3 ms·

That's interesting, but thankfully they only had 395 tweets so I wonder if you can get something really meaningful with a set of data so small. Looks like there

by pingou 14y ago

That's interesting, but thankfully they only had 395 tweets so I wonder if you can get something really meaningful with a set of data so small. Looks like there's some correlation with Rommey's voting states though.

lylejohnson 14y ago
After reviewing their list of "Top 10 Floating Sheep Maps" that appears in the sidebar, it's a reasonable assumption that this is a site with a certain world view. The readers who agree with that world view (say, /r/politics) won't particularly care about the statistical sample size as long as the results reinforce their beliefs.
fnayr 14y ago
Of course it's correlated with the red states; when the person they didn't want to see win won, they said anything they could to degrade him. Certainly the n word is the easiest and most offensive word to throw out, but that doesn't necessarily imply racism. Though I'm not defending their use of that extremely offensive word, it's highly disingenuous to equate it to racism.
- brudgers 14y ago
  Nonsense.
- omnisci 14y ago
  Can of worms = opened. The "n word" does imply racism. I'm not going to write a book about it, but I'll just put that out there for you to think about.
  - moron 14y ago
    What if I see someone using the word and include their tweet in mine, to tell them what a racist idiot they are? Then my tweet would be counted racist simply because it contains the word. This is not a thought exercise, I watched it happen (the tweeting, not the counting).
  - mistercow 14y ago
    To paraphrase XKCD, I would say that the word doesn't imply racism, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively, etc.
- fnayr 14y ago
  From wiki: "Racism is usually defined as views, practices and actions reflecting the belief that humanity is divided into distinct biological groups called races and that members of a certain race share certain attributes which make that group as a whole less desirable, more desirable, inferior or superior" A frustrated exclamation of a horribly degrading word to express their anger != A view that African Americans are inferior. It certainly doesn't show class and I'd bet you'd surely find a higher proportion of racists among those who tweeted that word, but calling them all racists? Wrong.
- yardie 14y ago
  The n-word is not necessarily racist, if used in the right context. But given the context of most of these tweets it is absolutely used in racist tones, ie. "niggers in the whitehouse!"
  - theorique 14y ago
    Under which circumstances is it not racist?
    - joshuahedlund 14y ago
      Hip-hop lyrics where African Americans use it to describe each other?
    - yardie 14y ago
      Under the circumstance that you discuss the history and etymology of the word like adults and not a bunch of idiots on xbox live.
- AutoCorrect 14y ago
  it was a very biased 'study'. from the article, it appears that this person specifically targeted people that were anti-Obama, forgetting entirely all the racists tweets that threatened riot and death if Romney won.

by pingou 14y ago

lylejohnson 14y ago

After reviewing their list of "Top 10 Floating Sheep Maps" that appears in the sidebar, it's a reasonable assumption that this is a site with a certain world view. The readers who agree with that world view (say, /r/politics) won't particularly care about the statistical sample size as long as the results reinforce their beliefs.

fnayr 14y ago

Of course it's correlated with the red states; when the person they didn't want to see win won, they said anything they could to degrade him. Certainly the n word is the easiest and most offensive word to throw out, but that doesn't necessarily imply racism. Though I'm not defending their use of that extremely offensive word, it's highly disingenuous to equate it to racism.

brudgers 14y ago
Nonsense.
omnisci 14y ago
Can of worms = opened. The "n word" does imply racism. I'm not going to write a book about it, but I'll just put that out there for you to think about.
- moron 14y ago
  What if I see someone using the word and include their tweet in mine, to tell them what a racist idiot they are? Then my tweet would be counted racist simply because it contains the word. This is not a thought exercise, I watched it happen (the tweeting, not the counting).
- mistercow 14y ago
  To paraphrase XKCD, I would say that the word doesn't imply racism, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively, etc.
fnayr 14y ago
From wiki: "Racism is usually defined as views, practices and actions reflecting the belief that humanity is divided into distinct biological groups called races and that members of a certain race share certain attributes which make that group as a whole less desirable, more desirable, inferior or superior" A frustrated exclamation of a horribly degrading word to express their anger != A view that African Americans are inferior. It certainly doesn't show class and I'd bet you'd surely find a higher proportion of racists among those who tweeted that word, but calling them all racists? Wrong.
yardie 14y ago
The n-word is not necessarily racist, if used in the right context. But given the context of most of these tweets it is absolutely used in racist tones, ie. "niggers in the whitehouse!"
- theorique 14y ago
  Under which circumstances is it not racist?
  - joshuahedlund 14y ago
    Hip-hop lyrics where African Americans use it to describe each other?
  - yardie 14y ago
    Under the circumstance that you discuss the history and etymology of the word like adults and not a bunch of idiots on xbox live.
AutoCorrect 14y ago
it was a very biased 'study'. from the article, it appears that this person specifically targeted people that were anti-Obama, forgetting entirely all the racists tweets that threatened riot and death if Romney won.