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15 February 2008 @ 08:29 am
Say what?  
Did I really hear a newsreader on NPR yesterday refer to Africa as "the dark continent"?
 
 
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Dan Kelly: Huh?[info]mrdankelly on February 15th, 2008 03:47 pm (UTC)
The other day I saw NBC employ a graphic of Clinton and Obama with a horse between them. The logo said, "JOCKEYING FOR POSITION." Uh...
William Shunn: Rich Uncle Pennybags Can't Handle It![info]shunn on February 15th, 2008 04:08 pm (UTC)
Ouch. They might as well have put a miniature Obama on Clinton's lawn.
PixelFish[info]pixelfish on February 15th, 2008 04:29 pm (UTC)
When I was little, I would read that in books--usually the cast-off social studies texts from the 50s that had belonged to my mum--and it would confuse me because everybody* knows Africa is one giant savannah, and it's all bright and sunny.

*Everybody for a child's value of "everybody".
Quixote[info]quixote317 on February 15th, 2008 05:58 pm (UTC)
I had always understood "dark" in this context to mean "unknown". The interior of the continent was largely unknown to all but the locals until very recently due to the huge obstacles involved in exploring it.

I never thought it meant "dark-skinned".

You're implied point that it was a dumb thing to say still stands though. "Dark continent" is archaic and likely to be misunderstood.
William Shunn: Astounding Spaceship Crash[info]shunn on February 18th, 2008 03:06 pm (UTC)
I don't think it was necessarily ever meant to imply "dark-skinned" either, but in addition to "unknown" I thought "dark" always carried the implication of "benighted."

NPR apologized today on air.
(Anonymous) on February 18th, 2008 02:41 pm (UTC)
You heard correctly
http://www.npr.org/corrections/
Did I really hear a newsreader on NPR yesterday refer to Africa as "the dark continent"?
 
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