Racism is a state of mind


A woman — this woman — pestered poor Sean Spicer with a volley of criticisms while he was out shopping. He mostly ignored her, as is his right, but he opened his mouth once to reply to her. And this is what he chose to say.

We live in a great country that allows you to be here, Spicer said.

Wow. What makes Spicer think that her right to be here might be in question? That he gets to make what sounds an awful lot like a threat? Read Shree’s own response to that comment.

Comments

  1. rietpluim says

    This is why racists are always so offended when they’re called racists. Racism is bad. What they say is obvious.

  2. randall says

    Did you read the comments to Shree? Maybe I’m a little late to the rodeo, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen such massive-and mass- cognitive dissonance. Every commenter, well, all of the first 30, I couldn’t stand to read much more, are blatantly guilty of exactly what they accuse Shree.

  3. says

    Maybe that is what Spicer said, and maybe if I knew how to take the audio from Shree’s recording and slow it down I could tell. The first five or six times I played it, I thought it sounded like he said “It’s such a great country the last few years” which would be a response to Shree’s question “What can you tell me about Russia?” I still mostly hear it that way, but it could indeed be something else.
    I’d be very happy to listen to a slowed-down version, but until that is available I’d caution people to determine the facts before going on a rant.

  4. numerobis says

    Was he talking about free speech or being racist?

    I’m almost certain that if he brings it up he’ll say it’s about free speech, because that’s the obvious nice way to take it. But then, these are not normal times.

  5. Saad says

    We live in a great country that allows you to be here, Spicer said.

    Thank you, double-digit millions of American voters for making empowering white supremacy and making it so mainstream that the WH press secretary can just plainly say such a thing on camera.

  6. Saad says

    Bob Michaelson, #3

    It was unclear to me first too. Turning up the volume and watching his lips closely helps.

    The “that allows” part is definitely clear.

  7. kevinkirkpatrick says

    Bob Michaelson, #3; Saad #7

    I found “that allows you here” to be crystal clear. What I think obscures it (at least, to my ears) was that he seemed to trail the “you here…” with a subtle “s” sound. So what kind of comes across is “that allows you heres” (and for which a well-tuned speech-parsing-engines might reasonably translate into “the last few years”) . My hunch is that he was actually cutting himself short. I suspect his mouth was originally working to deliver something along the lines of “that allows you here, so…” before his brain’s urgent “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! SHUT UP!!” message finally caught up with his mouth, at which point he clamped up.

  8. numerobis says

    Maybe the ‘s’ was for sonofabitch but then he realized he was not talking to anyone’s son and that stopped him just long enough to regain composure?

  9. Hoosier X says

    When a Trump critic complains about the state of the nation, she is told she is lucky to be here.

    When Trump himself complains about the state of the nation, he gets to be president.

    Because, as usual, IOKIYAAR.

  10. numerobis says

    I think I got sent to moderation for a bad word.

    I was speculating that the s is for sonofaX where X is a female dog. But the Spicer realized he wasn’t talking to a son of anything, which confused him and threw him for a loop just long enough to regain composure.

  11. tomh says

    @ #4
    You’re right, he went with the free speech angle. “But it’s a free country, and the beauty of it is that people can act how they want, no matter how that’s interpreted. And as long as they stay on the right side of the First Amendment, we’re good.” I imagine he was thinking “for now.”

  12. Ichthyic says

    What I think obscures it (at least, to my ears) was that he seemed to trail the “you here…” with a subtle “s” sound. So what kind of comes across is “that allows you heres”

    so… he’s gollum wearing a human skin suit.