Essay 973

From DiversityInc.com…

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Rush Limbaugh Steps In It Again With ‘Survivor’ Comments

Controversial talk-show host Rush Limbaugh predicts a Latino will win the upcoming 13th season of “Survivor” because blacks are not good swimmers and Latinos “will do things other people won’t do.” 

Yesterday after CBS announced that it would break down the tribes on the hit reality show “Survivor” by race (Asians, Latinos, blacks and whites), Limbaugh went on a racially insensitive tirade. He suggested on his nationally syndicated radio program, that the competition in “Survivor” will not “be fair if there’s a lot of water events.” In support of this assertion, he cited a March 2 HealthDay article reporting that “young blacks—especially males—are much more likely to drown in pools than whites.”

The HealthDay article he based his argument on, however, did not address the swimming abilities of blacks in general. HealthDay, according to Media Matters, reported that “[r]esearchers don’t know why black kids are at higher risk of drowning,” that “[m]ost of the black [drowning] victims … drowned in public pools,” and that the “study didn’t examine whether the victims had taken swimming lessons or whether the pools were supervised by lifeguards.” Additionally, the article noted that according to the study, “people from poorer families were more likely to drown … regardless of race,” and that one author of the study suggested “[f]uture research” will be done to “examine whether swimming instruction reduces the risk of drowning.”

Limbaugh said that there “are many characteristics … that you would think would give [the African-American tribe] the lead and the heads up in terms of skill and athleticism and so forth.” But as far as an early prediction on a winner, he is counting on the Latino tribe to win unless they “start fighting for supremacy amongst themselves.” He went on to say that Latinos have “probably shown the most survival tactics,” and that they “have shown a remarkable ability to cross borders.”

Limbaugh, not wanting to leave anyone out of his offensive speech, said “the Asian-American tribe”—whom he called “the brainiacs of the bunch”—probably will “outsmart everybody” but would not be the winners. He went on to say that “the Native Americans were excluded, because they were at one with the land and they would probably have an unfair advantage.”

In response to a black caller, Limbaugh said that “the white tribe would be the best swimmers” based on the performance of white athletes at the Olympics. After apparently disconnecting or cutting the volume level of the caller, according to Media Matters for America, Limbaugh said: “[Y]ou’re saying I’m being racist because I’m saying blacks can’t swim … I mentioned the swimming comment only because it’s not going to be fair if there is a lot of water competition in this. It just isn’t. It is not a racial or racist comment at all.”