What's important about "Piyush/Bobby" thing is it reveals he is the *opposite* of *Barack* Obama

[villager]

...in terms of being comfortable in his own skin.

All rightwing politics -- all -- is about projection onto "the other," making some other group hateful and ascribing to them aspects of yourself that you're in flight from.

Thus, if you're a closeted gay Republican, you go after homos, if you like porn, you try to "control" it through various laws, if you have no idea who or what you really are, you hide behind the most rigid forms of "religion" and "patriotism" to convince yourself you do know, after all, etc., etc...

and so, in changing his name from Piyush to Bobby, Gov. Jindal shows his typical Republicanness -- afraid of who he really is, and where he really came from.

The opposite of Barack Hussein Obama, who went in to politics with his whole name, his real name, his given name. A man comfortable in his skin.

And being comfortable in his skin, in no way, shape, or form a Republican politico.

[Kahuna]

1. I live in NJ. Indians in NJ use their ethnic names whether you can

pronounce it or not. Jindal's name isn't all that difficult.

[YOY]

2. "To thine own self be true."

It's why I'm going to Khatmandu...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Expect this subtlety to be lost on most.

[atreides1]

4. That's the Truth

I can think of one who if they find this thread will call the OP both a racist and disingenuous.

[jpgray]

5. Yes, what a devious little four year-old he was

And like all minorities who change their names early in life (until they change back, anyway), it was done solely for reasons of self-hating; a knuckling-under to bigotry and cultural prejudice. Cowards, cowards all!

Like Robert Zimmerman, Jon Leibowitz, etc. And Barack Obama, for a significant portion of his youth.

[villager]

6. Exactly the point -- Barry went back to "Barack..."

n/t

[jpgray]

8. So up until then, he was a noxious little coward, willingly choosing a slave name?

How fucking ridiculous is DU these days?

[villager]

9. um, words-in-people's mouths much?

n/t

[jpgray]

12. Let's use yours directly: Barack was "afraid of who he really was, and where he really came from."

How contemptible! How dare those kids choose to go by Americanized names to fit in! Cowards, every one! If they don't take it back, clearly it was a "projection onto 'the other,' making some other group hateful and ascribing to them aspects of yourself that you're in flight from." Jon Stewart and others prove that the entertainment business is full of self-hating Jews.

Do you hear yourself?

[villager]

17. "Do you hear yourself?" Indeed.

One might suggest a mirror, given your level of misdirected spleen.

By the way, I wasn't talking about Barack, but Gov. Bobby Jindal, who, of course, would not be a Republican governor had he stuck with "Piyush." That fact is very salient about rightwing politics...

My Jewish great-Grandfather shortened his surname -- though the short version still sounds pretty Jewish. If he was emigrating now, with fewer pressures to do that, he might not have.

I suppose, in his way, he was trying to conform to the new country, as best he could. That, or fit the name onto whatever forms he had to deal with on Ellis Island. But he also kept his Yiddish-sounding first name, so I don't think he was trying to "pass."

The question is about the personalities of GOP politicians, and whether any of them is really "authentic," or who they, in fact, are.

Again, given how projection informs their policy choices, I suspect not.

[Raineyb]

97. Four year olds are certainly able to discern that they are different from

other people around them.

Most grow out of the need to so completely subjugate their identity in order to fit in with the crowd.

Regards

[Skinner]

7. I'm pretty sure Barack Hussein Obama didn't go into politics with his whole name.

One third of it was conspicuously absent most of the time. Except when right-wingers used it.

To be clear: I'm not saying Obama isn't comfortable in his own skin. I'm also not saying Obama is ashamed of his name, or that he was trying to deny where he came from. In fact, this issue isn't about the intent of Obama or the intent of Jindal when they each chose what names to use in public.

The issue here is the intent of their political opponents who refer to them by their "other" names. Or, at least, how that intent can be perceived by others.

I think everyone on DU understands that when right-wingers called Obama "Barack Hussein Obama" they were not complimenting him for being comfortable in his own skin.

[villager]

11. I wasn't speaking about intent, only what embracing a name reveals

And it's important that while the Obama campaign didn't release any bumper stickers that said "Vote Hussein!", they never pretended that wasn't his name, apologized for it in anyway, etc.

They let, in other, words, the rightwingers stomp and hold their breathe, etc. And in not running from his name, Obama defeated that particular tactic.

[Kahuna]

15. Again..Barack "Hussein" is a lot different from Piyush. Barack was

called "Hussein" in an effort to imply he was muslim and a terrorist. There is no such implication to Jindal's given name. It's just an ethnic name. Period.

On edit: Also, Barack's entire given name was used on DU frequently. Some used it as a slur, others just used it matter-of-factly because it IS his name. Since you cannot assess the motives of people for using one's given name, I fear this issue is being blown way out of proportion. If Jindal is uncomfortable with his given name, he will change it legally, not just go by a nickname.

[villager]

18. I'm not sure what your point is. It doesn't seem to be speaking to mine.

n/t

[Kahuna]

19. I didn't respond to you. Look again. nt

[villager]

22. Oh. Well then, a tip of the hat and never mind...

n/t

[Kahuna]

67. Likewise,

:)

[Skinner]

23. Do you honestly believe *anyone* on DU was using Jindal's real name...

...just "matter-of-factly" because it is his name? The fact that his real name is being used to ridicule him is self-evident. The only real question is whether the ridicule is based on the fact that his name is foreign, or based on the fact that he changed it.

It's true that it is impossible to know anyone's motives. But after hearing right-wingers call Obama "Hussein" for the last year or two, it's hard not to wonder about the possible hypocrisy.

[villager]

25. That's a point -- but not the one I was making...

This is the first time I've ever even typed "Piyush" on DU -- and I posted this thread simply because it occurred to me that the name shift was in fact emblematic of larger GOP psychological maladies....

The point is, he'd never be a GOP Governor in Louisiana had he stuck with "Piyush."

Our California GOP governor kept his "furrin" name because of course, he'd "branded" it in the movies (and also refused to change it for his movie career, for which you have to give him at least some kudos, his failures as an administrator aside...)

[Marrah_G]

29. Thank you for seeing it Skinner

I'd like to think we as Democrats are better then they are over in freeperville. A higher standard, so to speak.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

36. thanks

[Kahuna]

69. I don't think it is self evident. Sometimes people just do things...just because...

Since I'm not a mindreader, I don't try to determine their motives. :shrug: That's just me. I don't see how his ethnic name can possibly be used as a slur. All it says about him is that he has Indian roots and that is nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe others think it is and that is why they believe it's a slur.

There were plenty of DUers who called Obama Hussein or Barry. I don't get mad because those are actually names he goes by. If he didn't like it, he would let us know. Until then, it is what it is.

[villager]

78. A point, to be sure. But the name change seemed to fit other GOP behavior

which was part of what my OP was commenting on -- as another poster said, building personalities from the "outside in."

Why some here are enraged by my positing such an observation -- even if I'm wrong about Jindal's motives -- remains a mystery...

[Kahuna]

82. My thing is this. It's racist to believe that there is something wrong with

Jindal's given name. It's not like when people used "Hussein" to imply evil things about Pres. Obama. Even then, as long as Obama was still using his middle name, I was hardly in a position to complain. Jindal's given name is an "Indian" name. So what? Is there something BAD about that???? :banghead:

[villager]

87. No -- who here is saying there's anything bad about his given name?

Indeed, I was saying the opposite.

[Kahuna]

90. I didn't mean you. Clearly not you. But those who are saying it's racist..

to use his name because it's an Indian name. That's saying that there is something wrong with having an Indian name. I wish someone would explain to me how his Indian name is a slur. His wife uses her Indian name. So, obviously it isn't a bad thing as some are suggesting.

[Kahuna]

105. Jeez Villager. Catch a clue. I'm pretty much agreeing with you.

:banghead:

[villager]

109. I eventually caught that clue! ;-) But this thread has sparked a weirdly hysterical response

with people conflating their ideas about the history of America oppression into responses to my original compare/contrast between Jindal and Obama.

[marybourg]

110. When I say "Piyush"

it's not "based on the fact that his name is foreign, or based on the fact that he changed it."

It's based on the fact that the publicans kept dragging Barak's middle name into every speech and statement, and that was one of the less offensive techniques they used to degrade, ridicule and belittle him.

And it's based on the fact that I still fiercely resent what they called Hillary and what they did to President Clinton. And I resent them renaming my party the "democrat" party. And I resent them calling people who put fetuses' lives above women's lives "pro life". And I could list dozens of other resentments I've built up against publicans since 1980. So if I want to call their cynically-anointed "future star" by his real name I will. If that makes me a hypocrite, so be it.

[MADem]

53. Finally--a soupçon of sanity!

As I have said elsewhere in this thread, Bobby is a "bridge" name. It's used in India (Bobby Deol, film star, for example) and it's used in America. Either culture is comfortable with the name, thus making it a perfect nickname for a first generation Indian American kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTXbq69h9vg

[sofa king]

10. I don't like this stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about tit-for-tat, when the subject matter suits it.

But in this case, it's impossible to avoid the racial and ethnic undertones that clearly underly the issue. To respond in kind to the sort of effluvia churned up by the GOP against President Obama is, in every way, to lower ourselves to that level when we are achieving unprecedented success in raising the level of discourse and debate.

There's something else to keep in mind: you won't change the minds of the 23%ers out there, the right-wing authoritarians who place actual weight on this sort of issue. President Obama's middle name is important to them because a right wing authority figure they trust told them it is important. Those same authority figures will tell their listeners that Jindal's middle name is not important, and they'll believe that too without ever noting the contradiction. They don't think; they believe, and since beliefs are pure bullshit there's no reason why they can't overlap, contradict, and otherwise defy reason, which is what beliefs do best.

But in the meantime, we're left looking like assholes to the 77% of Americans who can actually think.

[villager]

13. No racial slurs here -- and I have no problem calling him "Bobby"

...if that's what he wants. I'm just pointing out how the flight from the original name reveals a lot about rightwing mindset. Do you think for a nanosecond he'd be governor of Louisiana if he was still named Piyush?

[jpgray]

24. It bears repeating: he was four years old! How was he capable of some calculated "flight?"

[villager]

26. What also bears repeating is that it is revelatory that Barack went back to his name

and Bobby Jindal didn't.

I'm simply saying that fact alone provides a certain psychological insight into how each encounters the world...

And it does seem to fit a larger pattern of Republicans never being comfortable in their own skin...

[jpgray]

30. I wish DU would cease "psychological insights" speculation based on superficial trifles

We get enough of that from the established media already. This is the same ludicrous technique that "proved" Gore was a mendacious womanish dork, uncomfortable in his own skin. It's the same technique the proved Howard Dean was crazy and angry, and that Hillary is a bull-dyke ball-cutter. It's fucking ridiculous.

Why would Jindal stick with the name he's been called since he was four? Maybe he got used to it? No, of course there is a neat little narrative that this slots into, which fits all our nasty little trifling "psychological" prejudices.

[villager]

32. so you disagree that Republicans use projection, or are usually in hiding

...from their own personalities?

[Marrah_G]

33. I bet they say the same thing about the Democrats.

[villager]

38. they might. But that'd be projection.

;-)

[Marrah_G]

40. Oh well then !

Thanks for clearing that up !

:rofl:

[jpgray]

34. Nope. But your evidence that Jindal did this at -four years old- would be...?

[villager]

39. A circle is a fun shape -- and we seem to be emulating it

...in these subthreads.

one more time: I find it emblematic that Barack Obama was comfortable using his given name. It would seem to suggest a contrast with Gov. Jindal.

After this, I opt out of the circle!

[MADem]

55. Bobby is a COMMON Indian nickname. That's where you don't "get it"--the racial overtones aside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTXbq69h9vg

[villager]

61. the racial overtones were yours. I was contrasting with Obama

and speaking of what seemed to be another Republican flight from authenticity.

the Indians I knew growing up all had, well, Indian nicknames (like "Babu,") but your point about the prevalence of Bobby-ness is an interesting one...!

[MADem]

73. Bobby is a perfectly "authentic" nickname--in India. And America.

What I found offensive is that so many people are way too willing to pile on without even asking the question, or doing a tiny bit of homework. It was just so easy to assume the worst, and way too many people on this (cough, choke) progressive (???) message board were way too eager to do just that.

Of course, Jindal has plenty to NOT recommend him. But going after a first generation American for taking a bridge nickname that works in both cultures is a cheap shot.

[Marrah_G]

28. He was a CHILD when he took a more american sounding name

There is nothing nefarious there, except MAYBE that it speaks to how our culture was at the time. He's been called Bobby for 33 years....

[Coexist]

14. I love that 'skinny kid with a funny name'

and he doesn't care who knows his middle name.

and dammit, people like him!

[Fresh_Start]

16. nah

sometimes you just want to keep distance between different parts of your life.
For example, woman continuing to use their maiden names for business, while choosing to use their married names for family life.

I know many people who continue to use their 'ethnic name' in their personal lives but use an Americanized name in their professional capacity.

[truebrit71]

20. EXACTLY!!!!

FINALLY someone else gets it!

[EFerrari]

21. Possible but not necessarily. Sometimes, changing your name like that

is a way to protect something you do care about.

Only my family uses my Spanish given name. It's a term of endearment when they say it, not an ethnic slur as when my brother in law used it to show me how much he hated the dreaded Spanish language.

[Marrah_G]

27. You know what? I have 1st generation friend who uses the name Andy.

He is very comfortable in his own skin. To assume using a different name since childhood makes someone a coward or less comfortable in their skin is just so wrong. I am pretty sure he realizes his ethnicity every time he looks in the mirror.

[EFerrari]

31. There are two problems with villager's thesis.

One is that it assigns a negative value to the Westernized name change when that may not always be true.

The second is, the assumption that everyone who Westernizes their name does it for the same reason.

(There is another problem, too, and that is people in the mainstream culture deciding for people of color what their name is or should be and the OP comes pretty close to participating in that dynamic although I'm sure villager intended to do no such thing.)

[villager]

35. Interesting points to chew over -- especially for the OP. But I was specifically noting the contrast

with Barack Obama, which is a point many responders in this thread seem to miss.

Hell, let Bobby be Bobby, but it's worth noting that Barack stuck with a "funny name" even after being "Barry" for many years. It's also worth noting that "Piyush" wouldn't have gotten Bobby very far in Southern GOP politics...

Those are really the only points the OP -- who is somewhat familiar to me -- was trying to make... ;-)

[EFerrari]

41. I do understand what you're getting at and completely agree

about how Republicans sort of build themselves from the outside, in. And about the projection.

I think, though, that when the issue of color and ethnicity is stirred in, it gets more faceted, more complicated. :)

[villager]

43. Well, I agree! And that's well put: Republicans build themselves from "outside in"

And I also agree that throwing ethnicity/race into the discussion make the terrain very tricky indeed...

[villager]

37. Hmm. Does Gov. Jindal strike you as a man who knows himself deeply?

I guess that's part of the larger point here.

[Marrah_G]

42. A speech and a couple interviews doesn't qualify me to answer that.

I disagree with his politics. His personal view of himself is something I am not privy to.

[jpgray]

44. Aw, c'mon! Let's play Dowd, or Krauthammer, or Matthews, or...

:D

[Marrah_G]

47. Heh- noooooooooooooo

I always sucked at twister!

[villager]

45. Fair enough...

n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

46. yeah, cos obama was just telling every reporter in sight that his middle name was hussein. nt

[villager]

49. I don't recall him ever denying it, or pretending otherwise, however...

n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

50. the people who used hussein were only doing to scare the american people

and to point out that barack obama had muslim ancestry, implying that no such person was fit to be president

similarly to using piyush.

i dont think jindal has ever denied that his name at some point was piyush.

i dont think obama denied hussein

the problem here isnt with obama or jindal

[villager]

52. Well, I don't know. Has Bobby Jindal ever used "Piyush" in public, the way Obama

used Hussein when, for example, he was being sworn in?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

56. exactly no one remembers obama using it till he won the presidency.

after which point he has used his middle name twice

if jindal wins a presidency, he may revert to piyush. till that point he has obviously good reasons to not use it. obama didnt use it till the presidency was his

[villager]

58. well, presumably he was sworn in as governor?

That could be telling, right there...

[La Lioness Priyanka]

59. telling of what? that his ambitions are over? the guy started going by bobby at 4

there is no reason to drag in his indian name, except to be xenophobic

[villager]

70. How on earth did you get to "Xenophobic?"

Which presumes I am somehow "afraid" of "foreigners," which in fact is the opposite sensibility of my OP...

[La Lioness Priyanka]

76. the use of the word piyush, when trying to denigrate a political opponent is xenophobic

much like the use of the word hussein when trying to denigrate obama was xenophobic


i dont know where i am being unclear

[villager]

79. Yes, well -- I wasn't using Piyush to denigrate him, and never have

I don't know where I'm being unclear, either.

I was talking about *his* refusal to use Piyush in public, and wondering if that fit a GOP mindset. That's all.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

91. and again, Obama did not use hussein till he was elected president

he was worried about the potential effects of hussein on the american populace

its not a gop mindset. its a politicians mindset

[Kahuna]

94. "Elected" president??? I'm pretty sure that he was using it the entire time..

that he ran, as he often made mention of his funny name.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

99. no, he didnt use hussein. jon stewart recently alluded to this too

because obama used it when meeting with arab leaders recently.

[Kahuna]

80. Only if one is trying to "denigrate" and how would you be in the position

to know that is what they are doing? I just don't get it. It's HIS NAME. What is the big deal? How is it racist to call him by his name? His wife has an Indian name. Is it racist to call her, Supriya? :banghead:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

88. so you saw np problems with the use of hussein obama by freepers in oct 2008?

[Kahuna]

92. No, I didn't. Sure, I knew their intent. They're freepers. Since when do

I let the childishness of freepers bother me? It was used plenty here on DU too, in case you've forgotten. While I may suspect that people are using it as a slur, until Obama denounces it, I have no right to get mad. And right now, Piyush is still Jindal's legal name.

[EFerrari]

98. So, you need Obama himself to personally instruct you to recognize ethinic slurs?

[starroute]

107. He took the governor's oath as "Bobby"

I found a YouTube of it last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce696mQKMU0&feature=PlayList&p=A096E1DC8E351DE2&playnext=1&index=1

[MADem]

48. That is just SO false. You can dislike him for his ideology, but his name is common in

Indian society, which is probably why the Brady Bunch nickname appealed to him as a child. It was a "cultural bridge" name--acceptable on both sides of the line.

Do you think Bobby Deol is uncomfortable in his own skin?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCkRZbWXi94&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er1t70hW2T8

How about Bobby Singh? (there's a lot of skin to be seen in this clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5beUMFTwhS0

[villager]

51. It's not "false," since I was contrasting the embracing of an ethnic name with Barack Obama

and how that is emblematic of larger Republican motifs.

Although you're saying such similarity with Republican "personality flight" is coincidental, in this case, since Bobby is a common name in Indian American communities?

Were Bobby Deol or Bobby Singh given the name "Bobby," or did they assume it later? I'm intrigued, and always up for a "learning moment!"

[MADem]

57. You said "he" was the opposite and that he was uncomfortable in his own skin.

Which you don't know for a fact or even an opinion.

You don't understand the culture his parents come from, yet you're passing judgment on how he must feel.

"Bobby" is a popular Indian nickname. NICKname. In India and in expat communities around the world.

And an ideal nickname for a kid trying to bridge two cultures.

You prefer to see it as an accusation, an expression of weakness, of discomfort. I see it as a bridge name.

What I take from your comments is that you're angry at this guy because, even though he was born in the US, grew up in the US, was educated in the US, and chose for himself a nickname that is common both in the US and in India, that somehow, he's not "authentic enough"--for YOU.

What, would you like to put him a traditional "costume," too? Which would you prefer? A Punjabi get-up? A jazzy sherwani, so he "sticks out" and is "comfortable in his own skin?"

He's Louisiana born and raised, with a nickname that is common to his country and that of his parents.

And you're without any shame, apparently.

[villager]

63. I'm without any shame!? Jesus Christ, and to think I was about to respond to this..

But you prefer self-righteous attacks, so clearly, you're not interested in "discussion."

[MADem]

64. There isn't anything to discuss. You are going after this guy with

comments that are racially insensitive, to be kind about it.

You're dogwhistling. It was unattractive when the GOP did it with "Hussein," and it's just as unattractive when you do it. More so, actually, since Democrats should know better.

[villager]

65. Well, clearly there isn't anything to discuss, since you have your heart set on attack mode...

n/t

[MADem]

68. Gee, now it's "attack mode" if you have a problem with bigotry. Please. NT

[villager]

72. Enough of your gratuitous insults. Off to the ignore list.. .

n/t

[MADem]

74. Gee, now it's a gratuitious insult if you have a problem with bigotry!

Push that button hard, now!

[nadinbrzezinski]

54. For god sakes he did that at four

find another issue, this is a non-issue

And lord knows there is plenty of fodder in that speech or his other stances, such as his ahem "pro life stance." Or for god sakes, his anti-science stance (creationism)

[onenote]

60. How about Jesse Francis "Jeff" Bingaman?

And are you saying that Obama wasn't "comfortable" in his own skin when he called himself Barry?
A lot of folks with "different" names choose to go by a more common name.

BFD

[villager]

62. Obama seems to've arrived at a point where he embraced his "story"

and his background, and his name...

Your point would make sense if the Governor was known as Gov. Piyush "Bobby" Jindal...

[onenote]

77. my point does make sense,

Senator Bingaman does not go by "Sen. Jesse Francis "Jeff" Bingaman" -- His name appears as Jeff on official bio and on the ballot in New Mexico. No quotes -- just Jeff.

BTW, different states handle these things differently. In some states, you can be listed with a nickname (in quotes) along with your given name (for example, Virginia). In Louisiana, you can be listed with only your nickname, but it has to appear in quotes. So, for example, in Virignia, its "Robert 'Bobby' Scott"; in Louisiana its "Mitch" Landrieu. And in New Mexico is Jeff Bingaman.

[villager]

81. Fair enough, as well. Given your point about Louisiana

...having never seen a ballot there, does Gov. Jindal use quotes for "Bobby?" In other words, does he still view it as a nickname, or as a name name?

[onenote]

84. Any name that is not your legal name can be used on the ballot in Louisiana

but must appear in quotes. You can choose to have both your formal name and nickname or just the non-formal name.

Here is how they appeared on the ballot in 2006: http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms2&rqsdta=110706

Jindal's first chosen name -- Bobby -- was in quotes.

[MADem]

66. Well, golly, both Jesse and Jeff are both 'Murkan names, you see!

So that makes it "OK." It's only a crime when your given name is "furrin" and your nickname is both "furrin" and "'Murkan.'

I'll whip this out, to avoid the drive-by poutrage: :sarcasm:

[villager]

71. Huh? You're getting so splenetic you're not even making sense anymore...

n/t

[MADem]

75. Gee, I thought you put me on ignore! nt

[Occam Bandage]

83. Obama did not embrace Barack Hussein Obama until after he was elected.

Most people didn't even know his middle name was Hussein until right-wingers pointed it out in the Presidential election.

[villager]

85. But he didn't have a nickname to deflect from the "Hussein" (or the Barack)

during the campaign, yes?

[Kahuna]

86. He could have called himself, Barry, but he didn't. nt

[Occam Bandage]

89. We attacked right-wingers for bringing up "Hussein," didn't we?

And "Bobby" is not a nickname. It is his name. It is not his name legally, but it is his name for every practical purpose.

[villager]

93. And I think all we're saying is that may reveal a difference between him and BHO

which may, in turn, signify an aspect of the Republican personality...

[kirby]

95. Shows similarity between DUers and Freepers...

Jindal was born in the USA. He changed his named when he was four years old, probably to assimilate. It really doesn't matter what his reason was/is. Funny how you can state with such certainty that when he was four years old, he was afraid of who he was and where he came from. What is significant is the mean spirit around here about it.

[villager]

100. So you can state with certainty about the "mean spirit" behind various posts?

It's the hypocrisy of those most alarmed that I find... alarming.

I just find the urge to assimilate interesting, and perhaps a contrast with Obama, who has gone to Africa (been photographed in traditional African garb, etc.), and didn't change his name.

That's really the main point I was making.

It seems to be nigh well lost in the hysteria of some of the responses.

[kirby]

101. I am shades of gray, not black/white type of person...

I think a lot of the rationalization around here is that the Freepers got away with the Hussein slams, so all is fair play by reversing the trend. Me personally, I dont think two wrongs make a right.

And I dont really buy your attributing any particular motives to a four year old American child who liked the name Bobby when he watched the Brady Bunch. It is just plain silly to argue that. It really tells us nothing about Jindal today.

[villager]

102. Yet you freely attribute black/white motives to everyone else?

I don't "know" his motives -- I was simply extrapolating based on the behavior of his GOP counterparts...

And I wasn't "slamming" him by using "Piyush." Merely speculating as to why *he* has run from it.

[Marrah_G]

111. The assumption that he has "run" from it is the offensive part

That it somehow makes him weak.

There are PLENTY of fucking things that make him weak.

THIS is not one of them.

Your post is an insult to alot of Democrats and to alot of immigrant families.

[villager]

112. Why do you assume he hasn't run from it?

I mean, here's a guy who performs exorcisms, which as far as I know, isn't part of his native culture.

What insults me is I was positing a notion that the name change puts him in contrast with Obama, in terms of his public relationship to his heritage.

It's not the one definitive thing about Jindal, but it may be telling.

Or, ultimately, it may not be. That's what the idea of "discussion" here was supposed to chew over.

And yet half these threads are from people going berserk, crying racism and xenophobia at the drop of a, well, post! In other words, the people using the word "insult" are themselves throwing around the most insults on this thread...

[Seeking Serenity]

96. And it may be reflective of none of that.

It could be that some people, including, possibly, Barack Obama, for professional reasons, prefer to drop diminuative-sounding names (those ending in the "ee" sound) as they get older.

Then there are those who don't (Andy Williams as opposed to Andrew Williams, Jimmy Carter as opposed to James or Jim Carter).

I know a professional woman, named Amy Catherine (last name omitted), who all her life was known as Amy. But when she entered the professional world, she opted to go with being called Catherine. Sounded more mature, less sing-song-ish. She is comfortable in her own skin, either way.

[newtothegame]

103. Orrr....political correctness has run it's course for DU'ers cause it's no longer useful to them...

this summer, however, during the primaries, it was every DU'ers most useful tool.

[EFerrari]

108. I don't think that's true of DU at all.

There are some posters that will argue their questionable positions to the death.

But, DU won't, as a whole. Go check out this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=428416&mesg_id=428416

[newtothegame]

104. Orrr....political correctness has run its course for DU'ers cause it's no longer useful to them...

this summer, however, during the primaries, it was every DU'ers most useful tool.

[Numba6]

106. he ain't a bobby, he's the same old dick

he ain't a bobby, he's the same old dick

Not this:



This: