Carayip, What are you protecting him from? Shaq said nothing bad about him. He simply disagreed with the way the voting was done. If you think he said somthing bad about Yao, then you are looking way to deep into this. You are way too far on Yao's jock. Take a deep breathe and tear down the poster of Yao hanging over your bed. It will get better.
I guess I am just another clueless WASP who can't relate to the plight of millions of suffering minorities. So explain it slowly to me, T-man. How is it that my boy Fuzzy got his ass grilled for making basically the same kind of joke that Shaq made? I have no problem with affirmative action. I do have a problem with hypocrisy.
What happenned to Fuzzy was a double standard, I agree with you there. Was not aware of anything on Payne Stewart. I know he died not long after the Fuzzy thing. I am just saying everyone needs to take a step back and quit hollerring racism everytime someone opens there mouth. We are not politicians. We do not have to be politically correct everytime we speak. We all need to learn to laugh at ourselves and not take offense to everything. Besides, he was not stereotyping him. He was mocking old movies. How many times did you heard him call himself Shaq-fu, before Yao was even around? It was one of his many self-made nicknames. It was just a reason for someone to holler racism
As Jeff said, this is a Rockets message board. I don't need to kiss Shaq's ass here. What do you expect?
The incident with Payne Stewart happened about a week before his plane crashed. During a rain delay, Stewart began using a Chinese accent during an ESPN interview as humor to respond to criticism levied against American players by British golf analyst Peter Allis. Stewart was lambasted for his attempt at humor. He immediately issued an apology. It either led, or was one of the top stories, on Sportscenter for most of that week. This is about as close to an apples to apples comparison with the Shaq situation as one could get.
What's wrong with votes in other countries ? The world basket ball is catching up on USA. NBA is not the one & only basketball game; the more people play the better. If no fresh blood coming in, NBA will always live in the shadow of NFL. Some people only see 2 inches around themselves.
Not the most current of events, eh? Powell is Secertary of State, not Defense. (He was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs during the Gulf War)
D*mn, this thread sucks. What the hell is your post to mean? That 'Blacks, Women and to some extent Jews' have the right to exercise racism since it was exercised against them? The severity really doesn't matter when defining racism, does it? Racism is racism, the degree of the offense determines the response, not the definition. Shaq isn't going to prison or death row for his remarks, but it certainly was categorized as racist by many Asians and others.
Originally posted by T-man Jeff, you truly showed your intelligence level there. You are comparing Shaq mocking Bruce Lee movies to hype up a matchup, to someone saying we should still have slavery. OMG! I'm almost speechless. T-man, I think you really showed you intelligence level here. Pardon, but Racism is Racism. If you have difficulty understanding the concept of severity, that is your problem, not Jeff's. If Jeff had just said a teen who stole a pack of cigarrettes had committed acriminal act, would you have responded 'You are comparing a teen stealing cigs to a serial killer?'. I am not even black and I take offence to this. You really need to get off of Yao's jock and not type the first ignorant thing that comes to your mind when someone is not jocking him along with you. He is another player who, besides a few good runs has proved nothing yet. Now that was ignorant. Besides if Shaq does not do that, the Rocket's-Laker's game that was so hyped and watched is just another game that Shaq dominates a center averaging 13 points a game. So you can say that those actions were not detrimental, but good for the NBA and Yao. It was hype. Notice how the story did not surface until the weeks leading up to the game, even though it happened in July. We all grew up watching Bruce Lee movies and have mocked them at one point or another when we were play fighting with friends. To even look at what he said as racist was just showing ignorance on your part and a complete lack of a sense of humor. And in the article linked here, he does not say one bad thing about Yao. He didn't agree with the voting. How is that a slap at Yao? There is no doubt he should be starting and that should not even be in debate. I am one of the biggest Rocket's fans, but I am not blind. The supposition that Shaq was consciously hyping the game for the good of the NBA is comical. Trying to rationalize the 'positives' of a racist act is sad. Let me give you a clue. Hang around for a while before you start challenging Jeff's intelligence. Maybe you will try a little harder to understand his post and his intent before you embarrass yourself again by making a personal attack. You may not always agree with him, but I assure you that his intelligence is above reproach. what a thread...
Wow, this thread is one of the worst I've seen here. Let me just randomly pick one up here (sorry, DavidS, nothing personal): Ahem... If you want to understand history, how 'bout study the history of the Opium War? Or the history of the building of the Trans-American railroad? And, I like this one from Shaq: Sorry, Shaq, they didn't change the rule because of you. They did it because of Rudy T's ISO-mania.
He's been making derrogatory comments since June. yes he was doing it even back then just to hype up that game You are a MORON if you believe that If Yao called Shaq a N**ger, that would couldve created more hype and even more people wouldve watched. And that wouldve been good for both the NBA and Shaq. Sense of humor? Like Fuzzy Zoeller's comments? Yove already admitted a double standard. So are you saying that you weren't offended by Fuzzy's comments or are you saying that it's ok because it was done to Asians and it's not ok if done to African Americans So if John Stockton makes a "watermellon" type joke next week about Steve Francis or Cat to promote the Jazz/Rockets games, would you support his position too as just a joke or simple hype that benefits the NBA? If so, then you may have bad taste but at least can be consistent. If not, you are not truly a Rockets fan and have some serious racial issues. You may not be blind, but T-MAN, you are ignorant
Originally posted by Jeff Timing: You need a timeout. You've been here long enough to understand you don't respond to crap like that. Besides, your dislike of Yao is becoming readily apparent and more than a little frustrating. Saying I dislike Yao is ridiculous. You have this habit lately of collaging bits of your imagination and thinking it's accurate. I mean, how often are you going to defend a guy who OBVIOUSLY sticks his foot in his mouth as often as he misses a freethrow particularly when he levels his criticisms at OUR PLAYER? Yao is the center on the team YOU SUPPORT, yet you would defend Shaq's idiocy towards him? How is that? Did you even read what Shaq said here? How did he attack Yao? Show me please. After he was embarrassed for being a schmuck with his idiotic comments towards Yao before the season he's been respectful of Yao. Even called him his brother and the best center in Texas. Maybe you've missed that. I did not defend Shaq's idiocy towards Yao, in fact I've said his comments were completely stupid but not racist just like many other people have said including Charlie Palillo and Rich Lord here locally. In reality, there is quite a bit of disagreement on Shaq's statements, despite the stupid comparisons to mocking monkey sounds on this board, from Walton's highly innapproriate and disappointing which some agree with to Tom Tolbert's all in fun which others agree with. As for meaningless Yao posts, this IS a freakin' Rockets board and Yao is a Rocket. What the hell do you expect? I expect a dose of reality. I expect people to be more concerned with Yao's play and our playoff standing than whatever endorsements he'll be going after next. I expect someone, anyone, any day now to point out that Yao Ming's left hand is no longer under the ball when he shoots. I expect Yao to be praised when he drops 30 on the Mavs and criticized when he flies on his off day to New York to film a commercial and then has one of his worst games of the season the next day in Atlanta because he's too tired and not ready to play. I particularly find it galling that when Shaq made obviously stereotypical and ignorant remarks in fake Chinese, members of the African American community who are so quick to scream racism when blacks are being slurred stood painfully silent. Yeah well I find it particularly galling that the white community sits painfully silent when minorities are slurred or murdered by police. Where is your outrage over this Pearland judge Matt Zepeda who slurred inmates on video and was thrown a fundraiser in Pearland over the MLK holiday weekend? Boy that sure caused a big stink on this board. Where is your outrage for Pedro Oregon who was shot in the back 9 times by police, one of which actually reloaded and kept firing, while in his own home? How about for Luis Torres who was beat and strangled to death by a couple of cops in Baytown for doing nothing more than walking down the street at night? Again, a huge uproar on this board. And you find it galling? Join the crowd. How is what Shaq did any different than Trent Lott's idiotic comments? Why the double standard? I also find it galling that you don't understand the difference between the Senate majority leader saying "we wouldn't have all these problems" if a candidate running on a segragationist platform had been elected President and a basketball player doing kung fu moves and speaking in mock Chinese. In fact having dragon dancers at Rocket games and introducing Chinese food at concession stands seems generally okay. If this were a Chinese league would it be okay to greet a black player with Zulu tribal dancing or step dancing and introducing fried chicken at concession stands? Or perhaps that's just nowhere near being the same thing. The tendency to lump all of these issues together into an amalgamation of wrongness does an injustice to actual instances of racism.
Cmellon, While I do come on here alot to see if anything is going on, espically around trade and draft time, I really have better things to do than type messages all day long everyday, hence the 26 posts. Riet, Did you even watch the interview with Shaq? Were they not talking about the matchup and what Shaq was going to do to him? What do you call that? While not hyping the specifically for the game in Jan., they were hyping it in general. Shaq did not call Yao anything derrogitory, he simply mocked old movies, so to compare Yao saying that to Shaq doing that is absurd. I said I was not offended by either one of thier comments, they were simply jokes. To look at them any other way is assinine. Fuzzy was unjustly crucified for his comments. And to take a quote that had nothing to do with the racism discussion and throw it in there with the ones that did to try to prove your point is just like a bad journalist. The comment about "I am the biggest Rockets fan, but not blind" was about Shaq not starting and was written in conjunction with that. You are the ignorant one. Cohen please I am not even going to go into your whole post, Jeff compared the comments Trent Lott made with Shaq's actions. Big differrence. And you compare that to a teen stealing cigarettes and serial killer. I guess you are trying to say they are both crimes. If you are saying there is no differrence between the two and they should not be handled differrent then, I am the speechless one.
Racism is not "racism" because people are starting to throw that term around like they change their underwear. You might think that Shaq is not going to death row for his remarks, but there are some that think he should go to jail, or banished from the NBA. It's an extreme. People want to throw around those labels and tag them on people in one big swoop! Nice and tidy. Saying racism is racism is idealistic, and each situation must be dealt with on a case by case basis. And to answer your first part, no, it's not a license to practice "racism" for Blacks, women, and Jews. But for every non-black, it's become a calling card to use the same word (call someone a racist) against stereotypes, but expect the same punishment as David Duke would get for saying that slavery was a good thing. There is a difference in the deed. But the same word is used to tag both David Duke and Shaq. Get it?
Originally posted by T-man : Riet, Did you even watch the interview with Shaq? Were they not talking about the matchup and what Shaq was going to do to him? What do you call that? While not hyping the specifically for the game in Jan., they were hyping it in general. Shaq did not call Yao anything derrogitory, he simply mocked old movies, so to compare Yao saying that to Shaq doing that is absurd. Yes I did see the interview. And they asked him about Yao Ming when he made the comment. While the question was in reference to what would happen when they met, Shaq clearly was mocking Asians in general with language stereotypes. Here's a clue. Mocking the way someone speaks or supposedly speaks is offensive and insulting. I said I was not offended by either one of thier comments, they were simply jokes. To look at them any other way is assinine. Fuzzy was unjustly crucified for his comments. Amos and Andy was a popular television series. People laughed, it was comedy. While it was intended to be funny, ask any African American and they'll explain that show is offensive and racist. Just because people intend something to be funny does not mean it is not racist or derragotory. So if Jay Leno painted a black face and starts with "Yes boss. No boss. thank you boss", That would be ok, because he was trying to be funny? What if he said to Kevin, his sidekick, "Hey boy"... Those are all old stereotypes that contain racist connotations just like watermellon and fried chicken comments and "ching chong ching chong" And to take a quote that had nothing to do with the racism discussion and throw it in there with the ones that did to try to prove your point is just like a bad journalist. The comment about "I am the biggest Rockets fan, but not blind" was about Shaq not starting and was written in conjunction with that. You are the ignorant one. Look back at that paragraph. You talk about the mocking and how it was good for the NBA because it made TV ratings higher. That paragraph ended with your statement that you are a Rockets fan. As far as ignorance - You think just because things are meant as jokes, it somehow excuses any racially insensitivity. That is ignorance
You say that "racism is racism" yes you say accuse T-Man of not being able to understand the "concept of severity." Oh, IC... :roll-eyes: Well, if you understand the concept of severity, then thank God you don't lump Shaq in with same group as Hitler and Mr. Duke. When you use the word "racist" you that's what you are doing. Shaq is not a racist. He used a stereotype that was insensitive. There is a difference.
I saw the interview with Shaq. Considering I am Asian, I did not find it offensive at all. I thought it was kind of funny. I have seen many people try to do the old Kung Fu movies and there is nothing wrong with it. Anybody see the movie Kung Pow? Kind of stupid but also funny. Same dubbing crap that people have their panties in a bunch here. http://www.kungpowmovie.com/
