Noted curmudgeon Buzz Bissinger dropped by CNN this morning to offer his thoughts on Linsanity and what he implied was an overreaction to coverage of racist or stereotyped portrayals of Jeremy Lin.
While admitting that "Chink In The Armor" is "definitely offensive," he doesn't see much wrong with the other use of Asian stereotypes—because he did it himself:
Chink in the armor is definitely offensive. I will not say what the penalty should or should not be. It's hard to believe it got in but ESPN does this all the time. They do offensive things and then try to backtrack. I think some of the other stuff, frankly, is not that big a deal. The fortune cookie thing didn't bother me. I made a spoof of it. I said what I wrote was going to be offensive. It probably was. It was about Michael Vick and Jeremy Lin opening a restaurant together. You know, this stuff is going to happen, and I think in a sense we have to get over it. It certainly hasn't hindered Jeremy Lin's popularity, and, you know, I don't think — I don't think it rises to the level of calling him a gook or a kike. People are having fun with it.
So let me get this straight: Bissinger doesn't have a problem with things that are offensive, even though he acknowledges they're offensive but that people who find them offensive should "lighten up and get a life"? That's the journalistic equivalent of "It's okay, I have a black friend." Furthermore, "kike"? [CNN]