Why are our media so afraid of calling a spade a spade? We at

[KlatooBNikto]

DU. with no access to the sources they have on a daily basis are able to raise more relevant questions and check facts better than these people who say it is their job to inform us? Have they given up their skepticism completely? Are they here to simply whitewash whatever the ruling class tells them? They all appear to be so spineless it is disgusting.My children who work for their high school newspapers have more spirited debates about issues than these overpaid toadies.

[REP]

1. News is Now Expected To Show a Profit

When this fundamental shift happened, it no longer made sense to spend money on investigative reporting or even do journalism anymore; there's not enough profit. Info-tainment took over, and this watered-down pablum we see today is the result.

Incidentally, "calling a spade a spade" is a racist metaphor. You might want to change your title.

[SoCalDem]

2. the spade a spade reference.. not always a slur

"to call a spade a spade"
http://www.yaelf.com/aueFAQ/miftocllspdspd.shtml
(Phrase Origins)



is NOT an ethnic slur.

It derives from an ancient Greek expression: _ta syka syka, te:n
skaphe:n de skaphe:n onomasein_ = "to call a fig a fig, a trough a
trough". This is first recorded in Aristophanes' play _The Clouds_
(423 B.C.), was used by Menander and Plutarch, and is still current
in modern Greek. There has been a slight shift in meaning: in
ancient times the phrase was often used pejoratively, to denote a
rude person who spoke his mind tactlessly; but it now, like the
English phrase, has an exclusively positive connotation. It is
possible that both the fig and the trough were originally sexual
symbols.

In the Renaissance, Erasmus confused Plutarch's "trough"
(_skaphe:_) with the Greek word for "digging tool" (_skapheion_;
the two words are etymologically connected, a trough being
something that is hollowed out) and rendered it in Latin as _ligo_.
Thence it was translated into English in 1542 by Nicholas Udall in
his translation of Erasmus's version as "to call a spade <...> a
spade". (_Bartlett's Familiar Quotations_ perpetuates Erasmus'
error by mistranslating _skaphe:_ as "spade" three times under
Menander.)

"To call a spade a bloody shovel" is not recorded until 1919.
"Spade" in the sense of "Negro" is not recorded until 1928. (It
comes from the colour of the playing card symbol, via the phrase
"black as the ace of spades".)

This, of course, does *not* necessarily render the modern use of
"to call a spade a spade" "politically correct". Rosalie Maggio, in
_The Bias-Free Word-Finder_, writes: "The expression is associated
with a racial slur and is to be avoided", and recommends using "to
speak plainly" or other alternatives instead.


snip....

Beard and Cerf, in _The Official Politically
Correct Handbook_, p. 123, report that an administrator at the
University of California at Santa Cruz campaigned for the banning
of such phrases as "a chink in his armor" and "a nip in the air",
because "chink" and "nip" are also derogatory terms for "Chinese
person" and "Japanese person" respectively.

In the late 1970s in
the U.S., a boycott of the (now defunct) Sambo's restaurant chain
was organized, even though the name "Sambo's" was a combination of
the names of its two founders and did not come from the offensive
word for dark-skinned person.

[REP]

13. alt.english? Surely You Jest!

Those people just make up shit as they go. If it weren't so late, I'd dig out my books, but yes, the way the phrase was used in the 20th century was a racial (not ethnic) slur. There's a lot of false etymology (such as what you provided) trying to prove it has to do with figs and troughs (yes, duh, sexual metaphor), cards and shovels, but alas, its American use is far sadder.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. OK, is the Oxford English Dictionary good enough for you?

http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/wordfrom/garden/?view=print

Spade (c. 725) was spadu or spada in Old English, another word of Germanic origin. The expression ‘to call a spade a spade’, meaning to speak bluntly, is based on a mistranslation. Plutarch in his Apophthegmata wrote originally of a trough, basin, or bowl, but Erasmus translated the word wrongly, confusing it with another related to the verb ‘to dig’.

[lil-petunia]

3. to what, calling a hoe a hoe?

Or a shovel a shovel?
Perhaps a plasma steel torch a plasma steel torch
or a finishing hammer a finishing hammer?

[KlatooBNikto]

5. I never even knew it was a racial slur.If anyone feels slighted by this,

I apologize.I did not intend it that way.

[ClintonTyree]

9. No problemo..............

we all know you meant well. It was ignorant rascists that twisted the meaning of this, certainly not your fault. :toast:

[Demit]

6. you might want to have a little more knowledge of old phrases before

taking it on yourself to correct people.

[ClintonTyree]

7. Partially correct................

about profit being the sole criteria for "news outlets" agenda. In the 80's when media mergers were running rampant, budgets were slashed for investigative reporting. It was too slow and costly. They're merely Stenographers in the present day.
The "spade is a spade" issue is somewhat incorrect I believe. Originally it was a metaphor about calling something what it is, ie. a shovel is called a spade, it's generically similar, but not entirely correct. Hence, calling a "spade a spade" meant not to generalize.
There were off color and very hurtful, demeaning "jokes" made up about this phrase afterwords. These are totally unacceptable.
However, the original meaning was not racist. How one decides to interpret the phrase is the question, not the phrase itself.
I'm not trying to anger you or cast aspersions, just educate. Rock on!

[devinsgram]

12. I have always thought it meant the card.

I never took it any other way.:shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. Corporate media OWNS the government.

The corporations send their lobbyists to congress with millions of $$$, they buy sweet deals like the FCC opening the market to the likes of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Clear Channel, Viacom, Disney, GE, ect... to own THOUSANDS of TV and radio networks, along with newspapers, ALL within the same market. ONE company can own TV, radio and the newspapers in one single community/market. Hence, they control the information that the sheeple get. The government gets the $$$ for favors and in turn the Corporate media will do and say whatever the government wants. The chimp cabal OWNS the media and any info that gets out and let us not forget the nice big tax cuts that the corporations get for their efforts. We now have State Owned Media.

If Kerry is elected, those corporations KNOW their hayday is over. They will do whatever needs to be done to stop Kerry.

Please see the documentary "Orwell Rolls in his Grave." It made my blood run cold. :(

http://www.buzzflash.com/premiums/04/05/pre04014.html

[KlatooBNikto]

10. It is simply disheartening to see our newspapers and TV /Radio

become essentially propaganda vehicles for the powers that be.There appears to be no more than a handful of INDEPENDENT voices that can think for themselves and judge the powerful by their actions and not their words. Jimmy Breslin, Seymour Hersh and a few others come to mind. What is even more apparent is a sort of an unwritten blacklist operating within the media to keep these independent voices out and if their names are used in arguments to invoke CT's to ridicule the person who raises the point.

We are going to look back on the Bush years and see it was more evil than even the McCarthy era.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. So true.

McCarthy was OPEN with his movement. This administration does everything behind closed doors. They are much more sinister. ANY "journalist" who dares to face this cabal will pay dearly. Jim Hatfield, author of "Fortunate Son", just happened to commit suicide. Look at what they did to Dan Rather. That's what happens to journalists who go against the regime. They receive threats, if they don't heed those threats...they pay..... Be it financially, public humiliation or "accidental death." Yes, we are going to look back on this, HOPEFULLY, PLEASE G-D!, and see McCarthy looks like an angel in comparison. :(

LOOK at what they did to Scott Ritter who DARED to tell the truth about Iraq having no WMD! He was blacklisted for years! The networks wouldn't put him on the air. It's all so sick. Now, we know Ritter was right, don't we?

[Ruffhowse]

8. News is now expected to be infotainment, and is judged based on

ratings and revenue generation rather than by journalistic standards. This is especially true in broadcast journalism like TV and radio. The truth too often gets in the way of profits.

[KlatooBNikto]

11. The late Walter Lippman used to say that the job of the Press in a

democracy was to set the agenda so that the governing classes can convey their intent to the masses.In effect, he was proposing that the Press become the propaganda vehicle for the rulers.Instead of the coercion and monopoly inherent in totalitarian forms of government, the Press in a democracy was to achieve its aims through persuasion.I believe that basic idea of using the Press to persuade people is the basic principle of our system.Thus, a few anointed people like the Op-Ed columnists of the NYT and WaPo are given access so that they set the agenda the other lesser lights of the Press will follow.This makes the job of the ruling class easier.If anyone strays from the fold, they are subject to ridicule and open disparagement that will be ruinous to their careers.I think this is why no one raises the question of George Bush's competence to be President or even his background.His many escapades in the past are not even subject to speculation.The public is poorly served as a result.

[cthrumatrix]

15. they serve their corp. masters....it's obvious

[el_gato]

16. Corporate media is not about profit, it is about Propaganda

GE makes it's bucks from war, death, and destruction, thier media holdings make it possible.

[Gyre]

17. "The media" consists of individuals

(with a few exceptions) who have no moral compass except what they think is good for themselves and their careers. Concepts of 'community' are, for the most part, non-existent in the corporate setting of news organizations. "reporters", for the most part are actively engaged in treason IMO. Little yuppies who deserve to die before they procreate.

Gyre