Chris Matthews Calls Birthers 'Crackers'

[The Straight Story]

Chris Matthews Calls Birthers 'Crackers' (VIDEO)

Chris Matthews called "birthers" "crackers" on his Friday show.

Matthews used the term while speaking to Politico's Jeanne Cummings and the Huffington Post's Sam Stein. He was discussing the attacks on President Obama.

"So much of this attack on Obama has been ad hominem -- directed at the person, the president," Matthews said. "Whether it's somebody, some cracker out there on the right calling him -- some birther type that he's not an American or it is someone a little more sophisticated, but basically saying he's a socialist."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/15/chris-matthews-birthers-crackers_n_809579.html

[Richardo]

1. I don't have a problem with that.

Some people ARE crackers.

[madokie]

2. I call 'm idiots

and stupid

[fascisthunter]

3. People in this Country need Lessons in Civics

socialism ain't what you think it is Billy Bub.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

4. the he should be fired just like an announcer who would use

it's analog. a racial slur is a racial slur.

sP

[NuclearDem]

6. Exactly

It's not okay to use a racial slur at all.

And anyone here who condones it is just illustrating a massive double standard.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. I think Matthews was being kind. n/t

[LeftinOH]

7. If the shoe fits. And, coming from a long line of 'crackers', I don't have a problem with it. n/t

[NuclearDem]

9. So, it's okay to use a racial slur as long as it's against someone we don't like?

Pretty sure white supremacists use the same logic.

[LeftinOH]

11. I've just never found it offensive in a racial way; more like a slur against one's intelligence

and background. "Hillbilly" and "redneck" could be used interchangeably with "cracker", IMHO.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

12. just because you don't understand how it is racial

doesn't mean that is isn't a racial slur...

sP

[NuclearDem]

13. It IS a racial term though

Back from the days of slavery and the cracking of a whip.

Country people have embraced redneck and hillbilly...I don't see them embracing the "cracker" part of their history though.

[bluestate10]

58. I disagree. A southern writer did a piece on the term once, it is commonly used in

parts of the south and it is not used as a racial term, but more as a term for those that have a bit of a hardscrabble life.

[Erose999]

78. I read a piece about it in some journal once... the origin of "cracker" is not what most think it is

The common (and mistaken) parlance says "cracker" comes from the white slave owners "cracking" the whips.

The article I read said it in fact was descriptive of the lower class southerners of Scotch-Irish descent and their penchant for "cracking" jokes and pranks.The author cited several usages from middle and Elizabethan English, the foremost being from Shakespeare's "King John":

"What cracker is this... that deafes our eares / With this abundance of superfluous breath?"

This is not the same article I read but it does make the same argument.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/Folklife/CustomsandLocalTraditions&id=h-552


< article >

By the 1760s the English, both at home and in colonial America, were applying the term to Scots-Irish settlers of the southern backcountry, as in this passage from a letter to the earl of Dartmouth: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." The word then came to be associated with the cowboys of Georgia and Florida, many of them descendants of those early frontiersmen.< /article >

[Arkana]

56. I don't think it was meant as a racial slur.

You've never heard the term "gone crackers"?

[bluestate10]

57. Cracker is not a racial slur. I am a cracker because of the part of my

home state that I was born and raised in. The term refers to indigenous americans, usually southerners that are poor and live hand to mouth. Nothing should happen to Matthews, just like nothing should happen to Beck or Hannity, or O'Reilly. Limbaugh is in another zone, that man should be sent into space, never to return.

[fascisthunter]

64. meh

[RegieRocker]

76. Yep the similarities escape most. Pretty much encompasses

all space and brain matter.

[steve2470]

8. Racist term, sorry Mr. Matthews

It's not a nice word when referring to white people. Racism is racism.

[RichGirl]

19. I'm not a fan of his...but....

I don't think he meant it in those terms. The word in that context is rarely used so it's easy to forget. I bet he wanted to say they are nuts...but thought that didn't sound right so reached for another snack item to describe him

Let's not go crackers over every little thing!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

21. horseshit...that is not how he was using it...

and you know it...nice attempt to cover for him though...

sP

[NuclearDem]

22. He might not have meant it...

And I agree, I think he realized as soon as he said it that he had used the wrong word...but he still used a racial slur.

Which is why I don't think he should be fired, more like reprimanded.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

26. "some cracker" is the phrase he used

and he meant it the way he used it.

sP

[LanternWaste]

66. Much like "some nut"

Much like "some nut"

[OKNancy]

52. I agree.. I think he meant cracked in the head/nuts n/t

[treestar]

54. I've heard it that way too

Going crackers = going crazy

[spanone]

30. it sure ain't a racial slur here in the south...we're all crackers

[NuclearDem]

31. The n word sure ain't a racial slur in rap music...

[tekisui]

62. The n word and cracker are in absolutely no way similar.

It is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

[Erose999]

79. Yep, theres an "H-word" thats the analogue for the "N-word". Cracker, is harmless.

[fascisthunter]

65. self-delete

[cordelia]

40. Speak for yourself. n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

49. I'm Not A Cracker

Orlando,Florida

[RegieRocker]

77. You're admitting that southerners are nuts?

[old mark]

10. One of my SIL's comes from an old Alabama family, and ther refer to themselves

as "crackers" all the time...I don't get the outrage..why not apply it to the tea baggers and their supporters?


mark

[NuclearDem]

14. African Americans tend to use the n word to refer to themselves sometimes...

Doesn't make that word any less offensive.

[old mark]

33. I understand, but I still think it's a big nothing.....nt

[NuclearDem]

35. I understand where you come from...

I grew up in what was half a suburban community and half a farm town...kids used to refer to themselves as crackers all the time. Unless, of course, they were in my World History class, where the teacher would send their asses down to the principal if he ever caught them using that word.

I just don't see it as acceptable, no matter who uses it.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

38. I don't like it.

But I view it more as a classist term than a racial slur (although it can be used that way). Matthews was being elitist more than racist when he used the word.

[NuclearDem]

39. I think that's actually pretty accurate

It does depend on who's using the term.

It's still offensive either way, but context does help. :)

[RandiFan1290]

15. Thesaurus.com

Main Entry: crackers
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: insane
Synonyms: batty, bonkers*, brainsick, cracked, crazed, crazy, crazy as a loon, cuckoo, daft, demented, deranged, distraught, disturbed, dotty, kooky, loco, lunatic, mad, mentally ill, moonstruck, not all there, nuts, nutty, off one's rocker, out of one's mind, out to lunch, psycho, psychotic, sick, sick in the head, stark raving mad, touched*, unbalanced, unhinged, unsound, wacky.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

16. horseshit...that is not how he was using it...

crackers here is an adjective...crackers as matthews used it is a noun...learn the fucking parts of speech before you try to argue a point.

sP

[NuclearDem]

17. Dictionary.com

–noun
5.
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive . a poor white person living in some rural parts of the southeastern U.S.

–adjective
10.
crackers, Informal . wild; crazy: They went crackers over the new styles.

[TroglodyteScholar]

48. You looked up the adjective.

He said "crackers" in the plural noun sense. If he was using it the way you say, there would be a noun described by crackers ("That guy is crackers!").

Some advice: don't try to make a point with a copy/paste from the dictionary unless you know you're correct.

[RandiFan1290]

55. He said "cracker"

Please don't try to make a point unless you know you are correct.

[Name removed]

68. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RandiFan1290]

69. So where does it say

that "cracker" is impossible to be used as an adjective? Please explain, professor?

Welcome BTW try not to get yourself too worked up so soon. :hi:

[Name removed]

70. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[superduperfarleft]

18. White people want something to be offended about too!

It's not fair that black people get to have all the fun. :eyes:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

20. bullshit...just bullshit

you people and your fucking double standards...

sP

[superduperfarleft]

24. So you're arguing that calling a white person a "cracker" is the equivalent of calling

a black person the n-word, with all the historical connotations that word has?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

28. not equivalent...but a racial slur nonetheless...

like it or not...look it up and see what it means...then tell me if it is a slur or not.

sP

[Celeborn Skywalker]

32. It can be used as a racial term.

But it is also a term used, especially in the South, by more well-to-do people against "white trash". My great-grandparents would always say that they were called crackers more by rich white southerners than blacks or any other group.

[superduperfarleft]

43. Sure, it's a slur.

Just like it's a slur to call a man an asshole, and a woman a c*nt. Neither are remotely equivalent in their power and history.

[NuclearDem]

29. Given the historical context of "cracker"...

Yeah, it's essentially the same thing. Crackers were slaveowners (the name comes from not only 'cracked corn', but some could argue from the cracking sound of a whip).

You can't say one racial slur related to slavery is excusable while another isn't.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

34. See my post above.

It isn't always a racial slur.

[RandiFan1290]

36. They don't care

Their pearls are already clutched.

:rofl:

[NuclearDem]

37. Alright, so in some contexts it's just a derogatory term against the poor

That's not a whole lot better...

[superduperfarleft]

41. I wish you luck in your quest to correct the centuries of oppression suffered by white people.

:cry:

And I long for the day when that suffering ends. Yes, my brothers, one day white people will ascend to positions of power within government. One day, white people will no longer disproportionately be incarcerated by unjust drug laws or be victims of violent crime. One day, my white brothers will no longer be terrorized by black supremacist groups and the local police forces that protect them.

Yes, one day, my white brothers, white people will cast off the 400-year-old shackles of oppression!!!!

Oh yeah, and :sarcasm:

[NuclearDem]

42. Right, because since white people have power and money makes slurs against them ok

I'm sorry, I happen to be against racism no matter what form it takes...

It's unfortunate that some on DU believe that racism against an entire group is warranted as long as members of that group have done bad things in the past.

I wasn't saying racism against white people is institutionalized, or even very prevalent in society...but when it does pop up, it has to be dealt with. It's still hate that leads to violence.

[superduperfarleft]

44. Carry on, brother.

One day we'll reach the promised land. :cry:

[NuclearDem]

45. My ancestors weren't slavemasters

I'm sorry I don't agree with being labeled as the descendant of someone who DID treat human beings as less than such.

You know, the same way ethnic Slavs treated my ancestral ethnic Balts in Eastern Europe...

[LanternWaste]

67. +1

+1

I have a difficult time feeling oppressed when called a term that hold little weight, less meaning, and even less pejorative.

But, I imagine many people will righteously proclaim "double-standard" to better maintain the illusion of two wholly separate terms conveying the precise same power.

[Tanuki]

46. Crackers were of the lower social class, not the slave-owning planters.

Folk etymology aside,
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/Folklife/CustomsandLocalTraditions&id=h-552

"The true history of the name, however, is more involved and shows a shift in application over time. Linguists now believe the original root to be the Gaelic craic, still used in Ireland (anglicized in spelling to crack) for "entertaining conversation." The English meaning of cracker as a braggart appears by Elizabethan times, as, for example, in Shakespeare's King John (1595): "What cracker is this . . . that deafes our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath?"

By the 1760s the English, both at home and in colonial America, were applying the term to Scots-Irish settlers of the southern backcountry,
Crackers, as in this passage from a letter to the earl of Dartmouth: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode." The word then came to be associated with the cowboys of Georgia and Florida, many of them descendants of those early frontiersmen."

[NuclearDem]

47. Appreciate the background info

But I think it's also important to look at how the term has evolved over the years.

It might have been that three hundred years ago, but in 21st century America, it's too often to refer to white people in general.

[AngryAmish]

51. My folks were from Ireland and they sure liked the crack

It means a bunch of guys sitting around bsing each other. Or gals.

[NuclearDem]

23. Yeah, because that's what this is about...

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[superduperfarleft]

25. I know. That's why I said it. n/t

[NuclearDem]

27. Hold, on let me go back and edit that...

Better?

[frogmarch]

50. He probably meant they were cracked

in the head - crackpots/loonies.

[csziggy]

53. Watched the movie "Rosewood the other night

About the destruction of a small all African American community in Levy County, Florida in 1923, based on a true incident. In the movie, both races called the whites "crackers" routinely. Of course, that was when the "n" word was used routinely to refer to African Americans by both races.

Knowing the historical usage is informative, but that does not prevent the current usage from being hurtful and non-productive. Chris Matthews did not grow up in the South, so his use of the word can't be blamed on hearing it used often as a child. His choice of that usage was almost certainly deliberate. While the connotations in his use might be intentional, it does not promote better communication.

By the way, "Rosewood" is well worth watching. Horrific, but well done, well acted and with great impact. For those who do not know the history, Rosewood was a small town in Levy County, Florida settled by all African Americans with one store run by a white man. Following accusations of a rape by a AA man, the town was torched, many of the occupants murdered and the survivors escaped to Gainesville, Florida. For many years the incident was covered up. About 35 years ago - sixty years after the destruction - the survivors came forward and received compensation from the Florida legislature,. Officially, the loss of life was low, about 10 people or so. Survivors estimate that 140-160 people were murdered in a killing spree by whites that was not stopped by the Levy County sheriff even though he was there for the duration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre

[Still a Democrat]

59. As a middle aged white man I'm sooooo disadvantaged

How long can I be kept down by the bigotry in this country? :rofl:

[Stinky The Clown]

60. Matthews is one teevee's most undisciplined sources of oral spew

In his attempts to sound smart, he just keeping spewing aimlessly.

[tekisui]

61. He's right. Some of them are crackers. lol.

White trash crackers. :rofl:

Anyone who tries to equate cracker to the slurs that have been historically used as instruments of hate against blacks, Jews, gays, women and other minorities are grasping at straws. There is no equivalency for the racial slurs that have been used against minorities for whites.

[Gormy Cuss]

63. Matthews should not have used that term because it 's crude,and in this instance elitist

because it emanated from his rich, educated and privileged mouth.

Why not simply use the epithet "birther?"

[formercia]

71. He should have used the term: 'Peckerwoods.'

it's more appropriate.

[sylvi]

72. Because it's not "as bad" as another doesn't make it right

It's okay for one race to be subject to racial slurs, as long as that race hasn't suffered the arbitrary requisite amount x of hate and oppression. Until then, they should just shut up and take the epithets and ask for seconds. At the same time members of that race should also carefully examine what words and phrases they use, because hey, we're trying to end racism here.

Is that the formula? Is it okay to call people of Italian ancestry "wops" or German descendants "krauts" because they certainly haven't been exposed to the level of hate and disadvantage historically that Blacks have?

Well, if your goal is some adolescent version of Tit-for-Tat where you're keeping a scoreboard of less than/same as/better than slurs, and cheering for the "righteous" usage, I suppose that will work.

If your goal is to end or diminish racism and bigotry, not so much. You can't tell a group of people, "We expect you to stop using the term 'nigger', but at the same we are going to continue to call you 'cracker' because you have not yet reached the minimum level of suffering required for us to stop. We'll let you know when that is."

Well, technically I suppose you can tell them that, but good luck with it being an effective teaching tool.

Combating hate and bigotry means you set a moral standard for all people to rise to in their dealings with one another, not just the ones you find most repugnant at the moment.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

73. I thought cracker was a reference to skin color.

White people being the color of a soda cracker. Like a saltine. Those flat things people eat.

[joe_sixpack]

74. I don't find anything wrong

in what Matthews said, because in this case he's mirroring my side of an issue. Now, if he takes a position I don't agree with, than I'm going to jump on him for using a term like this, or anything else I can find to berate him on.

[elana i am]

75. around here calling someone a cracker means

calling someone a looney toon.