“They’ve apologized, and so from my end, I don’t care anymore,” [Jeremy] Lin told reporters. “You have to learn to forgive, and I don’t even think that was intentional.” 但是，看看ESPN惹事编辑，28岁的Anthony Federico是怎么说的：＂这个Chink字眼我用过至少100次来做标题 。从来没觉得是问题。所以就用在林书豪的身上了……＂这位吃媒体饭的居然不知这是个racial slur!这只能被解说为美国社会已经把族裔偏见用来冒犯他人当作家常便饭，或者见怪不怪。 这种偏见与刻板定型在美国社会各个层面早已经是根深蒂固，非一日之寒。ESPN主管在此事之前的99多个Chink骂声中就没觉得这个Buzz word有问题。怎么现在才想起来要炒人鱿鱼? 难道不是明星人物被讥讽了就该忍着? 骂了一百多遍了，竟然不知是在骂人? 竟然不知有人会被冒犯? 答案只有一个：这个社会出了问题，而且是个systematic problem。联想前些日子在万维热议的文化一题，这种拿族裔取笑并当作是油墨的杰作只能是算是美国文化里的一种庸俗，而且不堪。 林书豪可以原谅肇事者并move on；但是美国的华人则不该放弃这个给老美上一堂族裔和谐教育课的机会。
Chink是侮辱中国人的，但是Chink in the armor不是。把Chink这个词放在Chink in the armor里面，大多数的美国人意识不到在侮辱中国人。当然一些对种族很敏感的人能看出里边的双意。举个例子来说，中国人读一个词“分外妖娆”，联想的是美丽景象。中文不太好的老外，可能会联想妖魔鬼怪的恐怖景象。但是我必须说Chink in the armor尽管不是侮辱中国人的，但是用在中国人身上是不合适的，容易产生双意语的联想。
There are only two conclusions one can draw from all of this. Either ESPN has a group of stone racists sitting at the SportsCenter Desk, hosting their radio shows and writing headlines (doubtful), or they have no anti-racist mental apparatus for how to talk about an Asian-American player. As a result we see again that people of Asian descent are subject to a casual racism that other ethnic groups don’t have to suffer quite as starkly.
No one at ESPN would talk or write about a lesbian athlete and unconsciously put forth that the woman in question would have a “finger in the dike.” If an African-American player was thought of as stingy, it’s doubtful that anyone at the World Wide Leader would describe that person as “niggardly.” They would never brand a member of a football team as a “Redskin” (wait, scratch that last one.)
冠云, You are the only one who knows what I was thinking! :)
