Talk:Race card/Archive 1

profanity
I do not believe the quote from Ice Cube meets wikipedia standards for the use of profanity. The article can accurately describe the rapper's stance on the issue without using profane or offensive language. Moreover, it seems to be dangling in the middle of the article for no reason and with no discussion of its merrit. I will remove it for the time being until someone decides to discuss the song in terms of importance to the article and not as one of the millions of references to the term. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mrathel (talk • contribs) 20:06, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Native Americans
Most native american carry a degree of indian blood card. "They are the only race to have a race card." this is a common saying amoung native peoples. --70.143.40.204 07:31, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
 * not true, I have never heard of one. I have heard of measuring the Native to Foreigner blood ratio (I myself am half-Native).  But, not a degree.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.191.205.78 (talk) 22:25, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Sevenwarlocks 18:39, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Two definitions???
I have never seen race card used in the sense of simply being a racist. It is always used to refer to accusing others of being a racist; if nobody can substantiate the second definition then I'm going to revert to the previous edit. Matt gies 21:58, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Actually, that definition feels right. For instance, George Bush might accused Dukakis of "playing the race card" for attacking the Willie Horton ads. Meelar 22:00, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Willie Horton? Not familiar with that... Could you provide a news link? Matt gies 22:09, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * See the article on Willie Horton. Many commentators of the liberal POV accuse the Bush campaign of playing the race card by making Horton an issue at all. Of course, as correctly noted by the article, the ad which showed Horton's photo was not sponsored by Bush's campaign but an independent group. Nevertheless, the accusation is still being made 15 years after the fact. 209.149.235.254 23:25, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Read the Willie Horton article yourself. Bush brought it up, repeatedly, Lee Atwater (Bush's campaign manager) brought it up, as did Roger Ailes (Bush's media consultant).  And the media organization which produced the ad worked under the direction of Roger Ailes.  As correctly noted in the article, the topic and the ad were the direct product of the Bush campaign.--99.39.149.154 (talk) 04:46, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

I'm of the impression that 'race card' implies using the issue of race and racism for ulterior motives. Since I've heard many usages of the term where the implied application of such a 'race card' is more than just accusing someone of racism.

From my context in New Zealand, the term "race card" is most often used to accuse someone of Dog-whistling to attract a racist audience. I find it quite horrifying that in America the main use seems to be as a "get out of jail free" card for racists who get called on their racism (see the McCain reaction to Obama on the "celebrity" ad). 121.73.47.138 (talk) 01:20, 6 October 2008 (UTC)Bernard Woodhams


 * Totally agreed. The American right has completed changed the meaning of it (along with 'race-baiting') to mean 'Bringing up race, at all, in any situation, ever.' It's the new strategy now that slavery, jim crow, and segregation have failed. Now the only way to hold down white dominance is to silence conversation about race altogether, hold their hands over their ears, and yell "RACISM IS OVER LA LA LA LA LA LA!!" 98.236.191.219 (talk) 05:16, 23 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Surely there is a third definition. False accusation of racism, or wrongful presumptions of other being racist - that is in itself racist. For instance Obama (and many of the press) assuming that Professor Gates was being arrested because he was black, and therefore presuming that the arresting officer was racist. The reality of course was that it was Gates who was the racist!124.197.15.138 (talk) 06:32, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Race cardist
What do you call people who plays the race card? Pass a Method  talk  19:09, 30 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Generally a "racist". Works for either kind and neither is likely to be listening anyway. 62.196.17.197 (talk) 16:49, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

personal opinion by 64.238.136.183 moved from article
The phrase "race card" itself has many ugly racist connotations. 1) The implication that racism has somehow ended, which is clearly patently false. 2) The implication that those who work to end racism, or simply wish to discuss the issue, are somehow engaged in a scam or a cheap tactic. 3) By tying terms like hustler to the phrase "race card", many users of the phrase promote racism by equating Blacks or other minorities to criminals. 4) Finally, many of those employing the term "race card" have longstanding ties to racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, or support for racist individuals such as David Duke or Pat Buchannon. The phrase ironically is also sometimes used by self-hating minorities eager to win the favor of conservative whites, such as J.C. Watts.


 * Not necesserily, just because racism still exists and those who fight it do a worthy job, doesn't mean that everyone who claims to fight racism actually does. And #4 sounds like like an ad-hominem attack, just because some use the term for highly selfish reasons doesn't mean the term itself is illegitimate, or that they are even false.


 * Totally agree. Just because there is still racism around - and it is indeed worthy to fight it - does not mean that you can use people's fear of being labled as racists against them in debates where race has no real bearing. Also, the whole idea of self-hating minorities is racism at its worst, or maybe more of collectivism - just because someone believes differently than his peers of creed, race or nationality, that does not in any way make him a traitor or such. We are all entitled to our individual opinion; people have opinions, races and other minorities do not.


 * If race has no real bearing, then you should be able to debate and prove it, and not simply shrug and say "Stop pulling the race card." It's a cop-out that usually suggests the person knows they'll lose the debate if a real discussion of how the issue relates to racism is to continue. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.236.191.219 (talk) 05:18, 23 July 2010 (UTC)


 * It's not a cop-out; it's usually pointing out the obvious. For example, people accuse me of being a racist if I start talking about how crappy I think hip hop music is, as if that genre belongs entirely to one specific race. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.179.53.172 (talk) 09:14, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Reductio ad Race Card
Shouldn't this article reflect the similarities to "Reductio ad Hitlerum," where the race card is used as a tactic to marginalize and delegitimize arguments on race? There is no reference of that in either article, and it probably should be mentioned. The use of the race card tactic is so ubiquitous that it is very unlikely that all the times it is used are sensible or valid, so it is very likely that it reflects the reductio ad hitlerum argument.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_Hitlerum — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.9.26.69 (talk) 00:49, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

OR / Synth
Removed the paragraph below as being without cites, but I see it's been re-added however the links offered as references constitute OR and Synth; The first is not on the subject of the meaning of the term 'race card', it's an article that uses the term once and without discussing its meaning. It requires WP:OR interpretation, and isn't a WP:RS for the definition of terms or idioms, the second has nothing to do with the subject of the article, doesn't use the term, and is only there to support the example offered. It's WP:SYNTH to relate it back to the proposed definition. "In the second context, it refers to someone exploiting prejudice against another race for political or some other advantage. The use of the southern strategy by a political candidate is said by some to be a version of playing the race card, such as when former Senator Jesse Helms, during his 1990 North Carolina Senate campaign, ran an ad showing a black man taking a white man's job, intended as a criticism of the idea of affirmative action. The ad was interpreted by many people as trying to play to racist fears among white voters." Another thing -'playing a race card' was clearly formed from analogy to playing a card in a game such as Monopoly, as in 'playing the get out of jail free card' which relates to the first usage given. Also 'said by some' is weasel words. And remember WP:VNT.121.73.221.187 (talk) 08:37, 24 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Okay, that's been over ten days and no dissenting point has been raised so I've removed the text in question.219.88.68.195 (talk) 21:29, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Okay, since apparently some want to dispute this (I'm not sure on what grounds) I'll leave it up for another period. I have no interest in edit-warring, -to give them the chance to present a counter argument or proper non-OR/Synth cites here on the talk page as is appropriate (also reverting explicitly asks for an edit summary where not reverting vandalism). The rvt of the information has not contained a valid rationale for the inclusion of the section. However the above constitutes a valid rationale for its removal as far as I can see, supported by policy, so unless it is improved or a valid rationale is offered I will remove it again after a reasonable time has elapsed. I think this demonstrates good faith on my part.219.88.68.195 (talk) 22:09, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
 * No further input from anyone here, I'll give it a bit longer, maybe a week or so.219.88.68.195 (talk) 05:26, 26 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Okay, more than a week, good faith well and truly demonstrated I've done the above. The last editor to remove conceded it was a good faith edit on their talk page and that they would not re-insert it if removed. Any counter arguments should be made here if someone wants to re-insert the section, though as above the references present did not support its inclusion.219.88.68.195 (talk) 20:46, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

Malasian examples
These examples are rather confusing and fail to describe the Race Card situation. Plus, this is a global phenomenon, and I see no need to quote political figures in Malasia, (the situation looks like an attempt at bashing said people indirectly via this page) as only well known people throught the world would serve an accurate, understandable example. (Say, O.J Simpson, etc.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gg0tter (talk • contribs) 14:56, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
 * A decade later and there is still a disproportionate emphasis on Malaysian politics. Nobody outside Malaysia cares about this stuff. --Ef80 (talk) 18:44, 12 January 2020 (UTC)