internets are sinful.

  • tedbetts

    They will not be distracted.

    They are totally, and completely, focused on the economy.

    And none moreso than our beloved Prime Minister Stephen “Desk Sergeant Armstrong” Harper.

    • Crit_Reasoning

      It's great that the prime minister was able to take a Friday afternoon out of his busy schedule last October to film a scene for a Canadian TV series that has become an international hit.

      • Jenn_

        And the script sounds hilarious. At least, I gave a little 'heh' just reading the words. I hope his delivery pulled it off.

      • Just Joe

        Charitable.

        • Crit_Reasoning

          Banal.

          • Just Joe

            Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one.

            – Chinese Proverb

  • quadibloc

    Although I am sure that Michael Ignatieff is not a racist, the phrase he used was racist, and thus he should make an unreserved apology, and then we can put this controversy behind us. The connection between cotton harvesting and Negro slavery is well-known, and it was behind the origin and use of the phrase.

    • FVerhoeven

      Yes, if it was Ignatieff who made the remark he should apologize! Now! Immediately! It may confuse the House if he does not apologize.

      • danby

        Instead of apologizing, maybe he'll ask John Baird if he'd mind standing up and shrieking at anyone who has the audacity to ever mention it again.

    • Reverend_Blair

      No. As has been pointed out many times in this thread, backed up by a linguist, the phrase pre-dates the use of slaves to pick cotton. There is no connection between the phrase and slavery. It is not a racist phrase.

      those making the baseless accusation should apologize for being poorly educated so we can put this whole controversy behind us.

      • Just Joe

        @Reverend_Blair

        Give it up, give in, fold, surrender. MI is "just visiting" while our hero Stephen Harper has lived here forever. Ignatieff spent years in places that demanded he pay for his own health care, while Stephen Harper stayed close to the teat of his motherland. Stephen will refund every cent of the free health care he and his family enjoyed while he railed against the injustice he endured through taxation–won't he?

        Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them. ~Aristotle

    • Keith in Brampton

      Yep. And "black sheep" is racist. And Newfoundlanders everywhere should apologize for calling one another "b'y".

      Get real.

    • catherine

      Racist? Perhaps you would like to write to US government and tell them to stop supporting racist organizations which promote cotton. You can find their contact info here:
      http://www.cottoninc.com/cottonpickin/

  • Realistic

    Well of course it is not a racist remark, afterall Iggy is a liberal and they are above all that, he should just stick to his knitting and carry on.

  • OriginalEmily1

    Hmph! I would have said 'distraction' is the main business and preoccupation of the Con party. LOL

  • tedbetts

    Well of course it is not a racist remark, afterall it is… not a racist remark.

  • WDM

    There are countless cat fish with degenerative fin disorders that can no longer 'jump'. Please retract and apologize.

  • Loraine Lamontagne

    It is common for journalists to do double duty like Ezra Levant? Are there many others? I know some journalists have left their profession to work for cabmins, but they left the profession. Obviously some journalists have and display a preference for a political party, but how many are known to actively work as 'volunteers'?

  • Margaret

    Expression goes back to 1700s. Refers to the activity of picking cotton, which was time consuming, and painstaking. It has also been used by Bugs Bunny.

    Harper is now in the business of attacking Bugs Bunny, is he? What an idiot – grasping at straws and his stinking organization sinks.

  • RayRay

    Have you seen the polls?

  • avr

    I'm not sure the debates in your perfect world would be very productive, if all you really want is to hear obscenities screamed at your political enemies. Is shouting at the TV not doing it for you any more? Have the neighbours complained?

  • Reverend_Blair

    I reject the implication that Ezra Levant is in anyway a journalist.

  • Holly Stick

    Any more Stockaholics around?

  • Reverend_Blair

    What? Going after people from Poland now?

  • Holly Stick

    Yeah, do that kind of stuf in Parliament, like the Conservatives do.

  • alfanerd

    i dont know. i think it's at least 10 times worse then the use of 'blood libel' by Palin (which still doesnt amount to very much) – at least she had a reason to utter it, whereas this was entirely pointless.

    fact is the left has been using faux-outrage and political correctness for years. it's nice to trip them up using their own tool.

  • alfanerd

    you're right, he's a columnist, and he doesnt pretend to be objective – he wears his bias on his sleeve, where it should be. which is much better then the fake objectivity you see at the CBC.

  • John D

    Can you provide one source that suggests it is at all racist? I can provide some links to reference 'blood libel' if you like.

  • tedbetts

    "cotton pickin' " – a favourite term of Bugs Bunny incidentally, I'm sure Senator Meredith has been busy hassling the TV networks – is a term that pre-dates the cotton-slavery industry. There is nothing racist about it and never has been.

    "Blood libel" has very definite and longstanding and deeply offensive meanings.

    So talk about political correctness and over-sensitivity and context all you want – and you would even have a friendly ear with me on that – but please don't compare the terms.

    fact is the right has been claiming they like absolutes and not moral equivalencies and moral relativisms for years. it's nice of you to show us that that is complete BS.

  • alfanerd

    cotton-picking is an activity which is overwhelmingly associated with slavery. that's all really. it brings back the specter of slavery. specially when its used in a context entirely unrelated to actual cotton being picked.

    i dont think iggy is actually racist. i hate politically correctness. but i love to see politically correct scolds like ignatieff get hoisted on their own petard.

    as for 'blood libel', Palin used it when she was falsely and hypocritically accused by the entire liberal establishment of having been responsible of a disgusting act by an insane nutter because she posted a crosshair on a political map. in that case, the term 'blood libel' seems like an appropriate analogy. besides, the term 'blood libel' refers to the false accusation that jews used to drink the blood of christian babies and the term itself suggests the accusation is false. so i dont see how her use of it was inappropriate, she also was being accused falsely of a very grave act.

    iggy on the other hand had absolutely no reason to use that expression.

  • John D

    Well, you still haven't provided a source for your term. You clearly don't know your history. Cotton picking may only conjure images of slavery in your head, but it has a far deeper history in the South The phrase "cotton pickin' minute" predates slavery and indicates something that is difficult. When the term was popularized cotton picking was NOT done by slaves and the term (which is what we are discussing) has never been one associated with slavery. It's like the term "niggardly." To the uneducated ear it might 'sound' racist, but is factually not.

    Sarah Palin, on the other hand, was appropriating one of the foulest terms we have in the English language to try and defend herself. It was more stupid than offensive, I'll give you that.

  • Reverend_Blair

    I associate it more with bad country songs about how hard it was to grow up being white trash.

  • brooster2

    "cotton-picking is an activity which is overwhelmingly associated with slavery. that's all really. it brings back the specter of slavery. specially when its used in a context entirely unrelated to actual cotton being picked."

    Not according to the link embedded in Wherry's post, which points out that the term pre-dated cotton plantations exploiting slave labour.

  • catherine

    What do you think of the cotton industry? Their national US website is:
    http://www.cottoninc.com/cottonpickin/

    Given that this is a website just to educate people about and promote the cotton industry, one would think they would shy away from naming themselves a racist slur.

  • John D

    If they had wanted to actually talk about racism they could have noticed that Jimmy the K was throwing around the racist term "Skopian" at a lecture the other day.

  • Holly Stick

    Did the CBC ever get sued for libel and lose? Levant was.

  • alfanerd

    the CBC was recently castigated by its own ombudsman for a news report which maliciously used harper's words in a speech, just after the shot of a woman asking a loaded question.

  • tobyornotoby

    Ezra Levant has been a columnist on CBC Radio's Day Six

Previous

Next

From Macleans