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Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

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Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#61
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reluctant to link to them because they were all Drudge Report style aggregators of the type that are frowned upon by HN. Anyone curious can just Google "Romney win riots" and see for themselves. We're talking hundreds or thousands of tweets of this nature. To be honest, I'm not really bothered by either because it really just amounts to verbal graffiti. I don't think any of those tweeting were future black panthe…

There is a reason those are not acceptable sources...

Mostly agree, in the same way that HuffPo isn't, but they provided direct links to the tweets, and with a little searching on twitter.com, it wasn't hard to find tons of tweets in the same vein.

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

95% of Black voters cast their ballot for Obama.

It's a little elevated but not much, I would guess any "reverse racism" going on is probably proportional or lesser than the people who didn't vote for Obama because he was black. Recall that black voters historically align with the Democrats in the 80-90% range anyways: 1984 Walter Mondale 90% Ronald Reagan 9% 1988 Michael Dukakis 90% George H.W. Bush 10% 1992 Bill Clinton 83% George H.W. Bush 10% 1996 Bill Clinton…

And I believe Bush Jr had one of the most diverse cabinets as well...

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#63
post #22
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the people that voted for Obama—just because he's black? Isn't that racist too? What about the people who voted for Obama out of fear of being labeled racist? Isn't that blackmail? I've no idea how widespread those cases are, but I do wonder.

Or the people that are being called uncle toms for voting for Romney.

What is sad as well is that that epithet is often aimed at Republican or right-leaning politicians of colour such as Condie Rice, Herman Cain, Colin Powell etc.

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#64

I would say this map only shows areas where its socially acceptable to openly vocalize racist thoughts in a public forum.

This is a really good point IMHO. People say all sorts of things behind closed doors. But self-censorship in public is almost certainly more common in some areas of the country than in others.

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#65
post #27

The problem I have with this is that it is needlessly stirring racial divides. 395 tweets out of ~120 million voters? Come on, do something positive for our country like mapping out the tweets of people still needing help from Sandy.

I have a huge problem with people submitting bug reports because it needlessly creates the perception that the software is buggy.

Pointing out racism has nothing to do with "stirring racial divides". This appears to be a reasonably sophisticated analysis, the methodology was clearly explained. It certainly, at least, appears they didn't just make up a bunch of numbers.

If you disagree, then find data and make your case.

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#66
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The n-word is not necessarily racist, if used in the right context. But given the context of most of these tweets it is absolutely used in racist tones, ie. "niggers in the whitehouse!"

Under which circumstances is it not racist?

Under the circumstance that you discuss the history and etymology of the word like adults and not a bunch of idiots on xbox live.

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#67
post #27

The problem I have with this is that it is needlessly stirring racial divides. 395 tweets out of ~120 million voters? Come on, do something positive for our country like mapping out the tweets of people still needing help from Sandy.

I completely agree, these people are idiots. Why waste time trying doing something so non-constructive to society?

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

95% of Black voters cast their ballot for Obama.

It's a little elevated but not much, I would guess any "reverse racism" going on is probably proportional or lesser than the people who didn't vote for Obama because he was black. Recall that black voters historically align with the Democrats in the 80-90% range anyways: 1984 Walter Mondale 90% Ronald Reagan 9% 1988 Michael Dukakis 90% George H.W. Bush 10% 1992 Bill Clinton 83% George H.W. Bush 10% 1996 Bill Clinton…

Even though the percent might not be much higher, it's really about turnout, not percent won. Twice as many blacks showed up to the polls for Obama than for Clinton. Obama was a "movement" candidate in the black community.

However, I'm sympathetic to your argument - I think blacks turning out for Obama was more akin to Irish Catholics showing up for Kennedy, rather than whites showing up for George Wallace - more of a pride thing, and a symbolic triumph over past discrimination, etc.

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#69
post #12

Well, on the flip side: I heard multiple "The problem with Republicans is old white guys" comments on NPR and CNN. From respected "pundits" no less. Talk about your sexist, racist , ageist comments! Substituting the words "Democratic" and "young" and "of color" sounds pretty silly. I'm all for free speech, though. There will always be a noise component in political discourse and we Americans have pretty good filters.

[deleted]

Re: Mapping Racist Tweets in Response to President Obama's Re-election

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

95% of Black voters cast their ballot for Obama.

It's a little elevated but not much, I would guess any "reverse racism" going on is probably proportional or lesser than the people who didn't vote for Obama because he was black. Recall that black voters historically align with the Democrats in the 80-90% range anyways: 1984 Walter Mondale 90% Ronald Reagan 9% 1988 Michael Dukakis 90% George H.W. Bush 10% 1992 Bill Clinton 83% George H.W. Bush 10% 1996 Bill Clinton…

Good point - Obama's results with the Black vote was more of a bump, rather than a sea change compared to White candidates in the past.
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