OT: Author of Controversial Lin Headline Responds via Twitter

[OkaForPrez]

For those of you who debated the intent of the ESPN Jeremy Lin Headline:

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/g2gn26

Whether you're in the "he did it on purpose camp", the "he should have known better camp" or the "he's a victim, everyone is overreacting camp" this helps, at least somewhat, to personalize the matter.

Previous Thread:

http://www.the-boneyard.com/threads/espn-employment-opportunity.13861/#post-169325

 

[champs99and04]

Just as I supposed, it was an honest mistake not to be taken as a pun. You can argue how severely he should be punished for this mistake, but I think it's unfair to crucify the guy when all of us have made mistakes in our every day lives.

This story, IMO, is less about the mistake one individual made and more about the current state of our editing/publishing industry. In an age where it has become so easy to press the send button and offend thousands of people around the globe within minutes, it calls into question the use of social media in our society, and how this could problem could be infecting websites such as ESPN.

Ideally, more than one set of eyeballs would scan a headline waiting to be published at a website as respected as ESPN.com. The whole process lacks credibility, and is extremely prone to big mistakes such as this one.

 

[Prezidint]

Here are the two possibilities:

1. He knew exactly what he was writing and the implication of the word "chink."
2. It didn't occur to him that he was using the word "chink" in the same sentence of a phenomenon that is centered, in large part, around the seminal success of an American of Chinese descent rising to fame in basketball.

If you believe 1, then he should have been fired for being a jerk and lacking judgment.
If you believe 2, then he should have been fired for being an idiot who had such a poor, poor grasp of social morays.

Odds of 1 - 99.9% of 2 - 0.1%

The guy is most likely a liar, and it's about as believable that he didn't know what he was doing as it is that the Jet's sideline coach didn't intend to throw the knee during the kickback.

 

[businesslawyer]

If ever we needed proof that maybe Twitter wasn't a good idea ....

This is really very simple. Calling a Chinese -- American a "chink" is racist. Saying that coaching punt protection was a "chink" in Randy Edsall's armor is not racist. The author tried to be clever by using a racist reference in what he thought for a moment was a non-racist manner, and it blew up in his face.

He may be a superior human being who goofed. He may not be. But what I do know is that in the context of his headline no one cares. And that he could be Mother Theresa, and I'd never hire him to write or edit anything.

 

[progrocks]

I have known him since he was a kid and everything he wrote is true. He is a really good kid and there is not a racist bone in his body. He told me that it never crossed his mind and he was not trying to be cheeky, he just used a headline he had used many many times in the past. It was obviously a mistake, but does everyone in the world even know that is a slur? I have never used that term used and I have hung out with many Asians over the years. I went to a college where you know everything that is PC and not, but at his age I do not know what his awareness was. He is not a liar though, hat I am sure of.

 

[Fishy]

I have known him since he was a kid and everything he wrote is true. He is a really good kid and there is not a racist bone in his body.

That's good enough for me. It was a blinding lack of awareness that seems to have done him in.

I read that the anchor who is serving the 30-day suspension is actually married to an Asian woman.

I am guessing that two reasonably decent people are paying a huge price for an impressive but innocent mistake.

 

[champs99and04]

Let's all come down off our high horses here before somebody gets hurt. This thread is more than enough proof of the "guilty until proven innocent" society that we currently live in. As an editor and writer of such a popular website, this guy should have a better understanding of how certain words and phrases will be taken by readers. However, people make mistakes, and one mistake should not outweigh a career (so he claims) of success. Firing him does no good, as it is just as likely that the next man in line will make a similar mistake as it is that a guy who has held that job for years will *k up again, and crucifying him on a message board is even more useless.

This is an example of a guy who at 3 in the morning, made a *king mistake that I'm sure you all make on a daily basis. Fortunately for you, your mistakes are not read and talked about by a whole country of readers because your work has to be edited and reviewed by higherups.

The problem here is more of an instituional problem and less of an individual one. If you don't understand how "chink in the armor" could easily be applied to a rising star coming off a bad game, then I guess you just have that sixth sense. I bow to you people.

 

[businesslawyer]

Let's all come down off our high horses here before somebody gets hurt. This thread is more than enough proof of the "guilty until proven innocent" society that we currently live in. As an editor and writer of such a popular website, this guy should have a better understanding of how certain words and phrases will be taken by readers. However, people make mistakes, and one mistake should not outweigh a career (so he claims) of success. Firing him does no good, as it is just as likely that the next man in line will make a similar mistake as it is that a guy who has held that job for years will *k up again, and crucifying him on a message board is even more useless.

This is an example of a guy who at 3 in the morning, made a *king mistake that I'm sure you all make on a daily basis. Fortunately for you, your mistakes are not read and talked about by a whole country of readers because your work has to be edited and reviewed by higherups.

The problem here is more of an instituional problem and less of an individual one. If you don't understand how "chink in the armor" could easily be applied to a rising star coming off a bad game, then I guess you just have that sixth sense. I bow to you people.

No. He made a mistake that his employer can not risk someone making, so they will find someone who won't make it. It's no more complicated than that. And this "it was an accident and I'm a good person" stuff, even if entirely 100% true, doesn't mean ESPN can afford someone who makes that kind of mistake having editorial power over any part of its network.

 

[caw]

No. He made a mistake that his employer can not risk someone making, so they will find someone who won't make it. It's no more complicated than that. And this "it was an accident and I'm a good person" stuff, even if entirely 100% true, doesn't mean ESPN can afford someone who makes that kind of mistake having editorial power over any part of its network.

I agree he should have been fired, for being an idiot who obviously missed something that could be construed in a horribly wrong way. I don't think it was racist, but nowadays you can't afford to even make the mistake of appearing racist. He should have seen the potential issues with the headline and not used them. He blew it, he was fired.

 

[alexrgct]

I'm only endowed with five senses...and a keen awareness that chink is a racial epithet and should not be used in conjunction with a story about about a Taiwanese-American athlete.

Sometimes we make mistakes in life that are accidents. We are nevertheless accountable for those mistakes. I am happy to grant him innocence until guilt is proven with respect to him being a bigot. He is, however, manifestly guilty of having failed spectacularly at his job (which included not publishing headlines that are liable to offend a hefty percentage of the world's population), from which he was rightfully terminated.

 

[superjohn]

If you know the guy and can vouch for him than I guess maybe I can accept it was an honest mistake and a total lack of awareness but to suggest that anyone doesn't know that the word "chink" is a racist slur against Chinese people is nonsense.

 

[specialisthusky]

if everything in his twitter response is true i expect him to bounce back and learn from his mistake...i hope he was being honest and that he grows personally and professionally from his mistake.

he had to lose his job over that one though.

 

[Devland]

The ironic thing about this whole story was that New York Knicks anouncer Spero Dedes used the same term on air before the ESPN incedent and it was brushed off as a mistake with no punishment.

 

[uc1974]

Many overreact to everything these days. Most are quick to put the worst possible connotation on everything. The solution usually costs someone his/her job. I would submit that subtle forms of discrimination are far more dangerous and far more worrysome than an overt oops or even an overt attempt to be clever that failed. Higher-ups at ESPN are the screw-ups here because there appears to have been no proofing or responsible checking of content. But, because some human must be sacrificed the young man was easy pickings. The military tried that constantly during my time in Viet Nam, usually trying to slam some poor NCO for some mistake when really the colonel was responsible. The ancient Hebrews put it all on a goat and drove if off a hill to its death. Glad I'm mostly retired.

 

[8893]

If progrocks vouches for him, I accept it. It was extremely difficult to reach any conclusion other than that the double entendre was intentional, when his job was to write headlines for a media outlet for which clever, cheeky headlines is one of its most defining characteristics. It was even more difficult when ESPN did nothing to suggest that it wasn't intentional, and fired him immediately. I still have a hard time believing that it wasn't intentional; I have an easier time believing that he didn't realize that the term was offensive, as incredible as that may seem, too. In any event, if all he says is true, it's a tough turn of events for a seemingly good, young guy. But he's still a good, young guy, and as such should have plenty of other opportunities sooner or later. For the self-professed "Worldwide Leader in Sports," it was obviously something that they couldn't afford to even appear to countenance. I suppose even if they did believe him, those up the chain from him wanted it to end swiftly rather than go to bat for him and try to use this as a learning experience for him, for them, and for their own audience as well.

 

[rman726]

If you know the guy and can vouch for him than I guess maybe I can accept it was an honest mistake and a total lack of awareness but to suggest that anyone doesn't know that the word "chink" is a racist slur against Chinese people is nonsense.

I know full well that it is a racial slur. However, when I first saw the headline, I thought nothing of it. I just thought of the very common "chink in the armor" phrase that is used all the time for athletes who show a weakness. If a big deal wasn't made about it, I wouldn't have even thought twice about it.

Was it truly a mistake? Only he knows for sure. But I don't see how so many people can be so sure about knowing what his true intentions were.

 

[NOTaDIME]

Here are the two possibilities:

1. He knew exactly what he was writing and the implication of the word "chink."
2. It didn't occur to him that he was using the word "chink" in the same sentence of a phenomenon that is centered, in large part, around the seminal success of an American of Chinese descent rising to fame in basketball.

This is pretty much my take on the situation as well except for a change in the percentages maybe. Maybe it was an honest mistake, maybe it wasn't but either way do you expect the guy to come out and say "you caught me, I was trying to make a witty racial slur."? Absolutely not. He is going to try and save his image in the best way he can which is saying it was an honest mistake. He is going to responde this way whether or not it was ill intended or not. Hard for me to take too much stock in this.

If you believe 1, then he should have been fired for being a jerk and lacking judgment.
If you believe 2, then he should have been fired for being an idiot who had such a poor, poor grasp of social morays.

Odds of 1 - 99.9% of 2 - 0.1%

The guy is most likely a liar, and it's about as believable that he didn't know what he was doing as it is that the Jet's sideline coach didn't intend to throw the knee during the kickback.

This is pretty much how I feel except maybe for a change in the percentages. It's hard to take much stock in this because he is going to say this to save his image no matter if the headline was ill intended or not. Do people expect him to say "they caught me, I was purposefully making a witty racial slur,"? Maybe it was an honest mistake, maybe it wasn't but you're not going to decipher it from this.

 

[progrocks]

He spent his vacation time in Haiti a couple years ago doing relief work, he is not someone who is going about throwing racial epitaphs around. Also, he has said he understands why ESPN had to be let go, he is just trying to rescue what remains of his career. He says he used that headline many times and did not think of it racially, and before this, no one else did either. Is this a turn that is no retired from our vernacular in all cases? What other old ass phrases are acceptable to state regarding people of certain backgrounds but not others? Seriously, I am wondering.

 

[8893]

He says he used that headline many times and did not think of it racially, and before this, no one else did either. Is this a turn that is no retired from our vernacular in all cases? What other old ass phrases are acceptable to state regarding people of certain backgrounds but not others? Seriously, I am wondering.

No, I don't think the term is retired at all. There is nothing wrong with the term when not used in circumstances where it is susceptible to giving rise to a suggestion of the alternate meaning of "chink" as a racial slur. I'd guess that that's 99.9% of the time.

I was trying to think of an analogous situation with another phrase tonight, while watching the Knicks/Heat game. Off the top of my head, "in the black" came to mind. The term obviously refers to being profitable. But what if it appeared as a headline above Wade, Bosch and James when they first teamed up to form a juggernaut in Miami? "Black" is not even a racial slur (at least as far as I know), but just the reference alone in connection with three black athletes would probably be deemed too offensive to run.

Here's another one that's a bit more obscure: Offbeat, a New Orleans music magazine, ran a cover story a few years ago that had the members of a new, local, alt-rock band named MyNameIsJohnMichael--all of whom are caucasian--hanging from a playground, accompanied by the headline: "Strange Fruit, MyNameIsJohnMichael is waiting to get picked." The problem? The term "strange fruit" apparently is an old, crude reference to lynching, made famous by a Billie Holiday song of the same name. I subscribe to the magazine and was unaware of the reference until seeing the hubbub about it a short time later, after which the magazine issued an apology. It is summarized here:
http://jessemuhammad.blogs.finalcall.com/2010/03/strange-fruit-strange-coveris-offbeat.html

 

[tzznandrew]

He spent his vacation time in Haiti a couple years ago doing relief work, he is not someone who is going about throwing racial epitaphs around. Also, he has said he understands why ESPN had to be let go, he is just trying to rescue what remains of his career. He says he used that headline many times and did not think of it racially, and before this, no one else did either. Is this a turn that is no retired from our vernacular in all cases? What other old ass phrases are acceptable to state regarding people of certain backgrounds but not others? Seriously, I am wondering.

If people think the guy is a bad person because of this, they're stupid. Good people make mistakes/do dumb things all the time.

But he deserved to be seriously reprimanded or lose his job. Mistakes have consequences.

 

[businesslawyer]

He spent his vacation time in Haiti a couple years ago doing relief work, he is not someone who is going about throwing racial epitaphs around. Also, he has said he understands why ESPN had to be let go, he is just trying to rescue what remains of his career. He says he used that headline many times and did not think of it racially, and before this, no one else did either. Is this a turn that is no retired from our vernacular in all cases? What other old ass phrases are acceptable to state regarding people of certain backgrounds but not others? Seriously, I am wondering.

I understand that you know the young man, but neither you nor he is helping his cause by keeping this discussion alive. Just let it die and in a few months he can get a job that just doesn't rely on his judgment for the final edit on something being printed, broadcast or sent on the internet.

And for the record, there is zero confusion about what is or is not allowable here. It is fine to use the phrase "chink in one's armor," in which the word chink has nothing to do with those of chinese origin and comes from a different root, so long as you don't use it in connection to a human being of chinese origin. Despite your and your friend's seeming confusion over this, the rest of the country doesn't seem to have any issue understanding such an obvious rule of use.