Quote:
Originally Posted by tvp2003
I'll reply since it was mentioned in my post -- to clarify, I wasn't speaking about ignorance of the law (I heard about the Nanaimo thing and thought it was incredibly stupid that she got a ticket, for a number of reasons). This incident, much like the Jeremy Lin incident, involved the public use of a racial slur followed by a claim that they didn't know it was offensive. Granted, being employed by ESPN to write headlines is not the same as firing off a message on your twitter account, but in either instance I don't think it's good enough to simply say "oops, didn't know it was a slur".
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The ESPN writer never claimed that he didn't know 'chink' was offensive, he simply didn't put two and two together when using the phrase in the headline. The word has multiple meanings, using 'chink in the armor' under a picture of LeBron wouldn't have caused anyone to bat an eye, using it under a picture of Lin obviously evokes another meaning. I can quite easily see someone using the phrase without considering that result, although they (or more accurately an editor) should be aware of that before publishing.
This situation is completely different. This isn't a matter of interpretation gone wrong or an innocuous use of the term being transformed by the accompanying image. This is a clear and intentional reference to Chinese people as 'chinks'. As I said above, he's either racist, stupid, or both.