Politico Bigots Refer to "Cracker Counties" In FL

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Unbelievable. Can you even imagine if they'd referred to "w**back counties", "ni**er" counties, or "ch*nk" counties? Guess it doesn't matter if you happen to be white, Christian, and live in "flyover country"...

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Think this bigoted piece of human debris will go the way of Don Imus or Pat Buchanan? Hardly. The left protects their narrow-minded, empty-headed bigots.

[djAdvocate]

yeah. pretty distasteful.

[handyman2]

Actually the term has several uses. One it was used in past times to describe back woods self sufficient people who lived in rough make shift houses.
Another describes cattle drovers who used bull whips to drive cattle out of the palmetto patches. The bull whip made a loud crack when snapped.
A third was the mule drivers who brought goods and cattle via sand roads into the growing cities in north and mid Florida. There is a road in Hillsborough county (Tampa) that was referred to as cracker trail where wagons and cattle were driven down by whip cracking drovers.
At times it was used as a slur but at other times used to describe a people or a type of job. A term I had not heard for a long time.
In the reporters case it was a slur. Whether intended or not.

[mmhmm]

If he can't do any better than this, the man deserves to lose his job. Unprofessional is a polite word to describe this sort of "reporting".

[mmhmm]

I couldn't agree more, deminmaine. I'd hope MSNBC management has enough sense to realize nobody wants to hear this sort of bigotry. If they don't have that much sense, they need to start working on that lack or they'll have little audience left.

[Chocolate Lover]

Wow, and he managed to get a shot in at 2 states as well. Those "cracker" counties are more like AL and GA than the rest of FL. Nice. Some people just need a good slap upside the head.....

[Tennesseer]

Interesting usage and history of the word:


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(pejorative)

[formerroomate99]

I seriously doubt this guy will loose his job over this. Bigotry against rural white people is alive and well and completely sanctioned by the 'moderate' wings of the mainstream media.

[Deleted]

ROFL. Cracker county. What does that even mean? white trash? Just white?

[handyman2]

Nope a person who is referred to as a Florida Cracker can be white, black, or native Indian. There are many ways the term was, is used. The most common one in later years was a reference to native born Floridians by the flood of northerners. They had heard the word but did not know it's history. But the native crackers got even and rich by selling useless swamp land to unsuspecting interlopers. ;D

[Tennesseer]

I do find paul's selective outrage amusing. Paul is outraged a student newspaper writer got in trouble for speaking his mind and should keep his job yet believes the commentator should lose his. Both are involved with the media.

From paul's 'I WAS RIGHT (again) RE: Bullying' thread:

"Re: I WAS RIGHT (again) RE: Bullying « Reply #79 on Jan 27, 2012, 20:11 »

Jan 25, 2012, 21:24, kittensaver wrote: Who says the Christian point of view gets to win out in a public, non-sectarian setting?

Win out? We aren't talking about my desire to have Christian beliefs affirmed by the school. We are talking about the SILENCING of the Christian viewpoint."

And pbp again in the same thread:

"Precisely. This is "hate crime" applied to free speech, and once they raise a generation accustomed to being silenced if they think outside the prescribed government parameters of permissible thought, it will grow like a cancer. Today it's kids and schools, tomorrow it will be adults and health clinics. Don't fit in? No care for you. Really don't fit in? death panel."

www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=politics&action=display&thread=19244&page=3

[vandalshandle]

Well, I guess times change. The "Atlanta Crackers" was the name of our AAA league baseball team for 30 years or so, until they brought in the major league Braves, for whom Jane Fonda got in trouble for doing the "tomahawk chop". In today's environment, I would not want to name a team the ""White Socks". Do you think that "The Padres" are safe, or is that a slur on Hispanics?

[djAdvocate]

Feb 1, 2012 10:45:27 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

I would hope he does lose his job mmhmm. IMO it is certainly an offense that should result in termination.

it might be better to put him on unpaid leave for a bit, so he can see what it is like to live like a "cracker" for a spell.

[floridayankee]

I have a friend that refers to himself as a Florida Cracker as do quite a few native Floridians. There's really nothing derogatory about it.

Florida cracker refers to original colonial-era English and American pioneer settlers of what is now the U.S. state of Florida, and their descendants.

The term "cracker" in Florida usage relates to the whip that cowboys used to "crack" cattle out of the swamps and scrub.

[mmhmm]

The way this "reporter" used the term struck me as derogatory, floridayankee. Seems it struck several others in the same way.

[floridayankee]

Feb 1, 2012 12:55:08 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

The way this "reporter" used the term struck me as derogatory, floridayankee. Seems it struck several others in the same way.

Perhaps...but all I see is a blank space in the OP so I can't tell. But, referring to a floridian as a 'cracker'....well, as I said, many natives already do that themselves. In fact, some towns even have their own nickname for natives of that town. Natives from a little town called Riverview are "River Rats"....found that out at a VFW we stopped at on a poker run. It was the self proclaimed "Home of the River Rats".

[Don Perignon]

The very same group that vehemently rejects being described as "a thin, flat, usually square biscuit made from white flour and water, often lightly sprinkled with coarse salt" often rejects and derides "Political Correctness".
Yep, they can dish it out, but...

[handyman2]

What I find interesting in all this is that a native Floridian can call themselves a Florida cracker or refer to a family member or close friend as such and nothing is thought of it.
I have some African American friends who I have played softball with for years and they use the N word on each other and laugh but a white guy or Hispanic best not do it or there is a fight.
I have found that in most cultures they will use a slang term to refer to each other but an outsider best not do it. Then it becomes and insult
Makes the art of political correctness tough to figure.
But the way it was used by the reporter was not using it as a slang term but an insult and unprofessional.

[cme1201]

The fact that he says that the Panhandle "Cracker" counties more resemble Ga and Al than they do Florida, tells he doesn't care if he is hurling an insult.

Most of the Panhandle/North Florida is where you find native Floridians, "real" Floridians and not the transplants from the north.

[Tennesseer]

If defining the word "cracker" as a poor white person,, then I don't see how a white reporter calling some Florida county (white?) residents "cracker"as being racist as paul strongly suggests . An insult? Yes.

If we board members are to hold this commentator to such high standards what does it say about ourselves here. On this board, liberals are called stupid and conservatives are called ignorant. Gays are called deviants while fundamentalist Christians and other religious zealots are called delusional and dangerous Yet much of this name called passes by without comment or condemnation by other posters. Silent agreement depending on which side you are on.

There were comments like this here about Hillary Clinton the other day:

"I'm not sure Hillary hasn't ever been a man!"

"I'm not sure Hillary has ever been with a man."

"I think she's sportin a wick myself"

Not a word was said to these posters by other posters.

A number of posts are reported to the moderators but are determined not to be serious enough for comment, deletion or warning.

We are all as guilty as the commentator-in fact we say far worse than "poor white person" aka "cracker" to each other and about others all the time.

[cme1201]

There were comments like this here about Hillary Clinton the other day:

"I'm not sure Hillary hasn't ever been a man!"

"I'm not sure Hillary has ever been with a man."

"I think she's sportin a wick myself"

Are any of these comments on the nightly news? Should a person be able to spout off any type of non-sense they choose to on the air? You do not see it a a racial comment, some people do. Just as a Black person can be seen using the N-word as a racial word to another black or a Hispanic could use the word wet**** to put down another hispanic so can a white use racially charged words to hurl insults at another white person.

[Tennesseer]

Thank you Dem.

Does it really matter though Dem? This is media right here. Not often professional but it is the printed word in the electronic age. It can be read by anyone on the Internet. No different than Internet blogs which are often quoted.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Feb 1, 2012 10:43:36 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

If he can't do any better than this, the man deserves to lose his job. Unprofessional is a polite word to describe this sort of "reporting".

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Feb 1, 2012 10:47:35 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

I couldn't agree more, deminmaine. I'd hope MSNBC management has enough sense to realize nobody wants to hear this sort of bigotry. If they don't have that much sense, they need to start working on that lack or they'll have little audience left.

Um, they don't have an audience now.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Feb 1, 2012 14:32:44 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

If defining the word "cracker" as a poor white person,, then I don't see how a white reporter calling some Florida county (white?) residents "cracker"as being racist as paul strongly suggests . An insult? Yes.

If we board members are to hold this commentator to such high standards what does it say about ourselves here. On this board, liberals are called stupid and conservatives are called ignorant. Gays are called deviants while fundamentalist Christians and other religious zealots are called delusional and dangerous Yet much of this name called passes by without comment or condemnation by other posters. Silent agreement depending on which side you are on.

There were comments like this here about Hillary Clinton the other day:

"I'm not sure Hillary hasn't ever been a man!"

"I'm not sure Hillary has ever been with a man."

"I think she's sportin a wick myself"

Not a word was said to these posters by other posters.

A number of posts are reported to the moderators but are determined not to be serious enough for comment, deletion or warning.

We are all as guilty as the commentator-in fact we say far worse than "poor white person" aka "cracker" to each other and about others all the time.

Whew! There we go. Finally some complete nonsense from the left to assure me I'm not losing my mind. All this agreement was weirding me out.

[Chocolate Lover]

Feb 1, 2012 13:31:36 GMT -5 cme1201 said:

The fact that he says that the Panhandle "Cracker" counties more resemble Ga and Al than they do Florida, tells he doesn't care if he is hurling an insult.

Most of the Panhandle/North Florida is where you find native Floridians, "real" Floridians and not the transplants from the north.

It was most definitely an insult. Calling them the cracker counties implies that they're more stupid than the rest of the state, which incidentally, is full of transplants from the north. Then he lumped the residents of the 2 bordering states into that uneducated mass as well.

None of those historic, proud descriptions for the definition of cracker applied to this man's thinking.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Feb 1, 2012 13:31:36 GMT -5 cme1201 said:

The fact that he says that the Panhandle "Cracker" counties more resemble Ga and Al than they do Florida, tells he doesn't care if he is hurling an insult.

Most of the Panhandle/North Florida is where you find native Floridians, "real" Floridians and not the transplants from the north.

Yeah, and besides that- any self-respecting transplant to South Florida knows it's not "cracker counties"- it's the "Redneck Riviera"

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Feb 1, 2012 15:06:36 GMT -5 deminmaine said:

Feb 1, 2012 14:41:17 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Thank you Dem.

Does it really matter though Dem? This is media right here. Not often professional but it is the printed word in the electronic age. It can be read by anyone on the Internet. No different than Internet blogs which are often quoted.

Tenn I don't put internet chatrooms and blogs on the same level aswhat I am calling "professional" media. This to me is just a bunch of people mouthing off. And it's a heck of a lot tamer than some of the stuff I hear live people say in "real life" (unfortunately)

So to me, it does make a difference, yes. I hold the professional media to a higher standard.

Having said that, I am not that familiar with "politico". But MsNBC is big, main media.

This is the issue- it's not the words, but the forum. I don't say things here that I'd necessarily repeat on my job as a professional cable news anchor for MSNBC. I make all kinds of cracks here that are part of the casual, informal banter back and forth-- but I thin the word itself, "cracker" is definitely a racial epithet and ought to be out of bounds here, too as it would violate the CoC in my opinion.

[floridayankee]

Feb 1, 2012 13:20:58 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

What I find interesting in all this is that a native Floridian can call themselves a Florida cracker or refer to a family member or close friend as such and nothing is thought of it.

I understand the point you're trying to make, but the term "Florida Cracker" has absolutely nothing to do with skin color....nothing.

A Loud "CRACK" noise using a whip got attention from the cattle to stay together and avoid straying.early 1800's Florida
The Florida Cattlemen still use the whip.Other Southern and Western Cattlemen use it also, as well as some helicopters and ATV's to move large herds. It is primarily the"CRACK" popping noise which alerts there is a direction the Human wants the bovine to follow, be it up a ramp ,into a pen , or even in travel on the open range.It is the noise caused by the mini-vaccum rapidly refilling with normal atmospheric air pressure when the tip of the whip changes direction. This noise will usually cause the bovines to pay attention and follow directions of the other/elder cattle to the pen or wherever it is we want them to move to. Often a young steer has to be physically directed early on , but as they age most are just as easy to control as a good dog. It is their fear of actually being whipped that motivates them to do as they should. For some early training a light , thin length of bamboo with a thin twine cord is sometimes used to inflict a sting they associate life-long with a stiff handle and extended flexible length of cord. We call those "poppers" down in mid/south FL Cattle land. Florida has a long history of extensive Cattle Ranching , and was the largest producing state for Prime Beef for many decades.

"Florida Cracker" refers to Florida Cowboys.

People started using the term "cracker" to describe rednecks and/or racist white folks, not just in the south, but in the North as well.