is this racism?

[holy king]

Euro 2012: Italian newspaper under fire for Mario Balotelli slur

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/29/euro-2012-newspaper-mario-balotelli-slur





so, the headline reads: "we have made them black", meaning we beat them black and blue.

is the connection to balotelli's skin colour (supposedly black) racist?

 

[Synobun]

It's a nice pun. I like it. Very witty.

Is it racist? No.

Will people think it's racist? Yes.

Does that mean they should apologize for the headline? No.

People will say anything involving skin colour is racist. And those people are wrong.

 

[wolfigor]

Euro 2012: Italian newspaper under fire for Mario Balotelli slur

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/29/euro-2012-newspaper-mario-balotelli-slur





so, the headline reads: "we have made them black", meaning we beat them black and blue.

is the connection to balotelli's skin colour (supposedly black) racist?

The text in the headline is very normal and colloquial Italian language and you could have the same title even without Balotelli.
I doubt anybody in Italy would think it's racist.


It would have been much worst to write something about make them swallowing two bananas (due to Balotelli's bad experience with such fruit).




anyway what about this:


The text reads:
"BYE BYE FAT-ASS
A super-Mario revenges us: he is not Monti but Balotelli, who with two goals punishes Germany and sends us into the final.
Dear Merkel, you are the one going out of Euro"

 

[Mise]

I don't know how the joke works in Italian, but in English this would be pretty taboo. Of all the puns they could have made, I'm not sure why they picked one that drew attention to/depended on the colour of his skin -- especially given the racism that he faced in Italy, and with all the concerns over racism before the tournament. If a pundit in the UK made a joke like that he would be fired.

 

[Arwon]

What Mise said.

 

[Lillefix]

I don't think it's that bad. They joke about his skin color in a positive way. It would be refreshing if someone had such a lax attitude towards skin color in stead of the "must not mention, must not mention" attitude.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I'd go with racism: no, tasteless: meh, a bit.

Of all the puns they could have made, I'm not sure why they picked one that drew attention

I think this is the point where 'they' stopped thinking about it. Once they figured it would draw attention.

 

[ArneHD]

I don't really think it is that offensive, but then again, I'm not black.

 

[Verarde]

I don't think it's terribly racist, but it's a poor joke, and should not have been used.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Given the racist events which occurred previously involving the bananas and his name, I don't see how they can be faulted too much by pointing out the victim of that racism was the person who scored the two goals.

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

I don't think it's racist in intent, but they probably could have chosen better wording.

 

[Quackers]

One of the finest celebrations i've seen.

 

[Borachio]

Looks racist to me.

What if they'd said something like, apropos of some white player, "It'll be all white on the night"? The point being why on earth would anyone say that - so why say something that points up a black player? It just doesn't make sense.

Still, what do I know? If you ask the black player he'd probably just shrug, having had to put up with this sort of thing - and no doubt very much worse - all his life. (If he's lived in Europe, that is.)

 

[ParkCungHee]

This really requires a fluent Italian speaker to interpret. You can't just take a phrase from one language, translate it literally and be alarmed that it has a bad connotation in another.

 

[warpus]

I don't know how the joke works in Italian, but in English this would be pretty taboo.

Anglo-saxon society is obsessed with skin colour; I don't think Italians are as much

 

[BvBPL]

It's being presented to an English language discussion board populated principally by native English speakers so English rules apply. It is racially insensitive to those who read English.

 

[ParkCungHee]

It's being presented to an English language discussion board populated principally by native English speakers so English rules apply. It is racially insensitive to those who read English.

If we're going to judge it by the rules of English then it's not offensive. It's just random letter assembled in no intelligible pattern with no words, formed. Any attempt to judge an intent behind the gibberish is engaging in apophenia.

 

[Borachio]

But then nothing could ever be offensive to anyone - it being just a jumble of letters.

Still I don't suppose you mean that. Since that's Italian. Nevermind me.

 

[BvBPL]

Having news in other language is offensive to me as a native English speaker. All these news outlets that report news in other languages need to print their news in English. Otherwise I am being unfairly excised from the conversation.

Someone give me the number for the European Court of Human Rights, I need to file a case with them!

 

[Formaldehyde]

Thanks for enlarging my vocabulary. What a great word.