On Monday’s “MSNBC Live with Carlos Watson,” the MSNBC host made a comment asking if the term “socialist” is becoming code for the “n-word.”
Since that time, Watson has apparently received streams of emails and tweets and has taken notice of criticism spreading across the web. Today, on his The Stimulist site, Watson tried to answer everyone from Youtube commenters to Lou Dobbs, reiterating, “I wondered–let me repeat that: wondered–whether “socialist” was being used as a code word for the N-word, an outlet for racist anxiety and anger.” He then wrote:
Over the last 24 hours, I’ve been accused both of trying to silence dissent and race bait. I am interested in neither. Various e-mailers have said they don’t think anyone has literally meant the N-word. Maybe they’re right. But maybe not; just take a look at the hundreds of comments on YouTube. Either way, responsible people need to not kid themselves: there is clearly some meaningful racial animus behind some of the opposition to President Obama. (Again, I said some — not all or a majority.) Pretending otherwise is hypocritical, negligent, and dangerous.
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