Wednesday, November 12, 2008



Britain: Must not imply that blacks chuck spears

We read:
"Jim Rosenthal has been forced to apologise to black Olympic javelin star Tessa Sanderson after describing her as a 'spear chucker'.

The 60-year-old sports commentator was denounced as a 'racist' by critics. They bombarded internet forums with angry messages, claiming that the phrase was insulting to ethnic minorities because of its supposed associations with 'uncivilised' tribes.

But Sanderson's former rival, Fatima Whitbread, defended Rosenthal. She said that the phrase 'spear chucker' was common in athletic circles and did not carry any racist connotations.

Source

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Got to be a way to tie this in with the former Olympic event, Spear CATCHING.

Anonymous said...

Spear Chucker was in the MASH movie and also on the first season of Mash the TV show. A black surgeon that went through college on a scholarship for throwing the spear.

I guess the movie MASH now has to be burned, because of the racist statement in it?

Mobius

Anonymous said...

"the phrase was insulting to ethnic minorities because of its supposed associations with 'uncivilised' tribes."

Mama always said, "If the shoe fits, wear it." If they don't want to be associated with 'uncivilized' tribes, they should try acting civilized.

Anonymous said...

Apparently, they're ashamed of their "factual" history.

Anonymous said...

My goodness! The lengths some people will go to be offended.

Anonymous said...

I'm proud of my spear chucker English ancesters . One saved the life of the King by spearing the wild boar about to attack him. He was rewarded with title, lands, a pension,and a crest consisting of a boars head on crossed lances with three balls over all . So yes , being a spear chucker is a good thing . Civilized too !

SUPERMAN the student architect

Anonymous said...

What a load of bollocks.
It clearly wasn't meant racially, it clearly wasn't intended to cause offense. It WAS clearly intended to be complimentary and use a colloquial term for the sport's participants.
Why do some people look for ways to be offended. In this case they were even desperate to be offended primarily on behalf of other people, not even for themselves.

Anonymous said...

Someone managed to slip in a doctored photo for our school newspaper back in the mid 90s. Our soccer team was playing the school from the ghetto in the offending picture but someone drew spears in the hands of all the players on the other team. No one noticed this until copies were printed and distributed around the entire campus. They never did find out who was responsible.