rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

(insert comical gong sound)

It is food you eat with chopsticks don't you see?

lol DC Chinatown

Home of the Verizon Center! And Fuddrucker'a! And, apparently, one apartment building filled with elderly immigrant Chinese.

I would describe that Ming's signage design as more as stereotypical than racist, in that it doesn't carry any genuinely negative imagery. Ain't nothing inferior about chopsticks. They're used daily by a couple billion people. The typeface is also ugly as sin and stereotyped, but it is based on the look of calligraphic brushstrokes, which seems legit, although very poorly done.

You seem to associate these things with truly racist images, like exaggerated "r" for "l" accents, comical slant-eyes and buck teeth, but taken as themselves they just look like crappy design to me, not racism.

I could care less

― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Friday, January 27, 2012 7:17 PM

http://www.incompetech.com/Images/caring.png

aimless otm

xp am0n otm

btw that type face even has a name, 'Chinesey' or 'chop suey' or something.

sometimes i make up imaginary american chinese restaurants by mixing & matching common name elements, like

lucky garden
panda moon
fortune house
bamboo palace

so - is that racist?

Usually the English name isn't even a translation of the Chinese right next to it.

Like it'll say 'Fortune Garden' in English but the Chinese is actually 'Pork Restaurant' or something.

fail to see how that Chinese ad is any different from the Mexican ones with mariachis etc., I dont see Chinese people having a problem with it outside of maybe "come on, this isn't what our restaurant ads look like"

have you asked your chinese friends their opinion?

I don't have any Chinese friends.

oic

I used to work with an impro troupe that did a show in the country, where they got into a load of dreadful stereotypes with varying responses:

Italian accent with-a words-a ending like-a this-a and godfather hand gestures – uproarious laughter

French 'haw' noises and cheap gags about bread sticks – uproarious laughter

Chinese 'velly solly' gags – DEAD SILENCE

It seems to be down to whether the culture is *perceived* as a minority; to view e.g. the Chinese as a 'minority' in this day and age is condescending and absurd imo. Sorry if this ends up as another giant clusterfuck but I seriously dgi.

the chinese are indeed a minority in washington, dc

Sorry if this ends up as another giant clusterfuck

lol no you aren't

French and Italian people are white, traditionally

"there are a billion people in your country, why are you mad that I called you 'slanty-eyes'"

Personally, I think it has something to do with the fact that I have never once seen an Asian person act in this way

how many asian people have you met tho

True, but I've never seen a French person wear a stripy jumper, clutch a wicker basket full of baguettes etc xp

where I live there's a huge Hmong population and the only stereotype about them that really rang true is that they're all really, really good at pool

"there are a billion people in your country, why are you mad that I called you 'slanty-eyes'"

well obviously that's a racist thing

True, but I've never seen a French person wear a stripy jumper, clutch a wicker basket full of baguettes etc xp

well I wouldn't laugh at this either but the image itself is kind of funny

aimless otm, re: stereotypical vs. racist

still, even stereotypes that don't rely on "genuinely negative imagery" can be effectively racist when they reflect an overall tendency to reduce perceived "others" to cartoonish types

the Chinese as a 'minority' in this day and age is condescending and absurd imo

omg lol

So, is this where I should mention the all white production of Hairspray being performed in the Dallas suburb of Plano, TX?

wait waht

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/mixmaster/2012/01/at_plano_childrens_theatre_the.php

wtf

It just came across my twitter feet and I actually did a face palm. Now I have to clean my glasses.

EZ has Twitter feet.

it explains my horrible typing.

haha i did not know enough (ie, anything) about 'hairspray' to recognize the problem

how they weren't going to bow to "political correctness"

This tells you all you really need to know, tbh.

it's a pretty huge problem

in some ways, it's more problematic than doing an all-white "Porgy and Bess"

omg lol

Rodenbaugh said they might do To Kill a Mockingbird with an all-white cast or Othello or The Wiz (three shows I mentioned to him that feature African-Americans either in prominent roles or as a majority of the cast).

an all-white "The Wiz"

let's just ponder that for a while

incisive! daring! innovative!

He was probably just trolling the reporter at that point, or some twisted one-upsmanship. "Oh, we'll do that too!". "And that one!".

Raisin in the Sun!

"might get together with a certain mayor and do a version of West Side Story where we just eat tacos for dinner"

someone inform The Corner of this brave display

There was a good episode of Strangers With Candy where they do an all-white A Raisin in the Sun, and the school's black students are trees on the set.

but guys guys is it racist?

Golden Raisin In The Sun

True, but I've never seen a French person wear a stripy jumper, clutch a wicker basket full of baguettes etc xp

― Autumn Almanac, Monday, January 30, 2012 4:45 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://www.google.com/search?q=marcel+marceau