Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/94842
Sarasota News Leader November 23, 2012 To promote a better understanding of both sides of the argument, Deggans explained that those who have called others race-bait- ers often said they did so because they felt they were being misunderstood. "The bottom line is that people who use that term ... are folks who just want to talk about race, who just want to talk about these different issues," he said, paraphrasing the viewpoint. However, Deggans continued, that idea itself might be the result of a misunderstanding. "When I talk about the suspicion that there's institutional prejudice and stereotypes that we're dealing with in the media, that doesn't make [them] racist; that doesn't make us race-baiters; that doesn't make us race hus- tlers trying to get some kind of weird advan- tage. All we're really trying to do is connect Page 54 with each other and enjoy our differences rather than ignore them or be separated by them." CODE WORDS Deggans wrote in Race-Baiter that the pro- cess of improving understanding among races is hampered by the exposure of Americans to "code words" that many media figures and outlets use to attract attention or stir up emo- tion, in the effort to gain a devoted following. When Tryon asked about this concept, Deg- gans related it to stereotyping. "Code words are these phrases that are in- tended to, in a weird way, sort of shortcut your active critical thinking. What they do is they … access these thoughts that you … have in the back of your head and they make in- Eric Deggans has worked as a columnist and critic for the Tampa Bay Times since 1995.