Yes, it's funny how language will "slip" into racism, and how journalists and their editors "accidentally" miss these connotations. "Racism" is not only using the n-- word, it's also a way of looking at and organizing the world, just like other -isms. The article was clearly trying to be edgy, and the journalist and editor were both complicit in this form of racism, which characterizes Obama's ambition as a trait beyond his proper station as a young black man.

Racism exists here in both the language associated with "uppity" as it has been used in this country since at least the Civil War, and in the intent of the editor and journalist to capture a tone that emulates the racists who used and continue to use such language. If Obama's candidacy fails, it will in part because these racist categories exist in minds of many white Americans. This is not about political correctness. This is about recognizing the history of language, and its ability to frame reality and shape cognition. In addition to an apology, Salon and Mr. McClelland should reconsider their own assumptions and use their position within the media responsibility. As it is, they show how the media has denigrated American political discourse.

First, Salon writers are critized for using the word "stewardess", now "uppity" had joined the banned list. Pretty soon salon writers will have to have their stories pre-approved by the Vatican. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "uppity" as follows:

Above oneself, self-important, ‘jumped-up’; arrogant, haughty, pert, putting on airs. Cf. UPPISH a. 2d. a. attrib.

1880 J. C. HARRIS Uncle Remus 86 Hit wuz wunner deze yer uppity little Jack Sparrers, I speck. 1933 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Nov. 776/2 Grammy is living contentedly enough with an ‘uppity’ young creature named Penny. 1952 F. L. ALLEN Big Change II. viii. 130 The effect of the automobile revolution was especially noticeable in the South, where one began to hear whites complaining about ‘uppity niggers’ on the highways, where there was no Jim Crow. 1982 B. CHATWIN On Black Hill v. 28 He had a head for figures and a method for dealing with ‘uppity’ tenants.

b. pred.

1932 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Aug. 6/2 [She] could have plenty o' friends. The trouble with her is she thinks folks too common to bother with unless they're too uppity to bother with her. 1947 ‘N. SHUTE’ Chequer Board 68 They've been here alone too long, and they've got uppity. 1955 F. O'CONNOR Wise Blood v. 89, I reckon you ain't as uppity as you was last night. 1966 D. BAGLEY Wyatt's Hurricane i. 27 The Navy is trying to build up Cap Sarrat as a substitute for Guantanamo in case Castro gets uppity and takes it from them. 1973 P. WHITE Eye of Storm viii. 381, I came prepared to rough it... It's Dorothy who grows uppity if all the cons aren't mod.

Some of these examples are used in reference to African Americans; others are not. Last time I checked, Castro was not black. If it reaches the point where salon writers are afraid to use "uppity" and "stewardess" then I will have reached the point of finding better things to read.

What galls me more than Salon's appalling chute down the stinky tube is how gullibly I keep coming back for more. I suppose on the editorial end, that would be all they care about.

I honestly wonder whether there are any seriously sharp editors who go through each article carefully, considering the stance and not just the "I will always be jaundiced about my subject in order to seem sophisticated" voice.

I, for one, would love to read some genuine sincerity without posing, without snark, without "oooo I'm so smart that I always know more than my subject." With Salon reportage, it's just not proving true.

Slick, superficial, sensationalist, shallow, shrill, sex-pandering...

It's a depressing denouement. (Of course, they'll probably succeed anyway, because Salon is going the way of all pop media.)

Thanks to the previous poster for recommending some grownup sites to check out.

I have to admit, that the degree to which people in public positions put their feet in their mouths is sometimes amazing (i.e. Kramer, Isiah Washington, Joseph Biden). Of course, none of us is PC all the time but for (what I have come to think of as) a fairly intelligent, cosmopolitan news source to use the term "uppity" in this context-- well it seems absurd. I find this slip of the pen on Salon's part to be quite fascinating. Maybe there really is something to the notion of the Freudian slip.

Ha ha...here in MA Mitt Romney got in trouble for calling some situation a tar baby - but at least that term has some legitimate meaning and he was using it to descibe something like The Big Dig, not a black guy. Uppity in our vernacular is used almost exlusively in a racist context.

Quite a week for Salon. Let's review:

1. GK posits that Salon readers and letter writers are idiots.

2. Salon refers to Obama as uppity in an amateurish piece, then changes it without any real explanation. Clearly it wasn't a typo! Further calls for clarification and explanation go unanswered.

3. Salon publishes breathless, credulous interview about street families that panders to outdated stock stereotypes and includes absurd hyperbole. (Street families as dangerous as hardcore gangs? No!)

4. Camille Paglia returns to universal scorn, Salon not only refuses to respond to reader outcry but cherry-picks the Editor's Choice letters to make it look like Camille has been given a warm welcome!

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Poor judgement, sloppy writing and reporting, contempt for the readership.

Can a publication that actively despises its readership survive?

The internet has become much more interactive - I would humbly suggest Salon attempt to engage the readership rather than simply insult and ignore it.

What a crank this article is. No substance and has the resonance of all the good ole press boys who made Gore into a stiff Dork. Happy now?

Given that George Bush can't spell, I have always wondered what will happen if George actually thinks Obama should be killed as part of the war on turr ....

Geddit??