It is not surprising to call "Chinese" "Chinaman" In Hong Kong we call whitemen from Euro , USA, Britain "Ghostman" similar to "Chinaman" even now. The term has first been uttered by local chinese of lower education background who seldom met them before or knew little about the outside world for decades.
True. But isn't that almost like guilty without merit? Or admitting guilt of "racism" without actually believing in it? Do you see where I'm coming from? True. Stockton will probably apologize. But still. All I'm saying is to have an open mind about people. Especially if you know about them.
I said, the use of Frenchman, Spainard, Mexican, Russiain, Nigieran, all don't play by the same rules. Chimanman is exclusive. That IS vague. It's not an automatic KNOWN by all commentators.
As I said whether Stockton meant it in a mean way or not doesn't change the fact that ignorance is no excuse. As I said if Stockton comes out and says he made an honest mistake I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. DavidS. I don't know what your ethnicity is but frankly I'm not sure you fully grasp why this is a big deal. One can always plead ignorance but that doesn't change that there really are people offended. If plain ignorance is acceptable where does it stop? Gee I didn't know whitey was offensive afterall caucasians are white. I didn't know pollack was offensive because they are from Poland. I didn't know Heb was offensive its just short for Hebrew. I didn't know Homo was offensive I thought it was just short for homosexual. You see what I mean. If Stockton was ignorant about it he should be informed, which he is as I'm sure TNT is getting swamped with emails at the moment.
I think I stated that intent did not matter. Regardless, your not Stockon so I doubt you would know what he really intended then again neither do I To answer your questions above. YES =) To an extent. You don't need to know the entire chinese american history but you should know what is a racial slur and what is not a racial slur. This is just a "racial awareness" issue. I mean not many people in society would use the N word on tv right?
I'm Mexican/Spanish... But if Stockton said the Spaniard I wouldn't mind because I would be from Spain like Gasol. And because I know about Stockton, I know that he would use the term in regards to my origin. No big deal. That's all I'm saying. Know the source. Stockon is not some punk on the streets trying to mug you. That's different. That guy would be doing for racist reason. The sad part is that Stockton will probably get a buch of angry emails that do not match the crime. Emails that would probably be better suited for the punk on the streets.
Here are my last thoughts on this subject and then its off to bed for me. I don't know if Stockton was being racist and personally I don't think he was. Still ignorance is no excuse and I hope Stockton realizes this and is more careful next time. No offense to the non-Asians out there but from this thread this is an Asian thang that y'all can't seem to understand. All I ask is that you consider if the situation was turned around. If it was a caucasian player in China and a commentator called him a whitey, or if it was an African American player in China and the commentator called him a Darkie. I can imagine that many of you would be offended and wouldn't accept the excuse that that commentator didn't know better because afterall the caucasian has white skin and the African American player has dark skin. Now I say Kadish on this topic, at least for now. I'm upset enough already about the Rox blowing a game they should've won. Peace out Y'all!
I am a professional broadcaster in Hong Kong and would never dream of calling a caucasian person a "gweilo" on the air. Yes, the term is used casually by some in Hong Kong, but their racial/cultural intolerance is not something we should aspire to! As someone who is getting paid to broadcast a game IT IS THEIR BUSINESS to get it right and in Stockton's case he should apologize (quickly) and admit his ignorance or should be removed from broadcasting, it's that simple. Intent doesn't matter DavidS, ignorance is not what Stockton is being paid for, neither is he being paid to offend. I'm curious as to why you would defend ignorance so vehemently? Rochut
OK I know I said Kadish on the topic but I had to respond. DavidS; That tells me that you don't know the difference between Chinese and Chinaman. One is a slur while one refers to the ethnicity. For instance Japanese refers to someone from Japan. Jap or Nip also technically refers to someone from Japan (Nippon in Japanese). If you can't see the difference then there's no way to convince you.
It is NOTHING like saying Spaniard, the correct analogy would be Spic or any of the other offensive and derogatory terms I don't even feel like typing. Rochut
Without merit? He used a racial slur on national TV. Whether you qualify it as racial slur would probably be the real question. Because you are non-chinese, it's easy for you to dismiss such slurs. Apolgizing for using a racial slur doesn't mean he's racist. It just means he was ignorant or uninformed. Hell, I certainly could fall into that category from time to time. Note, this doesn't mean he's a bad person. Having Yao on TV does mean that people should be expected to know what is a racial slur to asians and what is not. At least that should be the expectation. Much like commentators should know not to use racial slurs on African Americans or Hispanic American players. Cheers.
