Kevin Cullen’s column on the Celtics got a lot less interesting — and a lot more politically correct — between yesterday and this morning. Media Nation commenters here and here explain. What is wrong with the Globe’s editors?
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He refers to Pollard and Scal as “white guys” but uses African-American to describe the others. Typical Globe double standard.
I don’t know what style the Globe uses, but with AP style we’re not even allowed to use the term African American, we write “black,” which I think is definitely more appropriate.
The editors can’t halp themselves they are liberal fruitcakes.
While sometimes I might join in the conspiracy theories about the Globe’s political correctness, this time the (copy) editor was probably fully justified in making the change.When I originally read the web-version on Saturday, that particular paragraph stuck out in my mind. In one part of the paragraph it used “black”, in another part it used “African-American.” At the time I actually wondered why the Globe would use both?I don’t care if a newspaper uses one or the other, but it ought to be consistent. Whichever one is used is simply a matter of following the paper’s style manual.
It should be pointed out that Black and African-American are not even synonomous, although you couldn’t tell that from most tortured public discourse. There are plenty of Black athletes who are not African-American and, while this may not apply to the Celtics, it applies all over the demographic map. So the style books of these increasingly sub-literate publications should figure out what they are trying to say. And why.
This article shows very clearly the fallacy of political correctness. First of all, why does it matter the race of a player (or, following that) the President? Shouldn’t we focus on their accomplishments, their competency, and their character? Also, most “black” people are not even African-American. They are simply American, who happen to have dark skin. The fact that we get so bogged down with semantics is, IMO, the reason this continues to be a problem.
“Say it loud! I’m black and I’m proud.” — James Brown