In yet another instance of apparently missing fact-checkers, Oakland’s KTVU was taken on a sad, sad ride when it displayed the following names, which were supposedly those of crew members aboard the Asiana Airlines crash last weekend in San Francisco.
Upon further review, it’s fairly obvious they were not:
- Gawker
- You’d think they’d have picked up on the theme.
Seriously, aside from the names being rather obviously racist (“Man, don’t Asian people have funny names? High five, bro!”) that’s fairly damn embarrassing.
According to Gakwer, KTVU claimed that the names were confirmed by an official from the National Transportation Safety Board — something that the NSTB refuted, as the official policy is to not give names out.
Something appears to be rotten in Oakland — aside from the Raiders, of course.
This article appears in Jul 11-17, 2013.
Maybe making fun of how they crashed rather than the fact that they’re Asian….
Looks like the hypersensitive are coming out of the woodwork to dislike my post already. Get a sense of humour before it’s too late!
“Humour?” AZ/DC, I didn’t realize you were Canadian.
Maybe I’m a bit race-sensitive (damn liberal tendencies!) but something about them being tricked into obviously ridiculous names because they seem Asian-y pings the racist-dar that I got upon being hired at an alt-weekly.
I’m not a Canadian Mr. Mendez, my father’s parents are British and I emulate the way he wrote things that I saw in my formative years as a child. It’s just something that kind of stuck.
Sorry about my rant, I’m just tired of people who, to me, point out racism that isn’t even there. I’m really pointing the finger at the person who considered my Buckwheat comment offensive more than anything. I can imagine a report was filed and someone screamed racism while reading the post without looking at the facts (her hairstyle!) that surrounded that comment. I tend to be more dramatic with these posts then I am in real life, but, I still stand by my quote that Ho Lee Fuk is hilarious. If I laugh out loud while reading something, I cannot label it otherwise.
They must have missed Sum Dum Foo.
As Rachel would say: The Best New Thing in the World Today.
The news editor, Mr Wang King, was not available for comment.
The thing that bothers me most about this article is, the way in which you put down the Raiders. KTVU must have received their info from Bart.
KTVU got the names from an intern at NTSB who, I’m sure, has been fired by now.
I remember the spunky Buckwheat from the original Little Rascals shows. Her fly away hairdo would tell a whole story to a social worker of today, but back then it was definitely a racist stereotype. But I also remember Buckwheat from Eddie Murphy’s SNL days ..it was hilarious, and few people that I knew believed that it was anything but the best kind of take down of the old racist ho dee do meme.
So, when I hear that someone had a Buckwheat hairstyle, it gives me a mental picture. Apparently they had a hairstyle that looked like that of a child in an old (racist) TV show ..or the hairdo that Eddie Murphy used for his (very effective) take down of certain old racist stereotypes about black people.
I don’t think the reference itself is racist, despite the recent resurrection of racist intent exhibited by Paula Dean. I think as hairdos go, it would be a reference very similar to a Farrah Fawcett (big hair) or a Telly Savalas (bald). I agree with AZ/DC that calling it racist would be the pc police trying too hard.
Those names are absolutely classic! best prank of all time!
I am sure the survivors of the flight are amused.