Well, in some ways we agree...I consider you a racist yourself, cause you call other's 'Uncle Tom' if they're black and don't agree with your point of view...Afterall, you're using a slur to refer to them aren't you?

But here's the thing...IF the phone message had not been gained and released ILLEGALLY, you and everyone else would be ignorant of his using any racial term. Right?

So does that mean now, the everyone should have their privacy invaded, and any 'dirty laundry' they may have be made public and held up to public ridicule?

In otherwords can I come into your home, record your home activities and private phone conversations to ensure that you are not being 'racist' in any way? Then take that information and go public with it so that you lose your job, your financial security, whatever simply because you did nothing more but say something privately in a moment of anger?

We can't have it both ways...Either people have the right to do/say what they want in the privacy of their own homes or they don't have that right. And if we disregard one person's rights to privacy and punish them for their private moments, that means then we should disregard everyone else's private rights as well.

So when can we set up the recorder in your home? Just to make sure you don't make racial and derogitory comments in your private moments? Cause I'm sure your hands aren't any cleaner then his was, in the privacy of your own home...

Cause your own actions here, in a public platform, show some of us that you're willing to sling names and slurs towards people you dislike or don't agree with. One can only imagine what you say and do in the privacy of your home or say in a private phone chat with someone you should be able to trust not to embarrass or use you for their own gain...

What he said was distasteful yes...But he did have the right to say it in the privacy of his own home and on the phone to his son, without it becoming a public affair/intrest despite anyone else's personal dislike of that word being used.

It's ok to limit one's right to speech in a public setting but we do not have the right to dictate one's freedom of speech in a private setting.

Cause when we go as far as to limit a person's speech in the privacy of thier home then yes...We're being overly sensitive and bordering on losing our own freedom of speech and rights to privacy.

Ali the real issue is not whether Chapman had a right to say those things, but whether A&E want to continue promoting a TV show featuring a blatant racist.

If someone is a racist in private then they are still a racist in public too

Well I guess I'm racist, biased against fat people, my homosexual neighbor down the street, women, etc.

As I said before, I don't think the man is a racist. And honestly, even if he is, since all entertainment is fake any way, what real difference does it make?

This is a quote from my earier post. I do think it's racism.

Well racism is rampant according to you. Personally, I only expect people to be respectful in public. If a person is a true racist, he has the right to be so in the privacy of his home. I know no one is gonna change my views on things just by telling me it's wrong. But I'll be cordial to everyone in public.

Personally that's all I think is required to be "tolerant".

You are correct, young man; in your assertion that racism is racism. But I've stated many times on this very issue that America has changed drastically from what you've been told of the fifties and sixties. Racism still exists, but I believe it to more the exception rather than the rule.
I was corrected (rightfully so) on this forum about the term "cracker". Growing up, I only knew of crackers as something to served with soup or chili, or white people. That misconception came from my maternal grandfather, who hated everything and everyone white- and was quite adamant on the point. Short version; he was a racist of the worst type. He couldn't (and wouldn't) try to get along with anybody that was white. So, everytime I heard the word "cracker"; I naturally took it to be a racial slur if there wasn't certain foods nearby. I have since learned that it can also be used to describe a style of cooking, much like the term "Cajun".
All I'm saying as a whole is that I think you are spending too much time concentrating on the individual instances that still permeate America, instead of looking at the picture as a whole. Like I stated earlier, this will hurt you more than any white person ever will.
I also believe that when you use the phrase "the man" when referring to whites,you are actually saying "Master". Do you really want to be a slave again? This is what I mean about how Blacks driving inferiority into themselves. This is what keeps you down; and will continue to until we change our behavior towards each other.

This news story is being announced as one that has not grabbed media attention because the victim is black.

THE STORY

The thing is, I wonder how many people actually do go missing as over and above the number that make news at all on a national scale? And is this really a matter of racial discrimination or simply the lack of interest in another human being cos she is not from a more showy and wealthy circuit?

OhDear

While I agree it might be a racial component, I also think there's a bit of a "vanity" factor. No one ever sees a fat ugly girl go missing. White or not. Nine times out of ten, if it's a national story, it's a cute little white girl.

We've had 2 white young men go missing here in Ga recently.

Well, in all fairness, I think media attention in the Peterson case has more to do with the fact that the husband was a police officer and that his third wife died mysteriously and is now thought to be a homicide.