Margery Eagan’s column today:
(Biden’s) apology emphasis: the word “clean.”
Apparently we have now moved on to the word “articulate.”
Some African-Americans say a white man calling a black man “articulate” is subtle racism. Meanwhile many whites, like Biden, claim “articulate” is just an innocent adjective intended, however ham-handedly, to compliment.
What this all means: yet another O.J.-verdict-like indicator that blacks and whites see the world completely differently.
I googled for a minute and found:
“He can clearly win the general election. He is a very smart, telegenic, articulate and forceful speaker and presence.”
That was about Rudy Giuliani.
“Mr. Corzine says Hillary Clinton is articulate and disciplined but not charismatic.”
American Prospect: “A frequent guest on television shows, McCain is seen as a credible, articulate straight shooter.”
* * *
One can imagine charges of racism if Obama were NOT called articulate.
Update: Huffington Post columnist makes same argument via John Edwards.
“Clean”? Surely all agree that’s a weird word choice (though “clean-cut” would have been okay).
But no one should go nucular over “articulate.”
republican-rock-radio-machine says
“Some African-Americans say a white man calling a black man “articulate” is subtle racism.”
<
p>
Mr. Goldsteingonewild I say . . .
Put me down as a WHITE MAN who thinks that a ” white man calling a black man “articulate” is subtle racism.”
<
p>
It just is man, it just is
<
p>
goldsteingonewild says
<
p>
In the spirit of this conversation…
<
p>
…perhaps update your signature by spelling “Hillary” with two L’s and “too” with two O’s. You’ll get many more props for your…articulateness…
<
p>
Unless you’re just, you know, conserving letters…
republican-rock-radio-machine says
Mr. Goldsteingonewild
<
p>
I noticed that after you were done correcting my spelling you seemed to scamper off with out commenting on my point.
<
p>
Nicely played…very how should I say…. subtle : )
charley-on-the-mta says
Obama is articulate.
<
p>
Biden is logorrheic.
davemb says
The reason for the objection to calling “Obama” articulate is that when applied to a black person the word has historically been used to mean “does not have the stereotypical black accent”, as in not pronouncing “ask” as “ax”. This is indeed a racist usage, as it should not be considered unusual or remarkable that a successful politician, Law Review editor, etc., should have the basic skills of voice usage you might expect of an educated person.
<
p>
On the other hand, Senator Obama is more skilled in the use of his voice than 99% of those in public life and a far larger percentage of the general public. The most famous orator in American history is Martin Luther King, an African-American. If I wanted an actor to read a poem, James Earl Jones would probably be at the top of my list. There is a tradition of the spoken word among African-Americans that Obama draws from, and Deval Patrick draws from, and it is simply factual that their unusual ability to convey a message with their voice is part of their political appeal.
<
p>
We’re just asked to use another word than “articulate” to describe this because of that word’s history, and I have no problem with that. “The Senator is a gifted speaker?” The issue with Biden is that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are also gifted speakers, and distinguishing Obama from them starts to bring in class and education markers again.
goldsteingonewild says
Thanks for the comment, DaveMB.
<
p>
1. I agree with your “two usages” frame.
<
p>
a) One COULD use “articulate” in the negative context you describe.
<
p>
b) Or he/she could simply mean it at face value — in the same way that various pols have praised Clinton, Giuliani, Mccain, Edwards, as per my post.
<
p>
It’s very difficult to know a speaker’s intent.
<
p>
So: do you err on the side of assuming “a” — with the possible downside that you’ll make some false charges of racism — or assuming “b” — with the possible downside that you’ll permit some racist comments to go unchallenged?
<
p>
2. You write: We’re just asked to use another word than “articulate”
<
p>
a) “Just” — to me that suggests perhaps (?) you think politically correct language has no cost. I disagree.
<
p>
b) Also, I suspect that if Biden had used “well-spoken” or other words there’d be the same objection.
<
p>
Look at the first definition for “articulate” that comes up under Answers.com and imagine if Biden had used THAT instead of “articulate”…there’d be hell to pay.
republican-rock-radio-machine says
“b) Or he/she could simply mean it at face value — in the same way that various pols have praised Clinton, Giuliani, Mccain, Edwards, as per my post.”
<
p>
I do believe it is McCain not Mccain
<
p>
Since we are correcting each others posts
<
p>
goldsteingonewild says
I heard Mccain dropped the capital “C” to show he was a small ‘c’ conservative.
republican-rock-radio-machine says
What a coincidence
<
p>
That is why I dropped the capital “L” in Hillary….to show she was a small ‘l’ liberal
bob-neer says
davemb says
Yeah, I find institutionalized anti-racism annoying and sometimes silly, but at the same time racist attitudes are also a problem and it’s worth trying to do something about them. I try to think things out on a case-by-case basis. In this case the PCers have a point that using that word brings up the history of that word, and people should be aware of it. It’s sort of like sportswriters’ tendency to attribute white athletes’ success to intelligence and hard work and black athletes’ success to natural gifts. A professional sportswriter ought to know that this tendency exists and why it is problematic.
<
p>
Given my own experience I think that actual racism is a bigger problem in our society than institutionalized anti-racism. If I were in an enviroment where I were confronted with the latter every day (such as public education, perhaps) I might feel differently.
sabutai says
Part of this may be driven by the fact that Barack Obama is African-American/Black in a different manner than Sharpton, Jackson, King, and other orators. I think there is going to be a small tension in Obama’s campaign in that he does not trace as directly to what is today seen as African-American culture. Is Obama “articulate” because he is not as fully rooted in African-American culture, and is thus reflected in his vocabulary? For that matter, how many people grow up saying “ax” for the word “ask”, and how many people choose to? Is this a sign of cultural identification.
<
p>
And incidentally, I don’t really know how anyone can claim to “expect” that political leaders by articulate in the age of Bush, Schwareneggar, Menino, and others. Articulation is no longer presumed…
kbusch says
Thank you, DaveMB.
<
p>
I might add that the focus here has been a lot on whether the speaker is being racist or not. I just don’t think that it makes any sense to delve into such hermeneutics.
<
p>
Going beyond the pure liberatarian world view, where everything is individuals interacting with individuals, we liberals tend to look at systemic effects and ponder how we can deal with them.
<
p>
Same thing on global warming: we don’t think of specific individuals as causing it. That doesn’t mean we don’t contribute to it.
kbusch says
Atrios (Dr. Duncan Black) had a post a while ago (which I am unable to locate) in which he pointed out that it was droningly typical for prominent African-Americans to meet with (surprised) praise for how articulate they are. After all, one expects a politician to be articulate. More than that, one expects politicians to be eloquent. So saying, “wow s/he is articulate” over and over is a bit like praising other givens like the ability to tie shoe laces and correctly manage a fork and knife.
<
p>
But it is the heavy frequency of this compliment that’s the issue, not its occasional appearance here and there.
goldsteingonewild says
but when concerns over “heavy frequency” are attached to a single utterance, then doesn’t the speaker become unfairly tainted?
laurel says
on what the speaker has to say once it is clear that his/her words were found to be offensive or suspicious. Has he had any follow-up comments?
centralmassdad says
1) Able to speak in Standard American English, as opposed to a cultural or ethnic dialect;
<
p>
from
<
p>
2) Skilled in the art of rhetoric and persuasive speaking; able to ilicit a favorable emotional response from the listener, even the listener who disagrees.
<
p>
How do you describe #2, which I think is an apt description of Governor Patrick, and maybe Obama, among others, from #1, which is indeed just like the smart Martina Hingis trying to overcome the brute force of Venus Williams.
kbusch says
I have to watch more movies.
centralmassdad says
A few years ago, the major rivals on the women’s circuit were
<
p>
Martina Hingis
<
p>
and Venus Williams
<
p>
<
p>
They were then both terrific players. Williams, in particular, had a scorching serve.
<
p>
It was painful to watch these two play on TV, because it was always smarts versus brute strength, and often using the word “brute.”
<
p>
As you may have noted, I am not always sympathetic to politically correct concerns, but even I found it to be awful.
jimcaralis says
Didn’t Romney say Ben Laguer was “well spoken”
john-howard says
This quote is from that “makes same argument” linked story:
<
p>
Chris Rock joked about it years ago, in regard to Colin Powell. “Articulate,” said Rock, isn’t a compliment; “articulate” is what you call somebody when you expected him to be stupid.
<
p>
And that’s why the five-year-old-looking guy, the Italian guy from New York, and the Irish guy that went crazy in a bamboo cage, are called articulate. Nobody calls Bush articulate, well, because he isn’t, but if he was, we still wouldn’t call him that. Well, maybe we would, if he was, because of the stupid look on his face all the time. But you get my point.
<
p>
And is calling someone “educated” any different? Or is it just a way of expecting other people to have racist stereotypes, and so telling people that he is “educated” is an attempt to rectify that situation, not anything someone says about their own surprise. But it does have a way of stereotyping all other blacks, as though it is noteworthy that Obama is educated.
<
p>
“Clean” I understood to mean “without any baggage”, not “clean-cut”.
<
p>
john-howard says
The quote is only the first Chris Rock paragraph. Messed up the end tag.