Oh, boy.

So Kentucky rep Geoff Davis said about Obama, "That boy's finger does not need to be on the button." And of course, the congregation of Our Lady of the Perpetually Offended got their panties in a twist over this supposed insult.

Look, folks, I’m from the South, and I can tell you unequivocally that Rep. Davis was not being racist. If you’re going to use “boy” as a racist term, it’s used as a proper noun, as in “What y’all lookin’ at, Boy?” By putting the adjective “that” in front of it, he changed the context from a potentially racist one to a general term Southerners use to refer to anyone with a Y-chromosome, regardless of age. Sometimes, you can drop the adjective, and your listener still knows it’s there, as in “Boy’s as dumb as a stump.”

This reminds me of the incident where one of Obama’s staff told three boys to quit climbing a nearby tree “like a bunch of monkeys.” Seems harmless, right? She was concerned for the boys’ safety. Those boys just happened to be black, so their mother blew it all out of proportion, crying “Racist!” as soon as the cameras showed up. I think the only thing that kept this woman from being lynched on the spot was the fact that she’s of Mexican descent, and the Liberals couldn’t decide which minority would be more oppressed. Even so, she received a $75 fine from her Homeowner’s Association. That’s fucking scary all by itself.

I wonder what the reaction would’ve been if Rep. Davis had said Obama was just “a good ol’ boy.” That’s generally understood to be a compliment, and has the same “offensive” word in it.

Words are neutral, people. It’s the intent behind them that frames their meaning, and intent’s a pretty difficult thing to establish sometimes. If I use the word “faggot,” am I denigrating a homosexual, or am I using an obscure term for a bundle of kindling? If I say “bitch,” is that an insult to women, or a reference to my pregnant dog? If I type “nigger” in my blog, am I being racist, or quoting a randomly-chosen rap star? It’s all about the context, and despite the fact it was a Republican from Kentucky saying it, “that boy” ain’t racist in this context.

Boy, oh boy.