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In reply to the discussion: Arizona Radio Host calls Obama a Monkey [View all]lakercub
(659 posts)The term monkey is insulting in both cases (and meant to be), but in the case of Bush it is clearly an insult directed at one man. There are no cultural or racial overtones for calling white people chimps that I'm aware of. However, when calling black people monkeys there is a massive racial component that goes with it as blacks were often compared to monkeys out of the jungle for a very long period of time in order to show their racial inferiority.
It is a double standard but, frankly, I don't care. White people used these terms for generations, and now the racist ones are pissed off they can't use them anymore. If they went after Obama's appearance based solely on, say, his ears, they may be able to have their fun without hitting on the racially sensitive stuff. But when they say monkeys (or tar babies), the likelihood that they are racists or are using racial dog whistles is ridiculously high.