BrendanM
Prince
That's the Spanish team?
From the slanted eyes it looked like the Chinese team.
From the slanted eyes it looked like the Chinese team.
Spanish basketball team caught in offensive ad?
- Thread starter DBear
- Start date
Yeah and not all swedes have blonde hair, but I'd say blonde hair is a trait of the people of sweden, generally speaking.
And of course not all asians have slanted eyes. Eastern Asians do, however, in overwhelming numbers.
I am not trying to win anything, and I don't have to prove that all asians have slanty eyes to prove that what the spanish team did was not racist.
I don't see where you get the idea that the two are connected. Quite frankly you don't strike me as intelligent person.
Yes, I am trying to perpetuate the vicious false stereotype that eastern asians have eyes shaped differently than most westerners. How cruel of me, I'd put it on the same moral level as slavery and the holocaust.
moscaverde
Prince
"Why is blacking-up offensive?"
"Likewise, why is bleaching one's hair not offensive?"
Prejudice is on the intention, not the gesture.
"Likewise, why is bleaching one's hair not offensive?"
Prejudice is on the intention, not the gesture.
It is not, on itself. If a white actor wears make-up to portray a black man in a respectful manner, I see no problem at all.
Of course, in the United States (and not in the whole world), blackening-up has become associated with black-face theater, that frequently portrayed blacks in a deregotary way, hence why it is considered offensive.
GinandTonic
Saphire w/ Schweps + Lime
- Joined
- May 25, 2005
- Messages
- 8,898
But the porblem is that in and of itself it is considered offensive. Ben Kingsley in Gandhi being the exception that proves the rule.
Apparently this is too hard for the PC police to realize. You can easilly be extremely racist using only kind words and gesture, and you can also be not racist at all even though you used "banned" words and whatnot.
As all thought-police, the PC crowd is stupid and will make a bigger fuss about the way the message is delivered than the message itself.
No, it is not. Over here it would be acceptable if done respectfully.
As masquerouge said, being offended is also a choice. If the purpose the act is not to offend, the people who choose to be offended by it are in the wrong.
Tell me what is the logic of considering "blackning-up" offensive just in and on itself?
GinandTonic
Saphire w/ Schweps + Lime
- Joined
- May 25, 2005
- Messages
- 8,898
Where I grew up it would be considered very offensive. Either would get you a serious kicking from said ethnic group, and get you fired/ kicked out of school/ whatever after you got out of hospital.
Sure with a great deal of care you can use whatever word, black-up whatever. If you dont take that care you appear a biggot.
aelf
Ashen One
Even if it's not offensive where it's done, the fact that it can be offensive elsewhere should have been accounted for. I think that's the point in calling them immature or backward. It's like not knowing the proper etiquette when going to a fine dining place and behaving like a slob.
If somebody told me I have slanty eyes, I wouldn't generally be offended, but I wouldn't be pleased about it either. I don't think most Asians I know have slanty eyes, including myself. That might be relative, though, but the fact that I know it has an offensive precedent makes it a rather touchy thing.
If somebody told me I have slanty eyes, I wouldn't generally be offended, but I wouldn't be pleased about it either. I don't think most Asians I know have slanty eyes, including myself. That might be relative, though, but the fact that I know it has an offensive precedent makes it a rather touchy thing.
Are you joking? So the spaniards should have thought about how asians in the US would feel about an ad made by the spanish team aimed at the spanish public?And they are immature?Taking pictures is considered a crime against nature by one brazilian indian tribe (I am not joking). Do you think about how they feel before taking pictures?
What exactly is the offensive precedent?If you choose to be offended by something that is not aimed at offending, you are the wrong party.
Clearly what matters is the intention. If the intention is to offend, one can do it with any word or gesture. If it is not to offend, people shouldn't try to find excuses to be offended.
I am sincere when I say that I find it bizarre that anyone can consider the pic in the OP offensive, because the intentions seems entirely innocent.
aelf
Ashen One
I couldn't care less if it wasn't intended to be published. Unless you're saying that it wasn't meant to be public and that it only somehow made it to the papers. If your going to say something publicly, be prepared for the potential reactions. Same thing with the Danish cartoons.
Hell, I don't personally give a damn. But I can understand why it appears tasteless.
luiz said:
Are you saying that the slanty eyes thing have never been used in a racist manner? I don't think I said I was offended anyway. Please be more insightful when discussing things.
moscaverde
Prince
"Are you saying that the slanty eyes thing have never been used in a racist manner?" - Aelf
Are you saying that the slanty eyes thing have never been used in a cute, respectful manner?
..Point is you (everyone) can choose how to see this ocurrence (as no prejudice was intented by the basketball team).
Back when I was in the army I saw that black guys and white guys were always making jokes about skin color, but that was never an offensive thing, because it was never more than fun (for all people).
Are you saying that the slanty eyes thing have never been used in a cute, respectful manner?
..Point is you (everyone) can choose how to see this ocurrence (as no prejudice was intented by the basketball team).
Back when I was in the army I saw that black guys and white guys were always making jokes about skin color, but that was never an offensive thing, because it was never more than fun (for all people).
aelf
Ashen One
Please read my post again. If you don't get it then you wouldn't even if I explain it again. It would only devolve into a pointless argument.
GinandTonic
Saphire w/ Schweps + Lime
- Joined
- May 25, 2005
- Messages
- 8,898
By it's nature it cannot be done in a respectful manner. Innocently amusing is as good as it gets.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
So you find the very nature of slanty eyes amusing?
dido
Prince
Well, given the number of Spaniards playing in the NBA, I cant really believe they are absolutely innocent for slanting their eyes....
GinandTonic
Saphire w/ Schweps + Lime
- Joined
- May 25, 2005
- Messages
- 8,898
I dont find the very nature of blacking-up amusing either.
Syterion
Voodoo Economist
It's not like the point of the ad was to note that some Asians have slanted eyes. I don't know that ad's intention, I don't know if they are actually racist. But I do know that it was a stupid thing to do, to copy a gesture that has offensive origins.
I could use the n-word in a loving way, and I wouldn't be racist, but modern levels of sensitivity and tact tell me that it's probably not a good idea. This wasn't done in a sensitive way at all, it was brash and stupid, and therefore will probably not be given the benefit of the doubt. I can't say they are racist, but I don't see how can't see how this was stupid of them.
I don't even care if it was just for Spain. It was the Olympic team, a symbol of international unity. They should be duly respectful to the world while representing their nation.
moscaverde
Prince
"I could use the n-word in a loving way, and I wouldn't be racist, but modern levels of sensitivity and tact tell me that it's probably not a good idea." - Syterion
Here the word is not offensive at all. Should we stop using words because in one country they're used in a different way?
But I do understand that the basketball team gesture was ignorant.. IF the chinese and/or international community cares. It seems that it do.
"therefore will probably not be given the benefit of the doubt"
Yay for taboos!!
Here the word is not offensive at all. Should we stop using words because in one country they're used in a different way?
But I do understand that the basketball team gesture was ignorant.. IF the chinese and/or international community cares. It seems that it do.
"therefore will probably not be given the benefit of the doubt"
Yay for taboos!!
