Talk:Cotton picker

Untitled
My image is WAY too big. How do I downsize it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Verdad (talk • contribs) 15:18, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Done. Please see Picture tutorial for a guide on including images in articles. Cheers, Tangot a ngo 15:20, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Got it!

Derogatory Term?
I must take issue, purely on the grounds of logic, with the inclusion of the statement in this article that "cotton picker" is somehow a derogatory term for African-American slaves. I can't deny that "cotton picker" could be used in a derogatory manner, and I wouldn't doubt that it has, by someone, somewhere, been used in such a manner before. But:

1.) My parents and grandparents are Caucasians from the American South. Like at least 99% of the Southern families present in the area during and before the Civil War, and seemingly contrary to popular belief throughout the American North and West, our ancestors never owned slaves and worked their comparatively small farms themselves, farms that were passed down through the family as far as my parents (I am 25 years old presently). Although machinery had replaced virtually all hand labor in the enterprise of cotton picking by the time I had come into the world, hand picking cotton before, during, and after school was a big part of life for my immediate ancestors, including my parents. They often speak of picking cotton or of being 'cotton pickers' in a manner that is much more proud that derogatory. To say that someone--black, white, red, or yellow as his skin may be--is a "cotton picker" can hardly be derogatory unless hard labor is something to be made fun of.

2.) While this doesn't mean that 'cotton picker' has never been used as a derogatory term--I'm sure that it has--does the inclusion of this statement really contribute anything other than confusion to an encyclopedic article about cotton pickers?

3.) Furthermore, when the term "cotton picker" is referenced in our modern culture, I find it extremely difficult to believe that most people wouldn't conjure up the image of...well, a cotton picker, a big machine moving through the cotton fields. How does including, in an encyclopedia, the usage of the term as a racial derogative accomplish anything other than encouraging its future use as such?

I am going to remove the statement in question, or at least alter it to indicate that it is academically questionable. --Curtlindsay 23:28, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I never heard of "cotton picker" being a slur. Is there an article on "cotton pickin'"? I grew up with that as an alternative to "gosh darn." I.e. I wish that cotton pickin truck would either speed up or get out of the way. THough, even in that case, there was never a racial or social classist inflection to be construed. How do you sign your comments? -Verdad
 * I removed the slur section, because it was written something like an essay, and was inadequately cited. Superm401 - Talk 22:50, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

I deleted the section about "alternative meanings" I've lived in cotton country all my life. I've never heard this term used as a derogatory term for/toward black people (or anyone else, for that matter.) My (white) ancestors owned no slaves. They were poor landowners or sharecroppers. My grandmothers and grandfathers all both picked cotton by hand. All the way down to my father who bought the family's first John Deere cotton picker as an adult. Since there are no citations, and as the earlier poster said, since when has hard work even anything to make fun of? If anything, the phrase would likely been a classist term, rather than racist. Good chance there were as many and likely more whites that have picked cotton by hand in the US as blacks. Asdfjkl;80 (talk) 20:00, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Vandalism
Why are people blanking the page and inserting inflamatory phrases? Verdad 21:55, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I can't believe the constant vandalism that this article gets. If you are considering vandalizing this page, epecially to make deragatory comments about african americans, please don't! It is rude and immature. Please consider that there are people who read these articles every day for information.

Verdad 04:58, 26 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I think this is one of a number of farming-related articles (eg reaper, plough, John Deere) which are accessed by school children for homework research. Vandalism to these pages seems to be very childish and comes in waves! EdJogg 11:54, 26 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I do wish they'd think of cleverer things to insert though, e.g. a mechanical nose picker, rather than just inserting rude words. Danack (talk) 22:15, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Lou Dobbs
I went to the Huffington Post site that is used as a reference to say Lou Dobbs was calling Sec of State Rice a cotton picker. I watched the entire video. It looks like he's just using the idiom as his Texas-raised version of "gosh darn" to express frustration on TV without FCC-banned profanity.

He says "cotton" and arrests his speech mid-sentence, probably recognizing that his statement could be misconstrued. In fact, his whole point in the segment was about the misconstruing of comments in terms of branding someone as racist.

I would be hesitant in using such a political website (one that is described in its opening sentence by wikipedia as liberal) as a trustworthy reference. And I feel it is unfair to Mr Dobbs, or anyone for that matter, to use this forum to cast blame as a racist or to make similar accusations. I would encourage a future editor or Wikipedia VIP to remove the statement about Lou Dobbs.

Verdad (talk) 04:28, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Big copyvio
The whole section on Rust's invention of the cotton picker was cut and pasted from. Now we need a rewrite. John Nagle (talk) 06:57, 13 December 2014 (UTC)

Copyright problem removed
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