Ethics, not freedom of speech, is the question

It’s been about a week and a half since Max Karson’s column, “If it’s war the Asians want…” was published and the topic that keeps coming up is the First Amendment and the freedom of speech, and when does it go too far.

The truth is it doesn’t. I’ve said this before and I’ll reiterate it here: Karson, or anyone else for that matter, has the right to say and write whatever he or she wants. It’s a privilege all Americans are given.

It’s the potential consequences of these words that should be held accountable. Some people have been sued for libel or slander for their remarks. In this case, Karson’s piece could be a violation of Title VI in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prevents discrimination from any program or activity that receives federal funding.

Rather, the topic that should be discussed is the ethics of the column and whether it should have been published in the first place.

Take, for example, the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics – these are rules journalists should strive to abide by in order to uphold their credibility. Granted, opinion writers are allowed some liberties, but it’s one thing to bend some rules and another to blatantly hold them in disdain.

While I could pick apart Karson’s column, the heart of the problem resides with The Campus Press Editor-in-Chief Cassie Hewlings and the Opinions Editor Amanda Pehrson.

“Columnists, too, are bound by the rules of good taste,” said Fred Brown, vice chair of the SPJ Ethics Committee. “And editors should be on the lookout for submissions that go over the line.”

According to a story in The Campus Press, Hewlings and Pehrson knew that Karson had the article was already written in mid-January. They reviewed it and deemed it was acceptable to run.

Whether it was a month or an hour, reading it had to have thrown up some red flags in their heads. Hewlings admitted in the article that she had reservations about the piece, yet it still ran. Hmm, it’s a piece about rounding up Asians and performing various methods of torture – surely, this is good writing. But let’s put up a companion piece from an Asian’s perspective just for good measure.

Karson’s article should have never seen the light of day. But this is from the same paper that the week before printed “No hablo ingles,” a rant about one woman’s hatred of the Spanish language and how everyone needs to speak English.

It looks like these editors need to take another ethics class.

Forsberg, Foote want to party like it's 1999

Remember 1999? Back when George Lucas recaptured our inner geekness with “Star Wars: Episode I” and Napster was the cutting edge of technology. Back when sports legends Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky announced their retirements. Back when Deadmarsh, Yelle and Drury were staples of one of the top teams in the NHL.

The Avs appear to be trying to recapture some that magic nine years later.

In a couple of unexpected moves, Colorado has acquired fan favorites Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg.

I’m still holding my breath for Valeri Kamensky and Sandis Ozolinsh.

Foote is a nice pickup. He provides strong veteran leadership and, at 36, his numbers have stayed consistant with the rest of his career. Plus he provides a bigger body that Colorado sorely needs.

Plus, who doesn’t think of Adam when you see Howler’s foot on the jersey’s shoulder?

Forsberg is another question. The name alone invokes excitement in Denver, like Elway or Carmelo. But does he still have the skills or the heart that he had in his younger days? I remember the Forsberg who wasn’t afraid to throw his body around for the good of the team. I remember the Forsberg who would step up and fight the opposing team’s enforcer.

When he’s healthy, there are few and far in-between who are as well-balanced and skilled as Forsberg. But he’s missed more games (129) than he’s played (117) in the past three seasons.

Nevertheless, a first line of Sakic-Forsberg-Hejduk still sounds scary. Especially when Stastny-Smyth-Svatos would be on the second line.

Let’s hope this gamble works for the Avs.

On a side note, the Rockies may be trying to cash in on some of that magic. They just signed former Gold Glove shortstop Neifi Perez to a minor league contract.

Maybe this will open the door for legendary names such as Ben Petrick, Mark Brownson and Angel Echevarria to help the Rox improve on last year’s World Series run.

Or maybe not.

Karson's poor choice of words

On Feb. 18, The Campus Press – CU-Boulder's official student online newspaper – ran a column by staff editor Max Karson titled, "If it's war the Asians want..." In it he writes about the reasons why Asians hate Caucasians and why he's tired of being tolerant and wants to declare a war against us.

There hasn't been a worst decision to run a column this bad since Asian Week ran Kenneth Eng's, "Why I hate blacks."

But should it be surprising that Karson is stirring up trouble? This is the same man who made controversial remarks about the Virginia Tech massacre and has a history of pushing the boundaries with his columns.

While his piece is supposed to be a satirical commentary and, seemingly, a response to Felix Im's piece, "A few words on the Asiaphilic plague," it fails to come off that way.

"I know that Asians are not just 'a product of their environment,' and their rudeness is not a 'cultural misunderstanding,'" Karson writes. "They hate us all. And I say it's time we started hating them back ...

"It's time for war."

Karson goes on to explain his three-phase plan to fix our internal rage with a variety of torturous techniques.

Not a good choice of words considering that this ran a day before the Japanese-American Day of Remembrance – Feb. 19 is the anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which suspended civil liberties for those of Japanese descent in the U.S. and resulted in the internment of 120,000 people.

I thought I had figured out what his point was after my first read, but with every subsequent read, it becomes more convoluted and childish. Rather than being humorous, it comes off as a collection of offensive material. The piece perpetuates tired racial stereotypes, portraying Asians as everything from math wizards to being short.

I’m surprised he didn’t mention anything about buck teeth and small penises.

By all means, it is Karson's right to say whatever he wants – the First Amendment grants all of us that right. But as Ben Parker once told his nephew, "With great power comes great responsibility." Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Something I saw in many posts was “Why can’t you Asians take a joke?” We can – it just has to be funny. Tired stereotypes are, well, tiring. “How do you see out of those slanted eyes?” Haha, like I haven’t heard that a million times before.

One person commented on the Rocky Mountain News saying that if this had run in The Onion, no one would have noticed. I can't argue with that, but here’s the key factor: The Onion is a satirical paper. It isn't meant to be a source of news – it is a piece of entertainment. The Campus Press is supposed to be a legitimate news organization.

I question the decisions of the editors who were in charge when this story ran. Doesn’t a column that has a strong anti-Asian sentiment raise some red flags? As a former college newspaper editor, and one at both a daily newspaper and an online Asian-American publication, I am flabbergasted by how this was allowed to run. There’s a fine line between clever satire and blatant vulgarity – Karson is miles deep into the latter.

Gil Asakawa has a good piece on this whole matter: Satire or stupidity?

The wild, wild west

The competition in the Western Conference just got stiffer.

With Pau Gasol going to the Lakers, Shaq to the Suns and now Jason Kidd to the Mavericks, the west’s rich just became richer.

This does help create a potential Lakers-Celtics finals match-up that the NBA so sorely needs to rejuvenate its popularity.

While it wouldn’t be Showtime versus Bird, Parish and McHale, a battle between Boston’s new Big Three against Kobe, Gasol and company should provide plenty of fireworks.

That is, if the Lakers can get past eight other teams who currently have a .600 winning percentage.

Although the slow-moving Shaq is contradictory to Phoenix’s running game, his size could help the undersized Suns battle against bigger teams such as the Spurs and the Rockets.

The Spurs have been flying under the radar despite being the defending World Champions and having a team that’s been together for several years.

The Kidd-Nowitzki-Howard connection in Dallas is a scary thought. Kidd brings his run-and-gun offense to coach Avery Johnson’s defensive-minded gameplan.

The Hornets have been the big surprise this year, barely holding onto the No. 1 seed in the West. Chris Paul is the best point guard in the league and he has a strong supporting cast. But the team’s lack of postseason experience will hurt them.

Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer aren’t the new Stockton-Malone, but the team’s chemistry is helping them stay on top of their division.

Which brings me to the Nuggets. Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony are arguably the most lethal scoring combo in the league, and they have a strong supporting cast, but they haven’t been able to come together. They only had one winning streak of more than three games this year, but that was at the beginning of the season.

What they need another piece. Though they lost out on the Kidd sweepstakes, Ron Artest and Mike Miller are still on the trading block. Artest’s volatile temper is a risk, but there are few who can defend better than him. Miller is a tall swingman who would give the Nuggs a consistant outside threat.

Online Escape: Oooh yeah!

I want a Barack Obama rookie card

When I was younger, I loved collecting sports cards. I remember how exciting it was to open a pack and seeing a gem inside such as a numbered LeBron James rookie card or an autographed Moses Malone throwback.

I know what I want now. I want a Barack Obama rookie card.

Topps recently released its 2008 Baseball card series which includes an insert series called Campaign 2008 featuring 12 U.S. presidential candidates. From the Dems there are Hillary Clinton, Obama, John Edwards, Joseph Biden, Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich. The Republicans have John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee.

Unfortunately, fans of Chris Dodd, Mike Gravel and Duncan Hunter are out of luck.
But that’s not all. Upper Deck is coming out with a Presidential Predictors insert set featured in its 2008 baseball Series I. The nine, I mean, eight-card set showcases illustrated parallels between candidates and baseball moments such as Al Gore and George Bush and the phantom tag Chuck Knoblauch planted on Jose Offerman in the ‘99 ALCS.

Hillary Clinton’s comparison to Morganna “The Kissing Bandit” Roberts was pulled for its controversial depiction. Though some have surfaced and one even sold for $1,375 on eBay.
This leads me to wonder, why doesn’t someone create a government trading card series?

Think of the potential ideas. Debate-worn suit cards featuring samples of suits the candidates wore at specific debates. A series called “Bushisms,” showcasing some of Dubya’s greatest quotes. Numbered inserts featuring autographs of former political figures. Who wouldn’t want a limited edition Strom Thurmond?

The possibilities are endless.

Online Escape: The Robot rocks

Super Bowl ads earn personal foul

There are three things I love about the Super Bowl aside from the game: beer, wings and ads.

While I didn’t indulge in the first two this year, I was able to catch most of the commercials. Like in years past, some were cute, some were clever and some were funny. There were also those were not so good and easily forgettable.

But there were two that I found offensive. Both were from Salesgenie.com, a website about sales management. And what better way to promote its business than by using cartoon characters with exaggerated Asian accents that propagate our perpetual foreigner stereotype.



The first features a thick-accented Indian worker named Ramesh whose boss threatens to fire him if he doesn’t double his sales figures. Oh, and Ramesh has seven kids. And of course it ends with a sitar playing along with the background music.



The second features pandas with over-embellished Chinese accents trying to find a way to boost their bamboo-furniture store profits. Their shop sign is in a stereotypical fortune-cookie-esque font.

Though I will admit, a flat-screen bamboo monitor would be pretty kick ass to own.

Last year, Salesgenie.com “won” the title for the Super Bowl’s worst ad with its nonsensical commercial. According to a release from infoUSA, that ad drew more than 25,000 people to the company’s website.

And these are sure to bring more.

Ugh. Blatant racism, don’t ya just love it?