Talk:Race baiting

Howard Dean Comment

I wonder if Howard Dean's recent remarks depicting Republicans as a "white, christian party" would be a form of race baiting. On the face of it, there's a certain truth to his statement, but the implication that lies behind his words is that republicans are a narrow, elitist, close-minded group of people. In a sense, he disparages republicans and at the same time clumps all white christians into a monolithic group. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.136.231.97 (talk) June 21, 2005 (UTC)

Second definition

I moved this second definition of "race baiting" from the article to here. Any thoughts? --AStanhope 13:03, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

The term "race baiting" is also used in as a synonym for "playing the race card" in American politics to refer to situations where one politician accuses another of being a racist. A false charge would be one of the "other forms of communication" that race baiting comprises. Race baiting is a gamble, where a disproved accusation can result in heavy losses, but an effectively executed maneuver can result in a gain from sympathizers.

Journalist David Neiwert wrote an interesting commentary on this subject in his blog. Conservative commentators have modified (some would say corrupted) the definition of the term.

The Merriam-Webster definition is simply, "the making of verbal attacks against members of a racial group"[1] --George100 (talk) 09:27, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Race

"The term race in this context can be construed very broadly to include the social constructs which define race or racial difference"

There is no need to bring social construction into this definition. The word 'race' should be used without the qualification. Suicidesamurai 14:41, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Race IS a social construct.

Move to Delete

At first I thought the term was about a form of race card playing, except that it is a way to describe the debate tactic used between liberal Caucasians (white people) to imply that their opponent is racist where in fact their opponent may not be racist at all. However according to what seems to be George100's comments in regards to the "Second definition", the term "race baiting" could also mean a way in which certain parties coaxes a racial minority into playing the "race card" in order to undermine said minorities argument. For instance a conservative party may make a statement that can construed as being racist in order to "bait" a racial minority into playing the race card, which can further polarize political factions and pull attention away from the real issue at hand. There are also some suggestions about that the term merely means the same thing as a "racist remark". As the term "race baiting" has multiple, contradictory definitions in the article while being unsourced suggests it has not been adequately incorporated into mainstream language to take a definitive meaning. Unless a more coherent description of the term is written or some sources are cited, I'd say this article should be deleted.--Waxsin (talk) 02:33, 20 January 2009 (UTC)