Wow... a downvote for that eh?? On top of the down vote I received for the first one, I guess I should be honored, as they are collectively my first two down votes...ever. As I said earlier, its free speech until they disagree with you, then its hate speech...

I don't disagree that there is a great sense of political correctness out there for more and more issues but I do feel like this specific instance was just stupid by the ESPN writer. These guys are pretty smart at coming up with these correlative titles and there is no denying that the word 'Chink' is a racial slur. The way they displayed it where the text is very prominent and the first thing you see with the picture of an Asian guy, you risk it being taken out of context. That is just not smart. See attached photo. I have a friend who has never heard of the 'Chink in the armor' statement but knows that the term 'chink' is a racial slur, which he thought was offensive when shown with the prominent photo.

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ESPN-Lin-headline-620x455.jpg

MDsooner,

Your point regarding that the double entendre is somehow not applicable is a stretch, in my opinion. To assume that everyone shouldn't make assumptions or read/talk/communicate without any prior context is not realistic...sorry, no one lives in the "wouldn't it be nice if.." vacuum world. People are messy and have different backgrounds and experiences that represent who they are as they interact. I would argue that assuming people shouldn't read things in a certain way is very short-sided and somewhat ignorant about the differences that we all represent. I also worry about the freedom of speech as a constant excuse for tolerating stupidity and the easy way out for continual negative treatment towards those who are different. Given your point regarding free speech, I'm sure we would still be calling blacks 'colored people' as that should be ok since it's just an observation and another way of saying black so you can conveniently ignore the negative aspect of it. I find this actually amusing with the prominence of lin as the Asians are going through what the blacks did in the early days with whites in sports.

The fundamental point is that no one argues the adage 'chink in the armor' is applicable in explaining a weakness but I also don't think it takes a rocket scientist to know that chink is also a derogatory statement towards Asians. So using the term in anyway regarding an Asian is not very intelligent and risks being interpreted very badly - the burden is also on the writer to use good judgement if no true ill intent is meant.

The funniest part about this whole thread is that nobody has even brought up the fact that the person trying to say that Chink was properly used, so it was totally appropriate, also refers to the Chinese as "Chinaman".

The arguments on this subject are futile. If you don't see the poor taste exhibited by ESPN, then nothing that is said on a message board is going to enlighten you. The free speech arguments are also inappropriate. Free speech doesn't mean that you can embarrass your employer by making racially insensitive remarks without getting fired. By the way - don't read what someone wrote, then attack them for being intolerant by using the free speech argument - I think that anyone would be able to see the hypocrisy in that.

Actually the funniest part about this thread would be your total whiff on the issue at hand, if it weren't so sad. One can only hope you are not representative of all OU graduates.

Obviously, some people have not seen The Big Lebowski. The Chinaman is not the issue here, dude.

In all seriousness, we have progressed (or, one could easily argue, digressed) to a deeper argument that rests on a very fine line, surrounded in grey and bullet points supporting this and that.

Going that deep is useless. Or at least wasteful with precious minutes. Pretty simple: this is the world we live in, so writing that tells me that guy didn't care very much for his job. If he did, he wouldn't have done it. That, or he is supremly nieve.

I just went to ESPN's homepage and half of the headlines are plays on words, having double meanings one can only guess will illicit a response from the reader (typically a chuckle or to garner interest).

For example: "Ready to Pounce" regarding another Asian ladies man named Tiger. Get it!?

Take this to whatever underlying, societal level you want, but the nature of the sports headline points towards poor taste more than anything. Simply a bit garish and heavy handed.

This thread and the arguments here are the issue. Any half brained mouth breather should see that this is not cooth (not a crime or an act of intolerance) and just move on with a wry smile and a shake of the head. Have fun finding a new job, jokester.