Discretion Over Fried Chicken

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First of all, *groan.*

Second of all, *groan.*

So golf guy Sergio Garcia made a remark about Tiger Woods that involved serving him fried chicken to eat. See for details: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/may/22/sergio-garcia-remark-tiger-woods-row.

The short version is that Garcia made this crack when asked something by a reporter, then only subsequently realized it was not the smartest thing to say, and then apologized. Tiger Woods in turn expressed "hurt," then said they should all move on. Or something. I have two different lines of thought on this.

First, and somewhat ancillary, why is a fried chicken remark really so horrible? Is it a nod to a stereotype? Sure it is. Did Garcia likely mean to destroy black people (or whichever the supposed target group was) with the remark? I doubt it. Did Tiger Woods inadvertently empower the remark by stating how hurtful it was. IMO, yes. Could he have taken away whatever latent power such sensibilities may still hold by laughing it off? I believe so. I know that the history of racism against black people is never so simple, and that offense and injury still linger over it and probably always will to some degree, and yet it strikes me that reactions to these sorts of dumb remarks are often exaggerated. If Garcia had said that all blacks should die or that he was joining a racist organization in order to trample on the rights of blacks everywhere, I would be alarmed. If he says something dumb on the other hand, I'm alarmed for a different reason, but I'm not concerned that he wants to harm anybody. Which relates to my more primary point below.

WTF exactly is with people and their stupidity anyway? How often does this kind of nonsense need to happen before the self-filter kicks in reliably and closes a person's mouth before some stupid sh*t falls out? Where is the internal 10 second delay button of the mind that constantly asks, ten seconds ahead of your verbal monologue, "Am I about to say something really effing stupid?" "Wait - I AM?? OH NOES!!!"

"I want to feed Tiger Woods fr" [SNAP]

Bleeding tongue but the stupid sh*t stayed inside.

Why can so few people, particularly those in the public eye, do this simplest of things? Like it or not, reactions exaggerated or not, these types of remarks are simply not well-received in today's political and social climate, and that should be a mystery to no one. Not even European Tour CEO George O'Grady, who in regards to the fried chicken remark, later said that this Garcia guy has lots of "colored" friends or something to that effect. Apparently he thought that statement was the very definition of awesomeness, and did not stop to think - even though he had much more time to consider as opposed to Garcia's seconds, "Am I about to say something really effing stupid?"



It boggles the mind, and I'm pretty much resigned to just assuming that people are going to say something stupid until they don't at this point. Although I doubt this O'Grady guy wants to destroy black people either. I wish that the principals here could both lighten up and wise up and spare us anymore of this agony.

ed. - lol sorry, I was going to say something about how somebody else ("maybe even Joe Biden") will come along and say something dumb very soon but then I got distracted and forgot and posted. Hence the previous Biden half-sentence.

 

Yeah, very stupid thing to say. Even 'stupid thing in the heat of the moment' doesn't really cover it.

 

I accidentally kept asking a deaf friend who I met after playing a game of something what sort of music he liked, or linking/sending him music I liked before realising what I did. I always apologised and felt awful after he calmly explained to me for the umpteenth time that he was deaf. Even though there was no ill intent on my part, he'd have been completely within his rights to call me a dick, because insults can cut the deepest when they're about things we have no control over.

 

Reminds me of a time me and a mate were stood in the pub next to 2 deaf people. My mate stupidly said to me 'Why are they making strange noises?' and I lent right in and whispered into his ear 'I think they're deaf' for him to say '... So why are you fking whispering?'. To this day I can't tell you why, but we both just fell about laughing at that. You know when you're laughing that much your stomach hurts and your legs don't work? Absolute hysterics for ages. No idea why.

That's my story anyway. Move along.

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BTW - on topic, no Gaear I don't think there's any way Garcia's comment could have been swept under the carpet. I've never seen a public figure say smething like that and get away with it. In fact, I've seen lesser stupid comments met with heavy sanctions. Garcia's seemingly honest, heartfelt, and more important, quick retraction and apology has watered the fire a bit if anything.

 

They hate each other. Plain and simple. Garcia made a cheapshot remark and Tiger tried to turn it around and make Garcia look bad. They both failed miserably and now they both look like a-holes. Which I find hilarious.

 

I like fried chicken. They should invite me to dinner.

 

Years ago my mother was whispering to my profoundly Deaf cousin who sat there for ages just letting her (my mother had had a tipple or two) for about 5 minutes before she said "Auntie Di, I'm Deaf"

To be honest though, I wouldn't worry. Deaf people understand that people sometimes forget (people forget all the time to face me when we're out) and it's not an issue. I know Deaf people who forget that not everyone can sign.
Anyway my point is that some people go out of their way to offended over stupid things just for the sake of it

 

I couldn't agree more with Gaear. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of decades, you had to know that such a comment wouldn't have been well received. There has to be some type of filter that kicks in there. Most people would never even think to make such a comment, and most people who do think of such things it would hit the filter and never actually come out of their mouth.

Never mind that Tiger is only 25% African American. He could of at least been a bit more clever about it, and said something like fried chicken chow mein or the like. It still would have been profoundly bigoted, extermely stupid, and should still have been filtered, but at least it would not have been so cliche.

Did Tiger Woods get any butt hurt over this? Probably not. Especially considering he had a nearly identical comment made to him back in 1999 after winning his first Masters by Zoeller. But there's no way to spin this that doesn't make it sound really bad for Garcia. He apoligized and said he "didn't mean for it to be interpreted the way it was". I would love to ask him exactly what interpretation he was expecting...

 

This story showcases the "professional offendees" that I have spoken of in the past. Garcia's comment was stupid, but hardly the kind of thing that's gonna kick off a round of slaughtering African-Americans in Nazi-esque ovens. Some perspective needs to be kept here.

What if Tiger made a comment about going home and eating fried chicken? Would he catch flack? Nope! Why the double standard regarding invoking stereotypes? Who knows?

Garcia deserves some social sanctions, to be sure, but nothing on par with what is happening.