@Robert, I think the preferred version is 看護師, not 看護士. The former literally being “nursing specialist” while the latter is a word for a male nurse. Same reading though, so whatever.

And for the record, the secret service at her rallies had no idea what that reporter from Pennsylvania was talking about when he said people were yelling “kill him,” etc. Nobody present supported the reporter’s claims except for the reporter. That is precisely the mechanic that I described above. I assume that’s the case you’re referring to. And if not, don’t let the one or two yahoos out there freak you out. There was some McCain supporter who carved a B onto her face and made up this lametastic story about being accosted by a mugger-cum-Obama supporter. That is absolutely despicable. But you shouldn’t believe that there are many out there like her. You know me. What I am like? Lots of Palin’s supporters are like me. Don’t hand my identity over to weirdos! Ha ha.

Senator Obama has, from the microphone said, “I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” If I were deeply snarky and cynical, I’d have no trouble making out Senator Obama’s preemptive race carding, combined with his quotes like this, would argue that he sees it as very much an us-vs-them mentality himself, with racist, bigot, capitalist, evil conservatives on the other side. But I’m not. I give him the benefit of the doubt and take him at his word that he simply wants people to try and convince their neighbors to vote for the man they are so inspired by.

Identity politics are weak cheese, aren’t they? Sigh. Thanks for the comment, in any event. Ha ha. Always a pleasure.

Also, I wouldn’t agree that the McCain campaign has been entirely innocent when it comes to issues of race. Palin especially has been whipping up rhetoric, and while it’s never blatant, it is obviously designed in large part to appeal to prospective voters who still have qualms about electing a black president. “He’s not one of us”, “not a man who sees America as you and I see America”. It’s an us and them mentality, painting Obama as the ‘other’, which, unfortunately, plays to issues of race.

The reactions from people at some of her rallies clearly shows the effect it’s having.

Toms last blog post was: “Come, old broomstick, you are needed”

If you take a look at newsprint stories surrounding this year’s presidential campaign, for instance, you have loads of people claiming that X is a code word (or code language) for “black.” These words include: socialist, community organizer, arrogant, elitist, risky, that one (admittedly poor choice of words), fall backward, etc. It’s amazing how apt at finding racism when no obvious, nor camouflaged, racism is to be found. We’re having meanings loaded into words, in effect putting words into other people’s mouths.

Senator Obama himself has preemptively played the race card on his Republican opponent, though the McCain campaign has tried as hard as possible to avoid any sort of message that could be conflated as racism. That’s messed up, and shameful, in my opinion. So that would be the negative side to political correctness – its abuse in a hyper-aware culture. Racists should always be called out, and bigots too – but only if they ARE racists or bigots. That’s all I’m saying.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=1IYx4Bc6_eE

Just for the record, this guy is a very clever and very funny comedian, who isn’t normally this forthright about this sort of thing. I think he makes a good point, but he does go a bit over the top at the end!

Toms last blog post was: “Come, old broomstick, you are needed”

Jamaipaneses last blog post was: My List of “Must See Television Shows of 2008″