The Thing We're All Tired Of

Now... before somebody plays The Race Card on my Race Card because of the suit I chose, let me just say that the suit I chose I chose because The Ace of Spades is generally considered the trump card of all trump cards. It trumps all in the card game Spades, for sure ... and yes, I could have chosen the game Hearts and used an ace of Hearts, but somehow hearts are a bit to flowery for what someone is doing when they're playing The Race Card. Somehow, Valentines just doesn't get the picture across. Same with diamonds. I suppose I could have used clubs, but now we're really overthinking this and we're pissed off that we have to because of the fear of The Race Card. Besides, there's no song called "The Ace of Clubs", and when you talk "Diamonds" or "Hearts", it's always the Queen, not the Ace. And we wanted the Ace. And the Ace of Spades is also a special looking card, because it's the only one that gets that fancy symbol so big in the middle of it, making it look unmistakable, and The Race Card is indeed unmistakable. Spades are blunt instruments, where as hearts and diamonds really aren't, and though a club is also a blunt instrument, the spade wins here because, well we already talked about the songs and the lack thereof when it comes to clubs and that really cool lookin' thingy they call a "Spade".

I regret that the word has also been used as a derogatory term for people of a particular race, but may I point out that I, for one, have never used it in that context and that is certainly not the first thing that pops into my mind when the word "spade" comes up. Actually, it's the shovel I think of first, and then that symbol, neither of which has anything to do with race. Plus that really cool thingy on the cards has been on the cards, I think, since long before the term was used in a derogatory way toward that race, and I refuse to drop things from my culture just because some people bastardized and abused it for these purposes. On top of that, this card gets used on behalf of races other than that particular race -- it's really got nothing to do with it. Really.

On top of that since I am a conservative and I've been to two tea parties myself and am a 912 project member, and I actually listen to Glenn Beck (unlike the vast majority of his critics, if not all of them) no matter what I do or say I'm already labeled a racist and frankly, it's gotten to the point where that insult makes me yawn. That boy has cried wolf waaaaaaaaaay too many times, and I'm tired of the dance ... even though I just did it again, but this time with a hint of irritation (I hope you picked up on that) in my voice.

So here it is, the Race of Spades.

Ok, see there I was doing something I often do. I like to play with words (this time, ''Ace" and "RAce Card") and once again I wasn't thinking about how blatantly that could be taken in a way that didn't cross my mind until after I hit "publish" ... so I hereby under protest censor myself ... and having to do so I think only further underscores my point.

See you could also go back and say that when I said "boy who cried wolf" that I was using "boy" for the same purpose Maureen Dowd inserted it into Joe Wilson's "You Lie" ... instead of the long understood cultural (my culture, again) meaning of "the boy who cried wolf".

No, it was just a boy. And I believe he was white in the Euro-centric illustrations. Not that it mattered.