This thread has diverged into three different topics......oops, make that four.
-bobad

Fwiw {and I realize that it's not worth much}, as the thread starter, let me say that I don't mind sidebar discussion as long as those side bar discussions don't stray too far from the main topic of the discussion, or don't stray too long from the main topic of the discussion, and as long as discussion is made without intent to PIP {pee in the pool}*.

As far as this particular thread goes, when it started there were more than one main topic of discussion. Imo, those original topics were

1. Ralph Nader's specific comment about Barack Obama
"talking White" **

2. A general discussion of talking White; talking Black **

3. A general discussion about Barack Obama's Presidential candidacy

4. A general discussion of Ralph Nader's third party candidacy for US President

So far, posters have commented civilly on those subjects, and, hopefully more civil comments will occur on those topics.

Some posts to this thread have as their theme, these subjects that I think are very related to those three "main" topics:.

1. Comments about the efficacy of third parties in past and present US Presidential elections

2. Comments about "acting Black"; "acting White"

3. Comments about the ethnic background of Ralph Nader

4. Comments about theories of determining which Presidential candidate may win or lose based on their unfavorable rating {or something like that?}

In addition, imo, there are more tangential comments on this thread about:

1. the decade individuals in the general public people first began using personal computers.

2. computers being computer savvy in general.

While I consider those two topics to be off-topic [okay, much more off topic] than the other subjects I have listed, I can see how it came from a point that was made earlier in this thread. And I don't think that discussion was done in an uncivil manner or that it was done to derail the main discussion. However, I confess that when there were a number of posts about computers/being computer savvy, I felt that I [or someone else] had to intervene to return the discussion to its primary and/or secondary topics.

That's how I see the discussion thus far. Thanks to all who have posted on this thread, and thanks for being civil about what can be highly contentious subjects.

Keep the comments coming, and please don't "pee in the pool".*


* In the first [and, as far as I'm concerned,perhaps the only non-infamous] "Name That Mudcatter" thread, a Mudcatter {I think it was Jeri, but I'm not certain} used the phrase PIP {pee in the pool} to as a referent for bad "spirited" or otherwise, toxic behavior from a poster or posters which is intended to, or results in the thread being polluted.

**I capitalize "Black" and "White" when they are used as racial referents. I recognize that most people don't. As to why I and why other people may also capitalize these referents, the short story is that this is based on the history of the referent Negro in the USA, and the hard fought but eventually successful effort to get the first letter capitalized in that group referent, rather than using a small "n". Not capitalizing the first letter in this group name when the first letter of all other formal group names were capitalized such as Grench, Jewish, Native American, Chinese, Polish, Italian etc] served to reinforce the prevailing position of the nation that "Negroes" were not as good as other people. When the group referent "Negro" was retired in the 1970s, the position was that "Black" and "White" should be capitalized for the same reasons that "Negro" was capitalized.

That said, I consider this capitalize or don't capitalize decision to be a personal choice, largely because "White" and "Black" are informal racial group referents. On the other hand, the general rule in the print media is to always capitalize the group referent African American. Failing to capitalize "African American" is seen by the general rules of mainstream print media to be a definite error and is also seen by many African Americans to be a serious put down.

Btw, some contemporary African Americans use "Negro" as an insult toward "Uncle Tom" Black people. That referent is even more insulting when the first letter is purposely not capitalized.

**

Given these comments, I'd add this discussion to the second set of topics that have been raised on this thread. And if people continue to post to this thread, I'm sure that there will be more topics discussed.

And, btw, though I admit that I raised the topic, I'm not at all interested in discussing the Name The Mudcatter threads any further than I've discussed them already on this thread. Of course, ya'll can do what you want, but ,in my opinion, any further discussion of those threads on this one would be pip.