rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

not racist, arguably tone-deaf

I think it's like +1 for creativity, -1,000 for taste and timing and tone-deafness.

Mmm, I'm gonna go with racist. I have a hard time believing someone was both aware enough of the phrase to consider using an altered version of it in their advertising and totally unaware of how it was likely to be perceived. I just don't think they expected it to become a national news story.

Of course it's racist - or at least insensitive to race. If that crossed my desk at a firm I would veto it.

I would say bad taste evincing what is likely underlying racism, if we can split it that finely. A pun on the name isn't *necessarily* racist but the kind of person who would think it was a good idea to use that slogan either (1) doesn't take BLM seriously, because they are racist or (2) is just kind of apathetic and doesn't treat anything with appropriate seriousness.

"they" = person(s) who came up with the ad, tbc

broccoli isn't really all that anyway

they're not even real black olives, they're just crappy green olives covered in iron to make them look better.

^ topping truther

once this person noticed the pun, they might not have had a choice in the matter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witzelsucht

Thoughts? http://noisey.vice.com/en_au/read/the-frontman-for-gorilla-biscuits-said-something-dumb-about-all-lives-matter-and-a-lot-of-punks-are-pissed-off?utm_source=noiseyfbenglish

my gut is that he worded it very poorly, but in context he seemed to be saying "it is sad that the current state of affairs requires individuals to wear BLM t-shirts to remind us that they matter, because everybody of every race matters. don't let the media tell you that any one group doesn't matter".

I can see why it was interpreted the other way given the clumsy construction of the message but while intent often doesn't matter as much as message, I think Civ probably agreed with BLM at the core.

maybe not racist in itself but a thing that right wingers like to say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81dhho3JuK4

every punk should know NO LIVES MATTER

http://s205501534.onlinehome.fr/IMAGES%20EBAY/RASTA%20HIPPIE%20LOVE%20AND%20PEACE/motif%20no%20future.jpg

Blank lives mutter

one of the librarians at our local library sent us home w/ a skippyjon jones book, the fuck is this?? it occured to later that those books were discussed itt a while back and this (mostly otm) post was linked https://soundstudiesblog.com/2014/05/05/speaking-mexican-and-the-use-of-mock-spanish-in-childrens-books-or-do-not-read-skippyjon-jones/

mucho fun

Yeah, even wth *tera's assurances upthread, I've never liked reading them. We have quite a few from when my son went on a chihuahua kick at age 5 though. I try to avoid dragging them out for our younger kid if I can help it.

"We're going to make our country safe again. We're going to rebuild our inner cities because our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape that they've ever been in before. Ever, ever, ever."

what a dickhead!

Trump perhaps?

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-african-americans-cities-228439

bingo. is it more or less racist than his son and his skittles, i wonder

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/trump-son-compares-syrian-refugees-skittles-160920133852094.html

http://io9.gizmodo.com/disney-pulls-offensive-moana-costume-off-the-shelves-1786938696

http://i.imgur.com/pb9JUUi.png

trying to read up on opinions on this only brings up the EEOC complaint and right-wing OUTRAGE in reaction. is the flag synonymous with tea partiers and their more recent incarnations? is it a confederate flag cipher?

i don't think it is necessarily racist, it has origins in the american revolution, and has been appropriated by tea partiers in recent years but i don't think it has been wholly co-opted

it has origins in the american revolution

Possible challop: I don't know how true this is but I have heard theories that the American Revolution was at least partially spurred on by the British making moves towards abolishing slavery, so I'm not sure if this flag originating in the American Revolution makes it not racist.

Facebook apparently has a particular way of translating "negro" from Spanish:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cx9tnngUcAAHh8Z.jpg

(to clarify, this is the status update of an African-American college friend of my wife's and the response from his Cuban wife; also I don't think I've laughed this hard in a while)

omg

we just did some testing of the translation algorithm and apparently you can only get "negro" to translate as "nigga" if you are ending a question with it

let's ponder that for a moment (once you stop laughing)

but does it taste like pumpkin?

David S. Negroes?

this is horrifying and i can't stop giggling

A friend from Puerto Rico weighs in (I edited out a name and switched her incorrect reference to Google Translate to Facebook Translate):

The term "negro", as ______ was using it, is a term of endearment in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. We use "mi negro", "mi negra", "negrito", etc. So maybe Facebook translate might "know" that it is not supposed to translate it as "black", and it is translating it as something like "my nigga"? In any event, Bad Facebook Translate! Bad Facebook Translate!

"What Stones song did Dad like so much, was it

http://i.imgur.com/2WUEVeE.jpg?"

well that's embarrassing, everyone knows the non-racist translation is "flex"

Richards describes the famous moment that the Rolling Stones first visited Chess: “We walked into Chess Studios and there’s this guy in black overalls painting the ceiling. And it’s Muddy Waters and he’s got whitewash streaming down his face and he’s on top of a ladder.

can we let texas secede already, and make puerto rico the 50th state?

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/texas-adoption-agencies-could-soon-ban-gays-jews-muslims-n756201

That is 100% horseshit.

https://apnews.com/9af89fea48254378846a459c5d0f412d/Florida-city-to-rename-streets-honoring-Confederate-generals

What the fucking fuck is wrong in America is what I'd like to know...

What the fucking fuck is wrong in America is what I'd like to know...

Haven't you heard? The south refuses to understand its own history, largely because acknowledging how horrible it was (and is) would require them to let go of their false pride in The Lost Cause and their deep-seated sense of grievance over losing the civil war, and replace that with a powerful sense of shame. That, plus, there are still lots of unrepentant racists all over the place, not just the south.

I originally misread that as the city trying to give confederate names to streets that don't currently have them which sadly seems totally plausible

http://reallifemag.com/what-was-the-nerd/

This article is really interesting.

I have had a working thesis for the past year-and-a-half that "all memes, not just overtly alt-right memes, feed into the proliferation of alt-right psychological thought patterns". That thought pattern, essentially, can be boiled down to this: “nobody will ever let go of the fantasy that they themselves are the most victimized"

Meme-sharing not only encourages ironic detachment, but in many cases, especially Dat Boi and Harambe, see usually-white usually-nerds accessorizing (and thus exerting authority over) edgy-but-not-quite-racist content.

In this same vein: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/digital-blackface-reaction-gifs

lmao that most of the examples in that story are Megan McCain

yeah, I noticed that too

wait, i meant

http://78.media.tumblr.com/2c56806c0ea9a954cecce710e08c7b4d/tumblr_o0ew01TjYm1rlafseo1_400.gif

Thought about that Teen Vogue piece a lot since reading, as someone who has posted GIFs featuring a black person's reaction (but where potentially part of the problem is also that I don't actually know who they are tho they're always figures of admiration - if that makes sense? I feel like almost all black reaction GIFs I see are in that 'positive' vein) a handful of times. Dammit I really love Smart Guy though :(

What's the ILX verdict on whether or not this gif is racist?

https://imgur.com/GDU2xh8

I can see compelling arguments both for and against

that's a poorly formed gif

Ah, tone-deaf usage of AAVE gifs is the most easily identifiable "white gays are the worst" kind of racism