“He used race very effectively.”

by Dan Savage

That's NPR-speak for, "He was a racist piece of shit."

Jesse Helms was also a homophobic piece of shit who did everything he could to torment people with AIDS during the darkest hours of the AIDS epidemic—and now he's dead.

I realize that the death of a prominent piece of shit puts people on the radio and teevee in an awkward position. We're not supposed to speak ill of the dead… and any honest accounting of this piece of shit's career requires us to speak very ill of the dead indeed. So perhaps simply noting the piece of shit's passing—briefly, and just the facts—would be the prudent thing to do. It would certainly be better than inviting a few people on the radio to discuss the piece of shit's life and accomplishments at the precise moment when decorum requires us to put the nicest possible gloss on the piece of shit. To polish the turd, as it were.

Waking up to a discussion of the highlights of Helm's career and listening to the oh-so-polite NPR host and his oh-so-polite guests dance around the issue of race—never mind the gay or AIDS issues, which weren't even mentioned (well, not in the section I caught; I literally woke up to this)—until the host delicately observed in admiring tones, "He used race very effectively," and the guest chuckled and agreed, well, let's just say that's was a very unpleasant way to start the day.

http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/07/he_used_race_very_effectively