Racist? Sexist?

[Zzzptm]

Death threats are never a good thing. I'm pretty sure we all agree on that. Fighting intolerance with more intolerance is going about fighting intolerance in the wrongest way possible.

And if it's not even really intolerance - as Vyn mentioned, do a better job of picking your battles, for goodness' sake - then it's not fighting intolerance, but *spreading* it.

And for that always/never thing... we have an unfolding situation here in Dallas. An off-duty police officer shot a black man. She claims she thought she was at her own apartment and shot him as an intruder before she realized she was at *his* apartment. There are witnesses who have details in their accounts that differ from her details, but the core of her story is what we're dealing with here.

There's a few personalities here in Dallas that, yes, do *always* go immediately to the race question. Not everyone, but those particular individuals, yes. So I'd agree with Typhon that there will always be someone to come forward with a cry of -ism in just about every incident possible. It's just that not all of those persons gain traction.

Because most everyone here is considering it as a case of a police officer behaving in an undisciplined fashion. We do have questions about whether or not her status as a police officer colored the investigation in a way to unfairly exculpate her actions or give her preferential treatment. But racism is not really being considered here. Neither is sexism, really.

The guys going around SMU campus giving Nazi salutes and handing out homophobic and racist handbills... those are the racist nut cases we're dealing with of late.

@Typhon, I didn't say what you put forward was worthless. I said it wasn't conclusive to me, as in, it did not change my stance. I'm also not really saying you're wrong or that I'm right. I'm just saying where I stand on the matter and that we may have a general consensus that agrees with your view, but we certainly don't have an absolute consensus, myself being the spoiler of that.

As a historian, I always find it important to seek out other voices to have a fuller picture of historical events. If I want to know about the status of Zoroastrians under the Abbasid Caliphate, I don't want to rely purely on Abbasid sources. I need to also read what the Zoroastrians had to say. If there are bystander accounts from Nestorian Christians and Babylonian Jews, even better. Abbasid sources alone, however, I do not consider conclusive.

[Charger]

I'm just saying where I stand on the matter and that we may have a general consensus that agrees with your view, but we certainly don't have an absolute consensus, myself being the spoiler of that.

You like being the spoiler don't you? Come on...admit it! 

[Typhon]

I'm just saying where I stand on the matter and that we may have a general consensus that agrees with your view, but we certainly don't have an absolute consensus, myself being the spoiler of that.

You like being the spoiler don't you? Come on...admit it! 

Yes he does. 

@Zzz, the problem I have is that you are looking at the cartoon the wrong way.  A caricature exaggerates a person's features.  That's what makes it a caricature.  With your approach, one could find fault with every caricature of Serena that Jack posted.  Then how could a caricature of her ever be acceptable?  The answer is, it couldn't.  Therefore, you are looking at it the wrong way, which is forming the opinion that you are trying to defend.

[Zzzptm]

I don't enjoy being the spoiler, but I'll fill the role when called upon to do so.

I do agree with your last post, Typhon, it's a matter of judgment and determining where you land on a sliding scale.

At the same time, I'm not in the crowd making any sort of demands to retract/redraw/censure/censor the paper or the artist. Editorial cartooning is going to hit nerves, whether I'm going "yeah!" or "ouch!" when I see the cartoon.

I agree that those most offended by the cartoon would likely also be offended by the images JtS posted. The one in the upper left, though, I see as an exaggeration not of Williams' physical features but of her aggressiveness on the court... and I don't want to go into the others because I agree that you made a good point with the slippery slope you described.