Steve Greenhut On Yvette Cabrera Column

History occurred yesterday: I included an Yvette Cabrera column in the daily News Roundup. I don't deliberately omit her column -- it's just that she rarely (in my opinion) writes anything worth reading. The OC Register ought to call it the Trite, Cliched, Schmaltzy, Liberal Latino Topics Column.

I included it because she was writing about the ugly nature of some of comments being posted on OCR stories via the paper's new online reader comments feature, and I'm interested observer of how MSM outlets incorporate blog features into their online presence and what ensues from it.

Later that day, OC Register editorialist Steve Greenhut posted this trenchant critique of Cabrera's column over at Orange Punch:

Yvette Cabrera's column today, bemoaning the foul comments posted after various stories on the Register Web site over the last month, included the obligatory shot at the county that I've come to expect from some folks. She includes this statement: "The comments tie into the long history of acts of racism and expression in Orange County, and whenever there is such expression, it's troubling, says David Theo Goldberg, UC Irvine professor and University of California Humanities Research Institute director."

Now, I scrolled through the comments and agree that many of them are revolting. Judgmental and downright mean comments are wrong. Still, is that because Orange County is an evil, racist place? That suggestion by Goldberg is laughable. A handful of dolts expressing themselves on message boards hardly adds up to the character of this county. The story line is so simplistic it's embarrassing to repeat it. You see, OC is a conservative place, and because it's conservative then people are mean and nasty. If that's so, why do people in general seem so well behaved and polite here?

You can read Steve's entire column here.

Comments

[Allan Bartlett]

I think it's time for the Register to pull the plug on Yvette Cabrera's column. It was a nice experiment, but it's time to put something else in her place that is readable. She'd be better off writing for La Opinion or being a La Raza spokeshole.

Powder Blue Report

[Bruce]

The other day I had occasion to have to read one of her columns, it was part of a collection of clips assembled by a commission upon which I serve. It was biased pablum, contradicted itself and was a general embarrasment for The Register. Allan is right, replace her with someone with a degree and some experience.

[If she stays, I go]

It is indeed time for Ms Cabrera to go

She whines and moans and contributes nothing useful

[FYI on the La Raza spokehole]

Powder Blue,

She DOES write ghost editorials for La Opinion and IS a "La Raza" spokeshole.

By the way, for those of you who are Spanish challenged, "La Raza" means "THE Race." There's nothing more racist than that phrase regardless of how some of the "spokeholes" try to explain different.

There is, in fact, a local radio station called "La Raza." Why no one has complained to the FCC about this is beyond me.

Also, the term "Gringo" is not a nice one to be called. In effect your being called a "nigger" by the Hispanic person using the term - whether or not the person using the word is doing so intentionally. I have learned to respond with "If I'm a Gringo than your're a Wet Back." They either usually get mad or are surprised, but when I explain that "Gringo" is an offensive name; not a term of endearment - better to use "Americano," they almost always apologize and we move forward.

FYI.

[Luis Rodriguez]

FYI on the La Raza Spokehole,
With all due respect to Jubal and this website. You are full of it.
It is obvious you are choosing to make a statement but do so when learning your history. There is a reason why the term "La Raza" is used, and it is not in the context you so wish to prove.
In addition to your terminology you are also incorrect. I believe the offensive term considered to be comparable to the N-word for whites is "crackers" as the term "Spic" is for latinos.
Please don't rewrite history or invent history to your convenience only to make a non-valid point.

[FYI is right]

Regarding FYI's comment, "There's nothing more racist than that phrase regardless of how some of the "spokeholes" try to explain different."

It appears that Luis Rodriguez proved FYI's point. "La Raza" means "The Race" which even in 1st grade grammer clearly implies superiority of the Mexican Race over that of any other.

Regarding the derogatory name, "Gringo," it is just that, derogatory and as inflamatory as the word "Nigger." It should not be used nor should it be well received when referred to by that name. It's time for an even playing field from the PC crowd. Thanks for telling it like it is, FYI.

[ocwatcher]

I'm pretty liberal, and admittedly not very smart, and even to me, Cabrera's column is sophomoric and ineffective at bridging the OC cultural divide.

[Luis Rodriguez]

I think many of you are taking the article written by Cabrera a little too far. All she is explaining is Orange County still holds many racists views my certain members of our community. Those taken by this insult are perhaps putting on a shoe that simply does not fit. I dont believe she implied all Orange County Residents are Racists. I believe her premise was, when anonymous bloggers are allowed to post anonymously it allows for such comments to made. I think we all agree it is much easier to insult someone or even make un-pc comments when nobody knows who you are.
For that matter, it could be very possible those comments are made by teenage jerks just being idiots about it, but it does not change the fact we have several members in OC who belong to groups which are considered to be racist, such as the Imperial Klan located in Newport Beach, the Stormfront group, and yes even the voice of Aztlan people, but they are located in LA.

[Luis Rodriguez]

FYI is right,
I am not sure where you can deduce, or a 1st grader, that "La Raza" means the superior race.
Your thought that it does requires assumptions, of which can not be used as valid points in a debate, because they are just that, assumptions.

[Luis Rodriguez]

Per Wikipedia, when you insert the word "La Raza"
La Raza is a Spanish-language term (literally meaning "the race", but also connoting "el pueblo" or "la gente", both of which mean "the people"), which refers generally to the people of Latin America who share the cultural and political legacies of Spanish colonialism, including the Spanish language and culture, and their descendants.

It is very roughly analogous to the English-language terms "Hispanic" or "Chicano", in that it attempts to define/describe a group of people with a common (Spanish-speaking) cultural heritage, despite the wide variations among those cultures.

The term "La Raza" may also encompass a racial significance associated with "mestizaje", or race-mixing. In this sense, the term is inclusive of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the descendants of African peoples brought to Latin America as slaves, European immigrants, as well as the racial identities that comprise the Iberian peninsula — and all the mixtures among them.

[Mike]

I was watching the Oprah Winfrey show tonight and saw an old January show and she had Yvette Cabrera on for an interview, she was talking about growing up and her family and being in her thirties, she said she is first generation American, but she left out some very important information: did her parents come here legally? or was she an achor baby and eventually her parents got amnesty through Reagan?

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/columns/article_1552129.php

[Diana]

people, you are so afraid of diversity...its pathetic.
OC is not a place of " polite and well behaved" but oppressed and fearful. There is no spirit here.
Your whiteness is under fire and instead of get out there on the streets and have your little pathetic heard such as to fire Yvette , but you choose to hide your little pathetic faces behind computer.
BTW, I am white American woman. My grand-parents came to this country from Europe as all of us did . Luis Rodriguez, your last name tells me that you parents did too. Americans, please find strength in yourself and find that spirit!