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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
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BBC in monochrome

From the BBC's web site today

'Liberal black Congressman Charles Rangel said of him: "Colin Powell is a military guy, and he doesn't care who he works for, he just salutes." '
Odd that it omits to tell us Rangel's religion or leg measurement, don't you think? Or is 'Liberal black' a recognised political grouping?
Interestingly, the final paragraph of the article refers to Powell as "the first African-American secretary of state."

Mark Barratt
Budapest
  

Top answer

[nq:1]From the BBC's web site today (): 'Liberal black Congressman Charles Rangel said of him: "Colin Powell is a military ... omits to tell us Rangel's religion or leg measurement, don't you think? [/nq] Well, it is not a surprise, by any means, to see him classified as a "liberal" in a newspaper report.

  • [nq:1]From the BBC's web site today (): 'Liberal black Congressman Charles Rangel said of him: "Colin Powell is a military ...
  • omits to tell us Rangel's religion or leg measurement, don't you think?
  • [/nq] Well, it is not a surprise, by any means, to see him classified as a "liberal" in a newspaper report.
  • Note that "Liberal" was the first word in the sentence about Rangel; had it been otherwise, I rather doubt it would have been capitalized at least, in a US newspaper.
  • If we have a "Liberal Party," it's not one of the biggies; in any case, Rangel is a member of the Democratic Party (and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus).
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256 Answers
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[nq:1]From the BBC's web site today (): 'Liberal black Congressman Charles Rangel said of him: "Colin Powell is a military ... omits to tell us Rangel's religion or leg measurement, don't you think? Or is 'Liberal black' a recognised political grouping?[/nq]
Well, it is not a surprise, by any means, to see him classified as a "liberal" in a newspaper report.
Note that "Liberal" was the fir
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[nq:2]From the BBC's web site today (): 'Liberal black Congressman ... you think? Or is 'Liberal black' a recognised political grouping?[/nq]
[nq:1]Well, it is not a surprise, by any means, to see him classified as a "liberal" in a newspaper report.[/nq]
Well yes, but remember that 'liberal' is not generally considered to be a derogatory label in the UK. There, it's not very far removed in
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[nq:1]From the BBC's web site today (): 'Liberal black Congressman Charles Rangel said of him: "Colin Powell is a military ... omits to tell us Rangel's religion or leg measurement, don't you think? Or is 'Liberal black' a recognised political grouping?[/nq]
It used to be standard practice to identify black people as such whenever they appeared in the news (a white person's race was never ment
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[nq:2]Well, it is not a surprise, by any means, to see him classified as a "liberal" in a newspaper report.[/nq]
[nq:1]Well yes, but remember that 'liberal' is not generally considered to be a derogatory label in the UK. There, it's not very far removed in meaning from the word 'tolerant'.[/nq]
It's not necessarily derogatory here, either. (Never mind the rhetoric in the recent election ca
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[nq:1]It used to be standard practice to identify black people as such whenever they appeared in the news (a white ... the story, but they also seem to have decided that the rule doesn't apply to famous people, especially in government.[/nq]
There are also some other curious exceptions where it's used despite being irrelevant, such as the numerous news organizations that referred to "white sep
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[nq:2]It used to be standard practice to identify black people ... the rule doesn't apply to famous people, especially in government.[/nq]
[nq:1]There are also some other curious exceptions where it's used despitebeing irrelevant, such as the numerous news organizations that referred to "white separatist Randy Weaver" almost as if they were stating hisoccupation.[/nq]
But in this case "whi
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[nq:1]I suppose it's paradoxical that I would probably find a reference to "The seventh black (or African-American) SoS" questionable, but that's us confused liberals for you.[/nq]
And, as if President Bush and the BBC were testing my tolerance, today we have:
"Condoleezza Rice is the first black female to be appointed as US secretary of state."
(from )

If I'm right, the next
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Mark Barratt filted:
[nq:1]And, as if President Bush and the BBC were testing my tolerance, today we have: "Condoleezza Rice is the first ... I'm thinking about Richard's prediction that the first female president will be a Republican, which I tend to agree with.[/nq]
She's got the most important trait that American voters demand in a leader; she's charming...the television camera loves
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[nq:2]From the BBC's web site today (): 'Liberal black Congressman ... you think? Or is 'Liberal black' a recognised political grouping?[/nq]
[nq:1]Well, it is not a surprise, by any means, to see him classified as a "liberal" in a newspaper report. ... in any case, Rangel is a member of the Democratic Party (and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus).[/nq]
The US does not ha
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[nq:1]Mark Barratt filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]And, as if President Bush and the BBC were testing ... will be a Republican, which I tend to agree with.[/nq]
[nq:1]She's got the most important trait that American voters demand in aleader; she's charming...the television camera loves this woman.. Things ... on other people, and she'sunmarried...we demand our Presidents be in a phrase borrowed

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