Newspaper headline with N-word

[angelburst29]

Not sure if this development is more "Shock & Awe" for the multitude or if it's a ploy to start a riot or worse but I'm sadden that something of this nature would be permitted to go "mainstream" considering all the censorship we face in daily life. Whatever it's intended purpose, it's plain disgraceful and unacceptable on many levels.

Newspaper runs headline referring to President Obama as N-word
_http://news.yahoo.com/newspaper-runs-headline-referring-to-president-obama-as-n-word-003206434.html

Monday July 7, 2014 - The West View News ran this op-ed using an offensive word to describe President Obama (West View News)

A local paper is making national headlines thanks to a questionable word choice in one of its own news headlines.

The West View News, a monthly paper in New York’s West Village with a circulation of around 20,000, ran an op-ed from author James Lincoln Collier titled “N----r in the White House.”

If the headline wasn't strange and shocking enough, the New York Post reports that the op-ed is actually a pro-Obama piece, in which Collier argues that, "far right voters hate Obama because he is black."

The Post included a photo of the article headline in its piece with the offending language blurred out.

The West View News ran an opposing view column below Collier’s piece by African American columnist Alvin Hall titled, "This headline offends me."

"The decision to use this headline feels misguided to me," Hall writes. "I don’t see how its use benefits anyone, but I do feel all too clearly how it deeply offends me."

It’s not the first time Collier, 86, has stoked controversy through his use of the N-word in publication. His 1981 historical novel Jump Ship to Freedom (co-written with his brother) uses the word repeatedly in its text. It was reportedly taken down from the shelves from several libraries over the years.

So, why did the paper decide to run a headline with such a controversial, and many might say, unnecessary, word choice? It might just come down to little more than a strange case of journalistic rivalry.

West View News editor George Capsis says Collier convinced him to use the word over objections from the paper’s editorial staff.

“In this article, however, Jim reminded me that the New York Times avoids using the word which convinced me that West View should,” Capsis says in an explanation published in the paper and reported by The Post.

The West View News has not formally responded to questions about the editorial and did not run a copy of it on its website.

 

[angelburst29]

An unusual entry in a Norfolk, Nebraska - 4th of July parade.

July 4 parade float depicting Obama presidential library as outhouse draws cheers, controversy
_http://patriotrising.com/2014/07/07/july-4-parade-float-depicting-obama-presidential-library-outhouse-draws-cheers-controversy/

A Fourth of July parade float that depicted a figure standing outside an outhouse labeled the “Obama Presidential Library” has created a stir on social media and is also receiving criticism in Norfolk, Nebraska.

The float, in Norfolk’s annual Independence Day parade, was on a flatbed trailer being pulled by a blue pickup truck. The figure was dressed in overalls and standing next to a walker outside of the outhouse. The hands and head of the figure were greenish and appeared to be zombielike; the hands were pressed against the sides of the figure’s head. Miniature American flags were atop the float and on the truck.

Neither the float nor the pickup identified a sponsor; a sign in the windshield said it was entry No. 29.

Liz Guthrie of Pierce, Nebraska, took a photo of the float that has been widely circulated on social media.

From where she watched the parade, Guthrie said she could hear the crowd laughing and clapping as the float passed by.

Norfolk resident Glory Kathurima said she attended the parade with her 9-year-old daughter. As a black woman living in Norfolk, Kathurima said she found the float to be an offensive depiction of the president. She emailed Norfolk Mayor Sue Fuchtman as well as the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce and the Norfolk Daily News to voice her disapproval. She also wrote to the Norfolk Odd Fellows Lodge, which coordinated the parade.

Kathurima said the float seemed to be calling the president stupid, and the message seemed clear: “I don’t like Obama.”

The World-Herald also received several emails from people expressing concern. One email, from a person who said she had grown up in northeast Nebraska, called it disrespectful that such a display would be allowed in a parade that celebrates America’s history. The Nebraska Democratic Party also issued a statement, calling it one of the “worst shows of racism and disrespect for the office of the presidency that Nebraska has ever seen.”

Norfolk City Councilman Dick Pfeil also voiced his displeasure with the float.

“The City of Norfolk doesn’t condone that,” Pfeil said.

The councilman noted, however, that it was up to the Odd Fellows to approve the floats. A representative of the Odd Fellows did not return a phone message from a World-Herald reporter Saturday evening.

However, parade committee member Rick Konopasek told the Lincoln Journal-Star that the float wasn’t meant to be any more offensive than a political cartoon. He also said the outhouse float was the most popular one in the parade, and the three judges awarded it an honorable mention.

 

[angelburst29]

These floats were part of the annual Carnival Parade in Germany watched by an estimated three million people in three German cities including Dusseldorf.

_http://2012thebigpicture.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/omg-you-have-to-see-these-floats-in-the-german-parade/