The Rhyme-Master's On the Case

Jesse and the Race-baiters are now complaining that use of the term "refugee" to describe victims of the hurricane in Louisiana is racist and condescending, and papers like the Baltimore Sun are lapping it up.

The paper says use of the term is another example of the bias permeating coverage of the disaster in the national media.

"The use of the term refugee doesn't benefit anybody," said Richard E. Vatz, a professor of rhetoric and communication at Towson University. "It's another way of depicting African-Americans as hierarchically low, and I understand why they wouldn't want to be associated with that."

UPDATE: Even President Bush has bought into the claptrap.


(September 6, 2005 post on the old Tongue Tied blog. The new "Tongue Tied" blog is here)