In 1969, Elvis Presley had a number 3 Billboard hit called In the Ghetto. (A video from 1970 is here.) Now Clarence Page tells us that there is a thing called a “G” word.

Somebody should have warned Newt Gingrich to stay away from the “ghetto.”…the Georgia Republican says his “word choice was poor” in a recent speech when he equated bilingual education with “the language of living in a ghetto.”…

As a journalist who occasionally has had the G-word stricken from my copy by cautious editors, I could have warned him. “Ghetto” means so many things to so many different people, that it is best avoided as a metaphor in mixed company unless you’re trying to be, say, Grand Master Newt the rap artist…

Gingrich’s gaffe coincides with the publication of a book he would have found helpful: “Ghettonation: A Journey into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless” by Cora Daniels, a contributing writer for Essence, Fortune, the New York Times and O: The Oprah Magazine, among others. Her “journey” began, she says, with the sight of Paris Hilton on the reality TV show “The Simple Life” trying in vain to start up an old rusted pickup truck and observing, “This truck is so ghetto.”…

Daniels…explores and exposes the ghetto “mindset” that demeans women (“ho’s,” “bee-yatches”), devalues education (“acting white”), ridicules proper English (“talking white”), celebrates criminality (“gangsta love”), discards traditional parenthood (“babydaddies,” etc.) and celebrates tacky fashion and behavior (“ghettofabulous”).

She knew things had gone off the rails when, shopping for Halloween, she found “pimp” and “ho” costumes in pre-school sizes. Or when she discovered that more than 1,200 babies were named Lexus in 2006...

America is in a sad state indeed. Consider what lyrics make it on to tweens’ iPods today. But here’s a practical suggestion. Perhaps Don Imus should confine himself to reading aloud from Daniels’ book rather than creating his own embarrassing vulgarities.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 9th, 2007 at 6:56 am and is filed under art, culture, General, Left of Left, MSM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.