Fox News refers to Michelle Obama as Senator Obama’s “Baby Mama”.
So here’s the thing (because during this campaign I’m apparently learning that we black people have our own secret code and hand signals so this stuff has to be explained like you are speaking to a child at times), using the phrase “baby mama” to describe this woman implies that like too many people in the black community, she is a mother on her own with no man around doing his job.
Except, Barack and Michelle Obama are the exact opposite of this, and that is one of the reason America – especially black America – are so proud of them.
But Fox News is the network that tears down those who do not toe the line, and if that means they should resort to jive to describe a black woman as a “baby mama” despite the strength of her family and her own personal success, so be it.
Screw you guys.
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Here’s an article in Slate discussing the term ‘baby mama.’ I had never even heard of the term until the Tina Fey movie came out.
http://www.slate.com/id/2141083/
This appears to be another one of those racist terms that’s part of some book somewhere. Where is the Amazon link for that?
Ooops. Sorry. I said ‘Amazon.’ I wouldn’t want that to be construed as racist. Maybe Barnes & Noble has it?
This is going to be the Obama Surrogate Campaign between now and November. “RACISM THERE! AND THERE! AND OVER THERE! AND UNDER THERE! AND BEHIND THERE! AND OUTSIDE THERE! AND IN THAT HOLE! AND NEAR THAT DOOR!”
I had never even heard of the term until the Tina Fey movie came out.
Well then clearly you’ve been hiding in a fucking cave for the last 20 years.
The McCain surrogate campaign is boiling down to: “SO I CALLED YOU A NIGGER, HOW IS THAT RACIST, YOU MONKEY?”
Assholes.
Black folks need to stop pretending that Fox News believes that Black Americans are human beings. We are simply props to be displayed in its never-ending effort to place Blacks on a minstrel stage because it suits and please its viewers. The very idea that it can with impunity appropriate elements of Black slang or argot and apply it to people like Michelle Obama is a genuine sign of their disdain for African Americans as a whole.
Well then clearly you’ve been hiding in a fucking cave for the last 20 years.
Really? Show me where “baby mama” has been used over the last 20 years outside this “fucking cave” I live in that it’s such a common racist term that is used. According to the Wiki entry, it’s a Jamaican Creole term that originated in 1989.
Cripes, Google searches on the term combined with racist and racism do nothing but send you to reviews of the movie, this site and some page at DailyKos!
Jay: “Here’s an article in Slate discussing the term ‘baby mama.’ I had never even heard of the term until the Tina Fey movie came out.”
Translation: I’m ignorant, therefore you are wrong.
Oliver: “The McCain surrogate campaign is boiling down to: “SO I CALLED YOU A NIGGER, HOW IS THAT RACIST, YOU MONKEY?””
Remember, calling Obama ‘elite’ is code word for calling him an ‘Uppity nigger.’ I have no doubts in my mind about that.
On a side note, O’Reilly let slip the amazing racism that hides in his mind.
dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/11/194716/058/644/534300
Apparently inner city school kids don’t have value systems. I can almost guarantee that he will be amazed that people think his quote was racist.
I’m sure that Jay would have no problem with a supposedly objective news network using that term to describe the wife of a Republican presidential candidate (rolls eyes). Even if the term isn’t racist, it’s still condescending and patronizing. Even if Oliver is wrong that the term is a racial slur, that still doesn’t mean it is appropriate to use it to describe Mrs. Obama. Good grief, the F(R)NC didn’t even surround those two words with quotation marks!
The Fox “News” Network is completely out of control.
The phrase baby mama has been a staple of rap music and pop culture for the last 20 years or so. It’s not some phrase made up for a Tina Fey movie.
Don’t blame me because you’ve got your head in the sand. Do you think they would have called Cindy McCain a “baby mama”? No, they wouldn’t. God, you cons piss me off with your faked ignorance.
“Really? Show me where ‘baby mama’ has been used over the last 20 years outside this ‘fucking cave’ I live in that it’s such a common racist term that is used. According to the Wiki entry, it’s a Jamaican Creole term that originated in 1989.”
It’s a term used by blacks in American to describe either a woman who got pregnant to keep her man, or a woman who was made pregnant by her man who then left.
Either case, it doesn’t apply here. Fox News is using it for another reason, to emphasize Michelle Obama’s blackness.
Think of it this way… Midnight is not a racist word. It is a word used to describe the midpoint of the night. However, it because racist based on its context. For instance, using it to describe a black man with a dark complexion.
Do you understand now?
The phrase baby mama has been a staple of rap music and pop culture for the last 20 years or so.
A staple? You send me over to Youtube where 90% of the videos are fot the frigging movie! If it’s such a racist term, why would Hollywood even give a film that name? A “staple.” Puh-lease.
Don’t blame me because you’ve got your head in the sand.
Oh please. I don’t have my head in the sand. You have your panties in a bunch.
Do you think they would have called Cindy McCain a “baby mama”?
No, but you and others on the left have no problem calling Cindy McCain a “trophy wife.” Is that any less disrespectful than calling Michelle Obama a “baby mama?” Your hypocrisy sometimes knows no bounds Oliver.
God, you cons piss me off with your faked ignorance
And you annoy me with your often phony outrage.
I agree with Daniel that it isn’t an appropriate term to use for the wife of a Presidential candidate and sitting Senator, but give the howls of racism a rest for 20 seconds will you?
I would like to ask Jay a question: Even if the term isn’t racist, do you think it was appropriate for Fox “News” to characterize Michelle Obama in that manner…or are you taking the “as long as the term isn’t racist, then there’s nothing wrong with it” attitude?
Oliver,
When I heard this on another board, I was pretty angry and called the person out on it. Apparently it comes from something SHE said, referring to Sen Obama as her baby’s daddy. Seems Michelle Malkin thinks it is a cute turn of phrase. It is a stupid thing to say, but I don’t think it’s intention is to be racist. I don’t much know, epithets bother me less I suppose, “kike” and “heeb” and “shylock” are the worst I get.
Sorry Michelle Malkin is such an idiot. However I would hardly call her a McCain Surrogate.
Respectfully,
The Squid
BTW,
Here is one of the instances where she used the term “my baby’s daddy” to describe Sen Obama.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0411/02/se.06.html
Respectfully,
The Squid
“No, but you and others on the left have no problem calling Cindy McCain a ‘”trophy wife.’”
Got any examples of this? And even if you have examples coming out of the wazoo, I doubt any of them would come from the caption of a nationally broadcast, supposed-to-be-objective news network.
“A staple? You send me over to Youtube where 90% of the videos are fot the frigging movie! If it’s such a racist term, why would Hollywood even give a film that name? A “staple.” Puh-lease.”
The term “baby mama” has been bandied about as a term of derision by a younger generation of African Americans for at least 10 years. The fact that your Google searches throws up the title of Tina Fey’s movie is proof of nothing other than the term has now been appropriated by those mainstream Americans who represent the so-called hipoisie. Tine Fey and her colleagues are part of that set.
I know Fox News has been bullshitting us for years, but all of a sudden I need to crush Fox News. What can we do to ratfuck them? How we can hurt them the most? I know this is just a pathetic comment on a blog, but fuck, I’ve had it. Boycott? Calling up, pretending to be the core demo, and saying we’re switching to MSNBC? What? How? Argh!
And no, I don’t expect a heartfelt apology from Malkin and Fox.
“Sorry Michelle Malkin is such an idiot. However I would hardly call her a McCain Surrogate.”
Oliver never claimed Michelle Malkin to be a “McCain surrogate.”
Rather awkward sentence. Let me try again: Oliver never claimed that Michelle Malkin is a “McCain surrogate.”
The term “baby mama” has been bandied about as a term of derision by a younger generation of African Americans for at least 10 years.
Total bullshit.
BTW, I strongly suspect that the term “baby mama” is derived from the term “trick baby” which is a child conceived by a prostitute during intercourse with a customer.
The derivation is derived from the view that only a low class woman, i.e., a whore would get pregnant to keep her man, or a woman who was made pregnant by her man who then left.
“And no, I don’t expect a heartfelt apology from Malkin and Fox.”
You’re more likely to see Larry Flynt appearing at an anti-pornography rally.
“BTW, I strongly suspect that the term “baby mama” is derived from the term “trick baby” which is a child conceived by a prostitute during intercourse with a customer.
The derivation is derived from the view that only a low class woman, i.e., a whore would get pregnant to keep her man, or a woman who was made pregnant by her man who then left.”
As I understand it (mostly from my wifes clients) this is a term used mostly by men who are trying to denote their special relationship with the woman while showing that he is not romantically involved. Am I off base here.
Daniel,
This is what I was referring too:
“The McCain surrogate campaign is boiling down to: “SO I CALLED YOU A NIGGER, HOW IS THAT RACIST, YOU MONKEY?””
I stand by the contention that Ms Malkin using this phrase was in reference to Michelle Obamas use of the phrase “my Baby’s daddy”.
Respectfully,
The Squid
Jay,
You are wrong in this one, very wrong. My wife has alot of clients who use this type of language and it is a very common term. So common that my wife even uses it when talking about her cases and she is a Irish Southerner.
Respectfully,
The Squid
“Calling up, pretending to be the core demo, and saying we’re switching to MSNBC?”
They will never believe it, MSNBC has made no secret that it wants to be the liberal Fox.
Respectfully,
The Squid
Jay, have you ever talked to a black person? Seen Jerry Springer? Or Maury Povich? You’ve time and again pulled this bewildered act which says you either live in a cave somewhere or youre full of it. Sorry, but we aren’t going to let the cons and their new networks launch racial attacks then believe you when you make these unbelievable claims of ignorance.
I may be black but I’ve lived in the Burbs my whole life. My closest friends are whites and Asians. And we’ve all heard of a baby mama.
My best guess is you have too, but the confused act works here.
Shorter Jay:
The term “baby mama” cannot be construed as racist because I’m an idiot.
Squid, when someone is posting an explanation like this:
“BTW, I strongly suspect that the term “baby mama” is derived from the term “trick baby” which is a child conceived by a prostitute during intercourse with a customer.”
You should not directly quote it and then follow up with:
“As I understand it (mostly from my wifes clients)…” to rebut it. It gives an impression I am sure you did not mean to make.
Oliver,
Well said.
Respectfully,
The Squid
“As I understand it (mostly from my wifes clients) this is a term used mostly by men who are trying to denote their special relationship with the woman while showing that he is not romantically involved. Am I off base here.”
You are not off-base because slang words and terms have a slippery edge and they can morph depending on time, place and geographical locations. Context is extremely important. When I was growing up, for example, we did not use the term “homeboy” or “homey” because it actually belonged to our fathers’ generation, i.e., black men who had migrated from the south to the north beginning in the mid-to late 1930s but principally during war years in the 1940s.
The term most emphatically did not refer to neighborhoods or “turfs” as it is used today. If you were from Houston, Texas it did not matter if you were from the Third or Fifth Ward. To other Houstonians, you were a homeboy because you were from Houston.
Squid, sorry dude, but I am going to have to disagree. I’m a pretty big fan of pop culture, and this is not a common term. Now “baby daddy” on the other hand is a very common term. In fact, I seem to remember a novel or book of some sort called, “Marry Your Baby Daddy” or something like that. You also see “baby daddy” being used on sites like TMZ, and in gossip columns and magazines like ‘People.’
“As I understand it (mostly from my wifes clients) this is a term used mostly by men who are trying to denote their special relationship with the woman while showing that he is not romantically involved. Am I off base here”
No you are not offbase here. It is indicative of the media trying to be “cute” with words and ends up being racist and offensive. I wish the media and the con media like Fox would stop playing fast and dumb with such language.
Well, I’m a 40 something woman in Indiana, and I can tell you that even in my “limited” experiance, I literally gasped when I saw the screen grab. I’ve only heard it used in deragatory terms, as a dismissal or out and out slur. Here’s just a taste from the Urban Dictionary-
Perfect way to address the wife of a Presidential candidate, no?
So you read TMZ, Jay?
google search “baby mama” site:www.tmz.com returns 13,100 hits.
When Barack Obama won the Illinois Senate seat, Michelle introduced him when he made his acceptance speech. If she’d only known he was going to be tapped for President, she wouldn’t have, in a crowd of screaming people, introduced him as “… my baby daddy …!” I laughed at the time, knowing it was slang and said “no she didn’t” … I JUST told someone last week that it would come back to haunt her!
“Total bullshit.”
Yes, Jay, you are right. Your ignorance and close mindeness and inability to entertain alternate realities or views is total bullshit.
Yes, it came back but what Michelle Obama meant and what Fox News means are two entirely different things.
Yes, it came back but what Michelle Obama meant and what Fox News means are two entirely different things
Yes, I know that quite well but tell that to the “Well, rappers use the “N” word so white people should be able to …” crowd.
There was no excuse, however, for FoxNews to use the term. That’s why I took that channel out of my remote 4 years ago ….
introduced him as “… my baby daddy …!”
Nope, she introduced him as “my baby’s daddy.
Its totally different. “baby daddy” is a slang term which has been explained above.
Baby’s daddy is not.
By calling her a baby mama they are denigrating their whole relationship and they’re doing it using racially charged terms.
Why don’t they call Cindy McCain a baby mama?
Sure, she gets called “trophy wife” in the comment section of blogs. We’re talking about supposed mainstream media here though making racist statements like baby mama though.
Qusan,
I largely agree with you but I have heard black women use Michelle Obama’s particular phrasing since I was a child and that was a long, long time ago. It was always used as a term of affection and it’s use was almost always confined to women who were part of two parent households.
Crusty, that’s interesting. According to TMZ, the following women are all “baby mamas”:
Isla Fisher
Rebecca Broussard
Angelina Jolie
Brynn Cameron
Soon-Yi Previn
Maybe it’s me, but I don’t think any of those women are African-American, yet I am being told the term “baby mama” is nothing but a term of derision directed at unmarried black women.
Jay, have you ever talked to a black person?
Yes Oliver, I have! And as much as I have, the term “baby mama” has never come up in conversation.
Seen Jerry Springer? Or Maury Povich?
Never. I’m very proud of that.
You’ve time and again pulled this bewildered act which says you either live in a cave somewhere or youre full of it
Oliver, sorry pal, buy are full of a steaming pile of bullshit. You’ve written stupid posts saying the term “stagehand” is racist, that the term “cotton picking” is racist, and it wasn’t just me that posed comments with a scratching of the head sort of tone, it was some of your more liberal commentators as well. You whip out the “bigot eruption” stuff more than I count. Many of the examples are accurate, some borderline and some are just stupid. Here you are referring to this incident as a “racial attack.”
Jay whatever “pop culture” you live in is probably the same one that thinks that the ethnic demographics of the City of New York are the same as of the cast of Friends and every movie Woody Allen ever shot.
I have been practicing law for almost fifteen years and the term was in common use in my office in 1995 discussing the “vernacular” for child-support ducking fathers and their mothers who wanted free legal advice on collection (we sent them politely to legal aid, I had bills to pay.) “Baby Mama” is arguably as much of an insult to Barack as to her; it suggests that he ran off, rather than met his responsibilities as the pretty boring, i.e. solid and loving, father that he appears to be.
“A staple? You send me over to Youtube where 90% of the videos are fot the frigging movie! If it’s such a racist term, why would Hollywood even give a film that name? A “staple.” Puh-lease.”
Jay, did you even read my ‘midnight’ example. A term does not have to be inherently racist to be used in a racist manner.
Holy crap, Jay.
Now you’re claiming to be an expert on black culture and slang? I mean, otherwise how would you be able to declare an explanation from PTCruiser as “total bullshit”?
Listen. I’m old. I’m white. I live in a state with a miniscule black population. I work in an office where I can go weeks at a time without seeing a black person.
And I know what “baby mama” means.
its calling a succesful married mother of two the same as the hoochie momma down the street. Its the sort of phrase Fox would never use with a white woman of the se stature as Mrs Obama. I call out racial attacks when I see them. That includes calling blacks cottonpickers (if I remember right one of the targets that time was Sec Rice who I can’t stand).
You clearly have a real problem following culture if you are this clueless about the phrase baby mama, especially applied to a sucessful black woman by a right wing network. Following other cultures won’t kill you, open the bubble and expand what seem to be extremely limited horizons.
I call out racial attacks when I see them.
Yes, but far too often you come off like Haley Joel Osment in ‘The Sixth Sense’, seeing racial attacks that exist only in your own mind. Sorry, but it’s true. Go back to your “cotton picking” entry and read the comments Oliver. It wasn’t just me.
And I’m sorry (and it is very convenient for a bunch of palefaces here to proclaim, “I know what it means!!” as though they just discovered the Final Jeopardy answer), but it’s not a term that I am familiar with, especially in that context. Thinking more about it, I may have heard the term or have seen it, but never as a racial slur. This notion that I am not “following other cultures” is hogwash. “Baby daddy” is a term I am familiar with, and I also very familiar with many of the disgusting terms used by people to describe unwed mothers, especially those that are black. “Baby mama” has never been one of those terms.
And if expanding my horizons means turning on Jerry Springer and Maury Povich, or even watching cable news networks (which I don’t), then I’ll pass.
“Thinking more about it, I may have heard the term or have seen it, but never as a racial slur.”
Now you have.
Again, using the term midnight to describe a time of day is not racist.
Using it to describe a black man is.
It’s the context that matters. Why are you so determined not to understand that context matters.
Look, I’m about as white and tragically un-hip as they come, and I certainly am familiar with the term. And I was hearing used by my white co-workers in Texas 4-5 years ago as we’d discuss things like welfare reform and the 50-ish white woman would say that there were too many “baby mamas” living off the government dole. If a late 40s-early 50s Texas housewife can know the term and use it correctly in casual conversation, then I think it’s pretty much mainstream Jay.
conservatives love to portray themselves as intelligent and full of common sense.
so why does fox news, being the daily news edition of the fucking bible to conservatives and racists everywhere, use terms such as ‘baby mama’ in what should be the most cognizant and fair-minded newscast on cable television???
fair and balanced my ass.
“but it’s not a term that I am familiar with, especially in that context.”
You could have saved everyone a lot of trouble if you’d just admitted that to yourself before you tapped out your first post.
But no. Instead you went with, “I’ve never heard of it, so the black guy must be making it up.” Nice.
Jay, thanks for confirming my suspicions that Yankee fans are indeed assholes.
Jay– word of advice: dont get into an argument on the appropriateness of a word/phrase if you AREN’T FAMILIAR WITH IT.
The intention of FOX and Malkin is clear: to “nigger-up” Michelle and Barack with the ultimate goal of making them frightening and unacceptable to ordinary white folk.
“Jay, thanks for confirming my suspicions that Yankee fans are indeed assholes.”
But are they worse than New York Rangers’ fans?
Well then don’t make broadly declarative statements. I don’t go into surgeries and tell the doctors that there’s no such thing as a spinal cord. God.
And no fans are worse than Dallas Cowboys fans.
Never heard of it. Closest I’ve heard is ‘baby’s daddy’. A regional thing, maybe? I’m in the northwest here. That said, unless there is some kind of missing context here (this is Oliver, after all), I don’t see how Fox could have thought that was an appropriate term to describe Michelle Obama. You don’t have to be a genius to guess that it isn’t a compliment.
Shorter Jay:
I look up things on the internet, therefore I’m an expert.
…..
What a douche bag you are.
Look that up.
Since Michelle Malkin works for the “fair and balanced” Fox News Network – why isn’t she referring to Cindy McCain as that “rich bitch husband stealing ho baby mama”?
“Baby mama” is a stereotype of a immature woman who has had a child by a man who was only interested in having sex with her. The man is not interested in an exclusive relationship or marriage with his “baby mama.” The definition (denotation) and common use meaning (connotation) of the term “baby mama” has nothing to do with Michelle Obama.
Clearly, Michelle Malkin refers to Senator Obama’s wife in this derogatory manner to suggest illegitimacy when there is none – Michelle Obama was married to her husband and gave birth to his children in wedlock. Malkin’s usage referring to Michelle Obama is derogatory, misleading, and inaccurate. The term “baby mama” is used to belittle and demean a woman who was stupid enough to have a baby by a man who would refer to her as his “baby mama.”
I am almost afraid to agree with Jay, but I must. The issue of Malkin’s use of “Obama baby mama” can be completely discussed and argued without bring up racism and racist.
Constantly shouting – “Racism – Racist- Racism – Racist”, has a numbing effect. Even if some code words and undertones suggesting racism exist. There are other ways, using intelligence and logic, to deal with the distortions of Obama’s character, record, politics and vision than stamping every attack as racist, even if it is.
As the November general election draws nearer, racial stereotyping of Obama to transfer images that the blue collar White working class voters fear most will flood the airwaves and print media outlets.
Obama and his campaign are determined to talk issues and will try to avoid the race baiting traps as much as possible so that the issues will be the determinating factor of this election. Obama supporters and surrogates should follow his lead. The Change Movement, like the Civil Rights Movement demands a higher standard of conduct, vision, and hope from its supporters.
“I am almost afraid to agree with Jay, but I must. The issue of Malkin’s use of “Obama baby mama” can be completely discussed and argued without bring up racism and racist.”
No, I’m sorry it can’t be. Senator Obama needs to do exactly what he is doing to win an election. I am not running for political office. I am doing exactly what I need to be doing to combat racist propaganda and racial slurs directed against black folks. The Senator is not running for the presidency of Black America.
I don’t know anyone who thinks that every criticism directed toward Senator Obama is racist but referring to his wife as “Obama’s baby’s momma” is racist. And I can defend that position by using my intelligence and logic.
I don’t know anyone who thinks that every criticism directed toward Senator Obama is racist
PTCruiser, meet Oliver Willis. Oliver, meet PTCruiser.
Now you do.
Quick rule of thumb in Oliver’s world: If a conservative says it, it’s racist. End of story. And if the subject is Obama, they don’t even have to say anything to be a racist… Oliver knows they’re constantly thinking racist thoughts about Obama already.
Oliver does not believe that any criticism directed toward Obama is racist. Nobody with sense enough to come in out of the rain does. And Oliver has more than enough sense to come in out of the rain when necessary.
Don’t lie on Black folks
Don’t lie about Black folks
Don’t lie to Black folks
I lifted the above from Prometheus6’s blogsite. It pretty much sums up my position and why I will not take low when folks spew out racist propaganda.
Jay says: “No, but you and others on the left have no problem calling Cindy McCain a “trophy wife.” Is that any less disrespectful than calling Michelle Obama a “baby mama?””
Considering that Obama didn’t divorce his disfigured wife to trade her in for a younger model, HELL YES it is less disrespectful to call John McCain’s trophy wife a trophy wife.
Like I find so often in debating with cons, the real question here is whether you are lying or stupid.
Let’s break down the basic etymology here. Why would anyone choose the term “baby mama” over wife? Because — and this is something a moderately intelligent person could figure out without ever having heard the term before — it implies no relationship exists beyond, yes, the mother of a child.
“ou’ve written stupid posts saying the term “stagehand” is racist, that the term “cotton picking” is racist, and it wasn’t just me that posed comments with a scratching of the head sort of tone, it was some of your more liberal commentators as well.”
Huh. Sure is kinda funny how that isn’t happening in this thread and pretty much everybody is saying you’re an idiot.
You know, I’ve always said argument by analogy is for people who can’t win an argument on its own merits.
Jay,
Note the lyrics of the hit single from Outkast, “Ms. Jackson”, from their 2000 hit album, “Stankonia”, wherein Andre 3000 tries to convince the grandmother of his out-of-wedlock child that he is a responsible and respectful parent, despite having a falling-out with the mother of his child, his “baby mama”:
“Yeah this one right here goes out to all the baby’s mamas,
mamas…
Mamas, mamas, baby mamas, mamas
Yeah, go like this
I’m sorry Ms. Jackson [OOOH]
I am for real
Never meant to make your daughter cry
I apologize a trillion times
I’m sorry Ms. Jackson [OOOH]
I am for real
Never meant to make your daughter cry
I apologize a trillion times…”
Despite your Google skill deficiencies, I really do consider it common “pop culture” knowledge that the term “baby mama” refers to the mother of a child born out of wedlock, most often in the context black or hispanic relationships.
It’s a brilliant strategy, really. Start using a term like “baby momma” in mass media until even old white guys have heard it, then accuse them of being racists when they repeat it.
It’s the same thing with the “n” word. Kids today know very little about the racism that was originally behind the term, they only know their favorite rappers use it to be “cool”. Several times, I’ve heard suburban white kids call each other that as a term of affection, completely oblivious to the reasons why older people find the term offensive.
The black community has now fully integrated into the overall society. It is just now starting to figure out that “integrating” means becoming part of the whole, and part of that process is your culture being absorbed into the mainstream.
We’re quickly becoming one America, not “black America” and “white America”. It should surprise no one that terms once exclusive to the black community are now being used by everyone.
To me that’s a sign of racial progress, not racial division.
“Like I find so often in debating with cons, the real question here is whether you are lying or stupid.”
We have a winner!
If you’ve never heard the phrase “baby mama”, for the love of God, GET OUT OF THE CAVE. And its not a regional thing, I’ve lived in Northeast, South, and West Coast.
I am a 47 year old white woman and I’ve been familiar with the term Baby Mama for a very long time.
One can only wish that Jay would crawl back under his rock.
Yes, but far too often you come off like Haley Joel Osment in ‘The Sixth Sense’, seeing racial attacks that exist only in your own mind.
If Obama had been a Republican, and a Daily Kos diarist had referred to his wife as a “baby mama” in a title, there is no way in the world that any right-wing blogger would have been offended, or called them out on it.
Nope. No way at all.
Yes, I know I should finish reading the comments but first but I just can’t stand it any more.
Jay, you say “I’m a pretty big fan of pop culture, and this is not a common term.” Excuse me. I meant “Jay, you ignoramus”
1. Being a fan of pop culture is exactly the kind of condescending crap that allows you knowledge of three “hep” phrases that you can use to think you look cool with no actual knowledge of what humans do and think.
2. I am an old white lady. I’ve been using the phrase for a decade. The thing is, I use it appropriately. It doesn’t mean “any black woman who has born a child.”
3. What beyond your profound sense of entitlement because you think your IQ is over 103 and your white maleness makes you think you are an expert on any damn thing?
Oh, and Oliver, if I may call you Oliver. I beg to differ. Let him stay in the cave. Let them all stay in the cave. Just take away their internet access.
Will it really come down to this?
Side A: (makes subtle dog-whistle racial innuendo)
Side B: “Hey! That’s racist!”
Side A: “Oh really? Please read my lengthy, disingenuous explanation for why it was not, in fact, racist.”
Side B: (reads and reads. Head begins to hurt from twisted rationale.)
Side A: “See? You’re playing ‘the race card’.”
[Time passes]
Side A: (makes outright racial slur)
Side B: “Hey! That’s racist!”
Side A: “Oh really? Please refer to previous explanation. See? You’re just playing the ‘race card’ again.”
Maybe people keep “pulling the race card” on you is because, well, you’re a little fucking racist. Deal.
Hey! No fair, yo. Some of my best friends are Yankees fans.
Who knows? The more I think about it, the more I am sure I have heard it. TMZ is one of the few vices I have, and it seems the phrase shows up there a lot. The only thing I can think of is that since it is used SO MUCH to describe just about every other celebrity mother in Hollywood, I never put two and two together and equated it with the “hoochie momma down the street.”
So we’ve reached this conclusion: The term “baby mama” is a racial attack when said about a black woman. Using it to describe any other woman with children is perfectly acceptable.
I also have to say that I am amazed at the amount of middle aged white hipster doofuses that hang around here.
Can I just say, Jay got pwned.
That’s refuckindiculous. For heaven’s sake, imagine the uproar if someone lefty–say, I dunno, Keith Olbermann–called Laura Bush white trash. The insult is effectively the same. Except of course, that’s as ridiculous as it sounds, whereas those masters of the caption at Fox News see in Michelle Obama someone who looks like she fits the bill.
Frankly, the idea that anyone could find a way to defend this is pretty depressing. Even if you’re so hopelessly out of touch that you think describing a politician’s wife this way is appropriate–especially given the pretty blatant racial issues the campaign’s existence has raised–what kind of self-respecting journalistic organization could possibly think captioning *anything* in “street slang” is good practice?
And to HCK: News organizations denigrating women the same way rappers do does not integration make. You are an idiot.
So we’ve reached this conclusion: The term “baby mama” is a racial attack when said about a black woman. Using it to describe any other woman with children is perfectly acceptable.
No, we’ve reached these conclusions:
1) The term “Obama’s baby mama” is obviously a crude racist slur in the context in which it appears above.
2) Many right-wingers can’t cope with having their favorite channel shown up as a biased, brainless crap chute.
3) Instead, they will spin and spin and gyrate and whine and moan and puke in a desperate effort to persuade the world that reality is unfair and ought to be abolished.
4) Oliver Willis thinks that anyone who disagrees with him is racist, because he criticised somebody and says that that somebody is racist — Q.E.D.
I also have to say that I am amazed at the amount of [people brighter than Jay] that hang around here.
Given your awesome powers of observation, I’d say you’re routinely amazed by clouds, picnic tables, and pieces of gum on the sidewalk.
1996 didn’t QT release a record called ‘baby mama’. I’m in the UK, and I’ve known of this term since the early 1990’s.
Fox is playing into internet rumors that he’s a terrorist and that he has no morals, they know what they are doing. They repeat something until the MSM picks it up and they have no problem with it because they are looking for money. I am so tired of SOME white people, obviously not all or most, saying oh nothing is racist..you’re too sensitive. It would be nice if they stopped denying the history of their country and started understanding why there are sensitivities. No matter if they like it or not, they should blame their ancestors, they are paying for their sins. These same people call into C-Span and say how Africans are so stupid and can’t do this or that, but they fail to realize that Europeans came in and wrecked their countries, put groups of people together who weren’t together in the first place that causes civil wars. To these people it’s racist to say that there were 5 million people in the KKK at one point, who most had families and children to carry on their legacy or that there were products like niggerhead cigars, darkie tooth paste, COON Chicken Inn etc all over the united states. The people who romanticize and try to deny real American History are the Anti-Americans not the new Americans who are really diverse and dont’ think we are superior to everyone.
So here’s a question then for all the new found linguistic experts. If the term “baby mama” is such an obvious racial slur as everybody claims it is, why is it used so commonly and not just to describe black unwed mothers?
Oh and what does Michelle Obama mean when she introduces her husband as, “My baby’s Daddy..”?
Oliver, I have a better question for you.
Do you think Cindy McCain would say baby’s daddy on the stump? If she did would you accuse her of trying to be black or project all black women had illegitimate children?
Let’s get to the point. Michelle has education, she should know the definition and be an example to her people.
Baby’s daddy implies you’re not married to the father, why would anyone project that? Some may say to make single moms feel more at ease, spoken to, get them energized.
But it enfor