Iowa's Gary Dolphin Suspended For Rest Of The Year

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Well said and we agree.

The concern I have is the weaponization of it by some people.  Very sad and unfortunately causes a skepticism against those that are truly practicing it.  TSmith’s comments at the end, great example of doing exactly what he supposedly is fighting against.  I don’t think he even gets it

But equally wrong are the people who think people are too sensitive about this stuff.  Just read the quotes about the petition to have him reinstated: "Gary Dolphin was wrongfully suspended for giving a collegiate athlete a compliment.  If you take Gary Dolphin's comment as being racist, I challenge you to search your own heart and see where you stand. I can tell you right now that Dolphin is NOT a racist and the comment in question is the furthest thing from it."

That shows a level of ignorance and lack of understanding that is really stunning to me. 

[Jockey]

So, not relevant.
I'm really having a hard time understanding how anyone is so obtuse as to not understand why what Dolphin said is offensive.

Simple man. White people are the victims here. There. And everywhere.

When are we gonna get a White History Month? Need more proof than that?

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Common sense ruling yesterday.

Nice racist comment you made on your part, however.  Not appropriate

Sorry chicos, pointing out that you are a white guy telling black people that racist things aren't really racist, isn't itself racist.

Being the white guy actually telling black people that you know better than them what is and isn't racist, however, is.  It is also completely consistent with your history.

[Jon]

I will use willfully ignorant to describe you’re comment.

King Kong (the original movie) was a racist allegory.

Who is the ignorant racist?

King Kong is an anti-colonialist allegory. Kong, the noble beast, has a complex dignity which stands in direct contrast to the churlish, vulgar white people who have taken Kong in chains from his Eden.

Kong displays a virtuous nobility that the the boorish, materialistic Americans who abducted Kong cannot possibly fathom.

The Kong narrative is part of the romantic primitivism movement in which accomplished poets, painters, sculptors, and writers celebrated nature and derided the excesses of civilization. Your complete illiteracy of this speaks volumes as to what and who you are. 

The fact that you choose to see racism, deconstructing Kong into a wild animal, underscores your actual feelings towards non-Caucasians.

You, my friend, are a simple white man who chases ghosts in a fool's errand.

[Pakuni]

Who is the ignorant racist?

King Kong is an anti-colonialist allegory. Kong, the noble beast, has a complex dignity which stands in direct contrast to the churlish, vulgar white people who have taken Kong in chains from his Eden.

Kong displays a virtuous nobility that the the boorish, materialistic Americans who abducted Kong cannot possibly fathom.

The Kong narrative is part of the romantic primitivism movement in which accomplished poets, painters, sculptors, and writers celebrated nature and derided the excesses of civilization. Your complete illiteracy of this speaks volumes as to what and who you are. 

The fact that you choose to see racism, deconstructing Kong into a wild animal, underscores your actual feelings towards non-Caucasians.

You, my friend, are a simple white man who chases ghosts in a fool's errand.

So, when Gary Dolphin said "Fernando was King Kong at the end of the game," he was saying Fernando's play was noble and dignified in contrast to the churlish and vulgar play of the Hawkeyes who, perhaps not coincidentally, have a mostly white roster.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I agree that it was the right ruling.  However what frustrates me is that again we have fallen into the trap of making a binary choice when it comes to racism.  It is either labelled "racist" or "not racist."  I think it is much more nuanced than this.  I doubt that the author had racist intent, but I can certainly understand why people would be offended.

Just like Dolphin's comment.  Is he racist?  I certainly do not think so.  But referring to a black player as "King Kong" is just wrong.  Comparing black people to monkey or apes has a long and sordid history not only here, but worldwide.  It was a stupid thing to do.  Even doubly stupid since he got in trouble earlier this year.

And what gets lost in this isn't the need to stamp out virulent racism, but the need to have a discussion which leads people to greater understanding and empathy.

Agreed with a lot of this. Racism is a spectrum,  not a binary.

[Jon]

So, when Gary Dolphin said "Fernando was King Kong at the end of the game," he was saying Fernando's play was noble and dignified in contrast to the churlish and vulgar play of the Hawkeyes who, perhaps not coincidentally, have a mostly white roster.

I am not referring to the Hawkeye broadcast. I was speaking to King Kong as allegory.

 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I am not referring to the Hawkeye broadcast. I was speaking to King Kong as allegory.
 

Whatever literary meaning Kong had originally isn’t how that phrase and that image has been used recently.

[Jockey]

Who is the ignorant racist?

King Kong is an anti-colonialist allegory. Kong, the noble beast, has a complex dignity which stands in direct contrast to the churlish, vulgar white people who have taken Kong in chains from his Eden.

Kong displays a virtuous nobility that the the boorish, materialistic Americans who abducted Kong cannot possibly fathom.

The Kong narrative is part of the romantic primitivism movement in which accomplished poets, painters, sculptors, and writers celebrated nature and derided the excesses of civilization. Your complete illiteracy of this speaks volumes as to what and who you are. 

The fact that you choose to see racism, deconstructing Kong into a wild animal, underscores your actual feelings towards non-Caucasians.

You, my friend, are a simple white man who chases ghosts in a fool's errand.

Nice copy/paste job.

Also, total nonsense.

[Cheeks]

But equally wrong are the people who think people are too sensitive about this stuff.  Just read the quotes about the petition to have him reinstated: "Gary Dolphin was wrongfully suspended for giving a collegiate athlete a compliment.  If you take Gary Dolphin's comment as being racist, I challenge you to search your own heart and see where you stand. I can tell you right now that Dolphin is NOT a racist and the comment in question is the furthest thing from it."

That shows a level of ignorance and lack of understanding that is really stunning to me.

It will never end, then.  Someone gets to arbitrarily make a judgement about a person’s heart, intent, etc.  Some will abuse it and weaponize it, examples aplenty and recent. Others, as you point out, will be too insensivitve about how another may feel whether that impact is simply one person upset or many. 

In my view trumpeting out the tired line “you white guys will never understand” does nothing to advance the conversation and has a racist tinge unto itself.  Or “you white guys have it so bad”.  Those absolutes are lazy, dangerous and downright hypocritical to paint a brush so broadly....but it is what people do.  Not necessary and counter productive.

Are we heading to a world where we can only have leaders, spokespeople, participants in the debate only along racial, gender, age, etc, lines if they fit into a said group?   Very dangerous, but sure feels at times that is where it is going.  “You haven’t lived in my shoes therefore you don’t matter”....no one has lived in anyone else’s shoes, but we sure like to paint people into select groupings.  I no doubt am guilty of it as well.

 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

It will never end, then.  Someone gets to arbitrarily make a judgement about a person’s heart, intent, etc.  Some will abuse it and weaponize it, examples aplenty and recent. Others, as you point out, will be too insensivitve about how another may feel whether that impact is simply one person upset or many. 

In my view trumpeting out the tired line “you white guys will never understand” does nothing to advance the conversation and has a racist tinge unto itself.  Or “you white guys have it so bad”.  Those absolutes are lazy, dangerous and downright hypocritical to paint a brush so broadly....but it is what people do.  Not necessary and counter productive.

Are we heading to a world where we can only have leaders, spokespeople, participants in the debate only along racial, gender, age, etc, lines if they fit into a said group?   Very dangerous, but sure feels at times that is where it is going.  “You haven’t lived in my shoes therefore you don’t matter”....no one has lived in anyone else’s shoes, but we sure like to paint people into select groupings.  I no doubt am guilty of it as well. 

Did you mean to quote me here?  Because you didn't really address my point at all.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

It will never end, then.  Someone gets to arbitrarily make a judgement about a person’s heart, intent, etc.

I think this is one of the problems here. Heart, intent, etc are not the important parts of the conversation. Impact is. I posted this story in another thread but it got locked before there was much time to respond, i'll repost it here:

This reminds me of a story I was told by a professor during one of my advertising classes. He said a while back, Chevy was trying to increase the amount of cars it sold in Mexico. They decided that the car that they were going to try and promote in Mexico was the Chevy Nova. After months of marketing, sales were impossibly low. They couldn't figure out the issue so they did some assessment of the locals. It was only then that they realized that Nova translates in Spanish to "No go" or "not going", not exactly a positive endorsement for a car. I don't remember if they changed the name of the car in Mexico or started marketing a different car but that fixed the issue.

Now I have no idea if that story is true or not, it was the example the professor gave to drive home an important lesson. It does not matter what message you intend to send, it matters what message your customer receives. The poor Nova sales were not the fault of the locals not understanding Chevy's message, they were the fault of Chevy not realizing what impact their message would have on the locals.

The same lesson can be applied here. I am willing to believe that Dolphin intended his comment as a compliment or at very least as a harmless descriptor. I don't think he is a racist who hates or thinks less of black people. I think he is a guy who made a mistake and said something that can reasonably be interpreted as racist or offensive. Comparing black people to monkeys has a long and awful history in our country, and I think it is reasonable for a person to be offended by the comparison, even if the intent was harmless.

I don't think Dolphin should be called a racist. I don't think he should be thrown in jail or even lose his job. I do think what he said was a racist statement. And I do think he should be held accountable for it. Because whether or not he intended to offend is irrelevant, he did offend people, that is inarguable, and you should be accountable for your actions, even if you had the best of intent. Given that part of a radio announcer's job is to not say offensive things on air, I do think a suspension is appropriate. We can argue about how long the suspension should be.

I think it would go a long way and show a lot of character if Dolphin owned his action and genuinely apologized for the negative impact that he unintentionally caused. I would hope that if he did that, people would find it in them to accept the apology and forgive. I would also hope that his suspension gets lifted and that he can be an even better announcer in the future.

[Pakuni]

It will never end, then.  Someone gets to arbitrarily make a judgement about a person’s heart, intent, etc.  Some will abuse it and weaponize it, examples aplenty and recent. Others, as you point out, will be too insensivitve about how another may feel whether that impact is simply one person upset or many. 

In my view trumpeting out the tired line “you white guys will never understand” does nothing to advance the conversation and has a racist tinge unto itself.  Or “you white guys have it so bad”.  Those absolutes are lazy, dangerous and downright hypocritical to paint a brush so broadly....but it is what people do.  Not necessary and counter productive.

Are we heading to a world where we can only have leaders, spokespeople, participants in the debate only along racial, gender, age, etc, lines if they fit into a said group?   Very dangerous, but sure feels at times that is where it is going.  “You haven’t lived in my shoes therefore you don’t matter”....no one has lived in anyone else’s shoes, but we sure like to paint people into select groupings.  I no doubt am guilty of it as well.

It may very well be that some "white guys like you" will never understand, but when people say that, it's typically in response to white guys like you telling people who are unlike you how they should think and feel (and, typically, they should think and feel like you do).

So, because you don't find Gary Dolphin's comments offensive, it's ridiculous that anyone would. Or because you don't see a problem with the Jalen Johnson blackface signs, it's outrageous that anyone - including the kid targeted by those signs - should see a problem there.

It has zero to do with leaders, spokespeople, debate, hearts, intents, etc. It has to do with respecting the fact that people from different backgrounds and cultures, and with different experiences in life, can find things offensive that you find harmless, based on your background, culture and experiences.

While you aren't required to agree with or share their viewpoint, you should at least respect and be sensitive to it, rather than declaring yours as the only valid opinion. And you shouldn't be nearly as threatened by that as you seem to be.

And, fwiw, I don't see anyone here making a judgement about Dolphin's heart or intent, beyond saying they don't believe he was intentionally racist. He just said something ignorant.

[dgies9156]

I think this is one of the problems here. Heart, intent, etc are not the important parts of the conversation. Impact is. I posted this story in another thread but it got locked before there was much time to respond, i'll repost it here:

Brother TAMU, excellent post. While I may thing the reference is perfectly fine, we live in a multi-dimensional world where other people see things differently. Mr. Dolphin said as much in his acknowledgement and his comment, that he will work to better understand others, is all class.

I actually remember Gary Dolphin from his early days as a sportscaster in Dubuque. Seems like a reasonably pleasant guy.

[21Jumpstreet]

And there is a long history of racists comparing black people to monkeys.

Perhaps the guy was simply ignorant.  He isn't any longer.

Truth

[21Jumpstreet]

Speaking of which, that was also ruled not racist yesterday.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/more/la-sp-serena-williams-cartoon-20190225-story.html

Any people of color on the council? Anyone on the council live dealing with racist stereotypes? Who supports the council both financially and as a seat holder at the council table? How are they chosen? Honest questions.

[Cheeks]

Whatever literary meaning Kong had originally isn’t how that phrase and that image has been used recently.

How has it been used recently?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

How has it been used recently?

Sorry but "recently" was a bad choice of words on my point.  It may have had a literary meaning similar to what Jon was talking about, but this is what I mean.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/01/15/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history_a_23333383/

[Cheeks]

It may very well be that some "white guys like you" will never understand, but when people say that, it's typically in response to white guys like you telling people who are unlike you how they should think and feel (and, typically, they should think and feel like you do).

So, because you don't find Gary Dolphin's comments offensive, it's ridiculous that anyone would. Or because you don't see a problem with the Jalen Johnson blackface signs, it's outrageous that anyone - including the kid targeted by those signs - should see a problem there.

It has zero to do with leaders, spokespeople, debate, hearts, intents, etc. It has to do with respecting the fact that people from different backgrounds and cultures, and with different experiences in life, can find things offensive that you find harmless, based on your background, culture and experiences.

While you aren't required to agree with or share their viewpoint, you should at least respect and be sensitive to it, rather than declaring yours as the only valid opinion. And you shouldn't be nearly as threatened by that as you seem to be.

And, fwiw, I don't see anyone here making a judgement about Dolphin's heart or intent, beyond saying they don't believe he was intentionally racist. He just said something ignorant.

But in other examples, people absolutely have said racist.  And in this particular example, people aplenty have said it was racist even if not said by the handful here on this board.

And if you think it is helpful dialogue by others here to throw out the white guy line, or rich, or fat, or whatever lazy term is the flavor of the day and think that is going to be productive or win hearts and minds....I believe that is a poor approach and continues to drive wedges.  All it is doing is broadly labeling people because they may not agree with you and is, in itself, a racist comment.

Any time a comment is made to disparage a group of people because of race, it fits the definition of racism. Text book definition. Some here have been doing this multiple times today, and in the past, but apparently feel just fine with it.  Targeting people purely because of their race.  Truly something to be behold. 

[Cheeks]

Sorry but "recently" was a bad choice of words on my point.  It may have had a literary meaning similar to what Jon was talking about, but this is what I mean.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/01/15/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history_a_23333383/

I was referring to King Kong specifically, but yes aware of the other references.  As others have stated, sure feels like this was a reference to a powerful beast like creature and meant in such a way. 

I always remembered Kong as this majestic creature, smart, powerful and ultimately got his revenge against the evil done against him.  Never saw the original.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

But in other examples, people absolutely have said racist.  And in this particular example, people aplenty have said it was racist even if not said by the handful here on this board.

And if you think it is helpful dialogue by others here to throw out the white guy line, or rich, or fat, or whatever lazy term is the flavor of the day and think that is going to be productive or win hearts and minds....I believe that is a poor approach and continues to drive wedges.  All it is doing is broadly labeling people because they may not agree with you and is, in itself, a racist comment.

Any time a comment is made to disparage a group of people because of race, it fits the definition of racism. Text book definition. Some here have been doing this multiple times today, and in the past, but apparently feel just fine with it.  Targeting people purely because of their race.  Truly something to be behold.

Poor thing.  Always the victim.

[Cheeks]

Any people of color on the council? Anyone on the council live dealing with racist stereotypes? Who supports the council both financially and as a seat holder at the council table? How are they chosen? Honest questions.

I don’t know, here is information.

https://www.presscouncil.org.au/who-are-our-members/

[jesmu84]

[jesmu84]

It will never end, then.  Someone gets to arbitrarily make a judgement about a person’s heart, intent, etc.  Some will abuse it and weaponize it, examples aplenty and recent. Others, as you point out, will be too insensivitve about how another may feel whether that impact is simply one person upset or many. 

In my view trumpeting out the tired line “you white guys will never understand” does nothing to advance the conversation and has a racist tinge unto itself.  Or “you white guys have it so bad”.  Those absolutes are lazy, dangerous and downright hypocritical to paint a brush so broadly....but it is what people do.  Not necessary and counter productive.

Are we heading to a world where we can only have leaders, spokespeople, participants in the debate only along racial, gender, age, etc, lines if they fit into a said group?   Very dangerous, but sure feels at times that is where it is going.  “You haven’t lived in my shoes therefore you don’t matter”....no one has lived in anyone else’s shoes, but we sure like to paint people into select groupings.  I no doubt am guilty of it as well.

 

Yup. Just like always has been and always will be.

Guess that means we shouldn't try to listen and be more respectful, empathetic and improve as individuals.

*Shrugs*

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Cheeks, I'm curious what you think about my Chevy Nova story. I've shared it with you in two threads and now in both threads you didn't respond either time. Agree? Disagree? No opinion?