"Lefty author..."Lefty author!? Even Trebec paused slightly while reading it, as if he had no foreknowledge of the question, and was taken aback by it. His tone changed while finishing the question, but he didn't skip a beat and continued on.
I turned to my wife. "Did he just say 'lefty author'?" I asked. It flashed on the screen for a moment before being lost forever. She hadn't seen it. But I know I saw it.
"Lefty"? Isn't that one of those words that is almost, but not quite yet, on the list with words like "darkie"? I mean, it's not necessarily derogatory in and of itself, yet the intent is usually derogatory. I've never heard it used in a complimentary way. If someone on the left uses it to describe themeself, more often than not it is tongue-in-cheek, a self-depreciating ice-breaker. If someone on the right uses it to describe someone on the left, it is ordinarily done with disdain. If Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter calls someone a "lefty", you know their intention.
To hear this word used in mainstream media so easily and without regard for its implication is disturbing. I would rather hear it as an insult than as a normal part of the vocabulary.
What were the show's writers thinking? Is this normal for them, to describe a writer as a "lefty author"? Here's what I think: it is an example of mainstream acceptance of right-wing bigotry. It was ugly, unbecoming, but worst of all... it was normal.
2 comments:
Um...do you think the question might have actually referred to an author who is simply left-handed? As in , writes with his left hand??
Just a thought.
Anything's possible, I guess. I don't mean to sound over-sensitive and I am certainly not politically correct, but the word sure seemed to carry some baggage.
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