Last Friday, Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman suggested that today's young players should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley." Wow. I consider myself pretty tolerant when it comes to humor (or even attempts to be funny). But, IMO, this is pretty bad. Tilghman has issued an apology.
Country clubs have a long, unfortunate association with narrow-minded thinking, mostly by wealthy, white men. Tilghman is female, which makes this is even more troubling, since blacks, Jews, and women have historically been denied memberships at euphemistically named "elite" country clubs.(My grandparents where charter members of Hillcrest Country Club, in Long Grove, IL, which was founded in the 1960s because Jews had a hard time joining other local Chicagoland clubs.)
Lynching brings back bad memories, not just for blacks, but pretty much all humans horrified by what took place in our country. Lynch black people. Exterminate Jews. Even today it's not easy to bring up such sensitive subjects, even in jest...and especially not for a white person who grew up in the South. When Tilghman "narrowcast" comments like this among her own kind, she might get a laugh. Sad, but even in "Obama for President" times, this is true. But when she BROADCASTS racially-charged comments, she offends a lot of people.
I think people can still poke fun at Tiger's dominance and how one might (figuratively) go about taming him. For example, PGA Tour pro Stuart Appleby was once asked what he needs to shoot to beat Tiger. His response: Tiger. I think that's funny. You may disagree.
The Top 10 Admonitions: A Work in Progress
1. Do not kill dogs.
2. Do not use the word "lynch" in connection with any black person. People will conclude that you are a racist, an ignoramus, or both.
3. If the first sentence of #2 contains too many variables for you to process while speaking, just avoid uttering the word "lynch" in any context whatsoever. Unless you are a member of the KKK, the word is not essential to your active vocabulary.
Posted by: Rick Rhoads | January 08, 2008 at 01:05 PM
I'd have a hard time believing she meant it in a derogatory way but Golf Channel hasn't been the same since Scott Van Pelt left.
Posted by: CollegeGuy | January 09, 2008 at 01:34 PM