WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
Saw an article HERE and had to wonder. Had this been reversed, a white male making this type of statement would it not have brought an immediate uproar? To me it is a double standard. The comment is based on both a race and sex judgement.
quote: By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer – 50 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The White House says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor acknowledges she made a poor word choice in a 2001 speech in which she said that a Latina judge would often reach a better conclusion than a white male judge who hasn't lived the same life.
That's according to presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs. He says he has not talked directly to Sotomayor about it but has spoken to people who have.
Critics have singled out the 2001 comment by Sotomayor for criticism. She was describing how personal experiences can affect judging. She said a "wise Latina woman" with her experiences would more often than not reach a "better conclusion" than a white male.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Even some prominent Republicans are decrying the stupidity and outright slanderous statements by Rush imabugh and Newt Gingritch.
As to her qualifications, consider taht she will be the sole judge with any actual trial lawyer experience.
Really, she's so damn qualified taht the press (and the so-called "entertainment commentators" like limbaugh and O'Rilley) are lookingfor anything- anything at all- to make her seem a bad choice.
Her "wise latina" comments, while not exactly politically correct is hardly a candle compared with the firestorm of stupid comments by the residing justices....or compared with the records of her detractors.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I think there is something to the OP's point. I think if it had been a white male making that sort of statement, it *would* have been blown out of all proportion as a racist/sexist comment.
That isn't to say that the statement itself is racist or sexist. She actually has a point, given the circumstances - she just chose her words poorly. But yeah; situation reversed, there would have been uproar from the slighted community. Such is the double-standard way in which our culture functions, unfortunately.
Registered: May 2009
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posted
Context is everything. Here's the full paragraph that much-bandied quote is from:
quote:Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.
ANd if you feel like truly researching things before forming an opinion about them, here's the full text of her address.
Yeah, she could probably have worded it better, but she does have a point.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
--David "Woody" Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I love it- I love how the Republicans can have faux outrage over some co0mment taken far out of context but never call out scumbags like Liddy.
And so all Repblicans are grouped with such idiots like Liddy or Limbaugh or whoever- which makes more centrist Republicans leave the party in disust- leaving only the idiots, fanatics and cheerleaders that never think for themselves as long as they can repeat whatever their radio leaders tell them.
Somehow Liddy and company have become the sopkesmen for a party they hold no official post in.
Sadly, when someone like Steele or Cronyn breaks ranks and decries such slander, they are accused of "undermining the republican's base".
If the republicans are to survive in any shape it will either be as extremist nuts that follow Liddy and his ilk or as vocal centrists that want no part of such nonsense. That ball's up in the air though.
Registered: Aug 2002
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WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
I think Liddy's comments are beyond ridiculous. Those statements should be immediately and summarily rejected by the Republican party and anyone with any intelligence will view them as the garbage they are.
If I, as a white heterosexual conservative male were to make the statement "A Caucasian male with my life experiences would more likely come to a better conclusion than a Latina woman" would I not receive an immediate backlash from the Politically Correct crowd for being both a 'racist' and a 'sexist'? It's the double standard that I'm trying to point out. Racism and Sexism is a two edged sword that should cut both ways.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
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