rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

Thought we should have a thread that's a catch-all for any and all conversations that start like this, since we seem to have like five or six threads for it.

I'll go first:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPBbMbKSZrQ

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:02 (eight years ago) Permalink

I dunno if its racist but its certainly unlistenable crap

― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:06 (eight years ago) Permalink

Oh dude, I always wonder about this one: "White Girl" by X. what the fuck is up with that? Has John Doe ever addressed it?

― kkvgz, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:08 (eight years ago) Permalink

also, this thread is not just for songs, but commercials, movies, tv shows, jpegs, assorted anything.

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:10 (eight years ago) Permalink

Oh word, noticed this is on I Love Everything.

― kkvgz, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:10 (eight years ago) Permalink

yeah I mean where the fuck is I Love Racism already

― cambyrdsclosetvacuumsounds4fun (acoleuthic), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:11 (eight years ago) Permalink

Oh dude, I always wonder about this one: "White Girl" by X. what the fuck is up with that? Has John Doe ever addressed it?

what do you think is racist about this song...?

― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:12 (eight years ago) Permalink

Why's he talking about white girls?

― kkvgz, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:13 (eight years ago) Permalink

for reference:

She's blonde,
She's blonde,
Comes along the sidewalk.

She's Blonde,
Leave a trail of blue and black,
Up to you fighting back.

She's Blonde,
Steel chains,
A noose of charms on our necks.

I find out nothing when we talk and sit,
Blue heart passion and watch the set.

Easy to fall, when part of your skull starts to break away,
Cheaters walk, down the block behind this evil street.

She's a white girl well I'm living with a white girl,
She's a white girl well I'm living with a white girl-

Nineteen,
Nineteen.. losing her man to an old girl.

Nineteen,
Drain every beer left over at home,
and listen to ghosts in the other room.

I Can't!
Why not? You're alone inside his keeping.

Oh I'll replace your drunk old man,
Sit in the parking lot and hold your hand.

Easy to fall, when part of your skull starts to break away...
Drugged and in love out at a club pulling me outside.

She's a white girl, well I'm living with a white girl,
She's a white girl, well I'm living with a white girl-

Easy to fall, when part of your skull starts to break away...
drugged and in love out at a club pulling me outside.

She's a white girl well I'm living with a white girl,
She's a white girl well I'm living with a white girl

having just finished re-reading We Got the Neutron Bomb my guess is this song is about the young lady that Exene moved out to California with, who was by all accounts something of a bitch who would pull white-supremacist provacateur type stuff to get a rise out of people.

― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:19 (eight years ago) Permalink

blanking on her name at the moment.

― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:20 (eight years ago) Permalink

Not racist. Someone else could make the argument for exploitative, but it's a stretch to say that the Kings of Leon have any hatred or intolerance toward black people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aENX1Sf3fgQ

Now apologize for making me watch a Kings of Leon video for two minutes.

― http://tinyurl.com/vrrr0000m (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:20 (eight years ago) Permalink

Yeah, I guess exploitative and colonialist (is that the right word?) more than captial-R RACIST, but still like; who does a video treatment that;'s like "OK, you're hugging black kids for four minutes"

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:22 (eight years ago) Permalink

i think it's hard to call a music video 'exploitative' -- what are they exploiting these kids for? no one watches music videos. they have no impact, unless you're lady gaga

colonialist maybe, but remember that KOL are the most popular band in europe

― J0rdan S., Monday, 20 September 2010 19:24 (eight years ago) Permalink

racist, clearly not

― J0rdan S., Monday, 20 September 2010 19:24 (eight years ago) Permalink

would've preferred video featuring band being murdered by black kids

― Dr. Lol Evans (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:24 (eight years ago) Permalink

http://altreport.hipsterrunoff.com/2010/09/kings-of-leon-hires-choir-of-black-children-to-make-their-new-mp3-sound-more-soulful.html

― Chinedu "Edu" Obasi Ogbuke (nakhchivan), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:26 (eight years ago) Permalink

It reminded me of a generic John Cougar Mellencamp video. Had they been white kids, it would've looked like 70% of the videos on CMT.

― http://tinyurl.com/vrrr0000m (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:26 (eight years ago) Permalink

Still waiting for an apology.

― http://tinyurl.com/vrrr0000m (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:27 (eight years ago) Permalink

Yeah, I guess exploitative and colonialist (is that the right word?) more than captial-R RACIST, but still like; who does a video treatment that;'s like "OK, you're hugging black kids for four minutes"

obv the answer is "the dude who directed the new Kings of Leon video, whose name somehow has not yet made it to the bits of the Internet you can hit within 5 minutes of using Google"

(that more than anything else is making me lol, like whoever this was basically went "I'll do this for you and it will be awesome! I don't want any credit tho" *waits for shitstorm*)

― juggalo iglesias (HI DERE), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:27 (eight years ago) Permalink

carles is slippin -- passion pit already did the "hire a choir of underprivileged minority youths" thing

― J0rdan S., Monday, 20 September 2010 19:28 (eight years ago) Permalink

he's not even listed on the mtv site, which is usually v good about putting directors up in there

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:33 (eight years ago) Permalink

gonna lol if it was Hype Williams

― juggalo iglesias (HI DERE), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:41 (eight years ago) Permalink

the video and song are both unmentionably terrible w/ stupid and retrograde notions about race but i don't think they are simply ~racist~

― Chinedu "Edu" Obasi Ogbuke (nakhchivan), Monday, 20 September 2010 19:46 (eight years ago) Permalink

Sophie Muller directed it.

― Kerm, Monday, 20 September 2010 19:56 (eight years ago) Permalink

OK, how about this?

http://gawker.com/5643372/this-weeks-new-yorker-cartoon-caption-contest-winner-pretty-racist

― my friend flocka (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 01:41 (eight years ago) Permalink

more offensive for not being funny

― bnw, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 01:54 (eight years ago) Permalink

http://www.bitterwallet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/zBOSA-500x375.jpg

― http://tinyurl.com/vrrr0000m (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 03:49 (eight years ago) Permalink

that was a fake

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 21 September 2010 03:51 (eight years ago) Permalink

but it was racist because someone realized that they could spell "nigger" by a video game and they set up a soccer video game and took a photo of it and sent it all over the internet

so yes, racist

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 21 September 2010 03:52 (eight years ago) Permalink

this isn't a thread for lol racism, fyi. keep that shit to "encyclopedia of racist products" or, like, 4chan

― my friend flocka (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 03:55 (eight years ago) Permalink

strictly concern trolling in here.

― Kerm, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 03:57 (eight years ago) Permalink

I figured it was some soccer thing. Wouldn't have been surprised if it had been real.

― http://tinyurl.com/vrrr0000m (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 03:58 (eight years ago) Permalink

take it to i love footy

― p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 04:50 (eight years ago) Permalink

love the gawker update where they act like they understood the joke from the beginning

― jeff, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 05:30 (eight years ago) Permalink

barf

http://i55.tinypic.com/25oxf7k.png

maybe LJ is right about ilx being the smartest message board

― my friend flocka (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 05:35 (eight years ago) Permalink

http://hipsterhitler.com/

― p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 05:40 (eight years ago) Permalink

gawker isnt a message board

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 21 September 2010 05:42 (eight years ago) Permalink

ilx is my favorite blog

― markers, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 05:44 (eight years ago) Permalink

MIXMASTER
RACE

EASTSIDE
WESTSIDE
GENOCIDE

― p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 05:45 (eight years ago) Permalink

is anti-semitism racist or not, because this guy at the bar I frequent is convinced that Birth Of A Nation was produced by Jews & that the Jews control the media etc etc

I know it sucks either way just wanted 2 know ur opinions

― 4 my muthafuckin mods (crüt), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 06:02 (eight years ago) Permalink

Of course anti-semitism is racism. It's just that racism against Jews has acquired a term of its own, probably because discriminating them has been so prominent historically.

Where it gets tricky is when anti-Israel or anti-Zionist statements are equated with anti-semitism; of course some anti-Israel/anti-Zionist people are also anti-semitists/racists, but many of them aren't. But your case is pretty obviously racist because the target is Jews as a whole, not Israeli politics or anything.

― Tuomas, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 06:56 (eight years ago) Permalink

are the finns a race?

― mookieproof, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 06:59 (eight years ago) Permalink

Ca. 300 Finnish Jews fought in the War alongside the German Army[3][4]. The field synagogue operated by the Finnish army was probably a unique phenomenon in Europe.

Guess they didn't have Google then either.

― http://tinyurl.com/vrrr0000m (Pleasant Plains), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 14:00 (eight years ago) Permalink

take it to i love footy

― p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3),

jesus way to zing an entire bord of innocents wtf

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 14:02 (eight years ago) Permalink

Subtle "Americans don't like soocer and aren't racist" undertones there

― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 14:04 (eight years ago) Permalink

yeah really i'm getting some prety bad vibes offa this zorn character. bet he's norwegian/icelandic thor worshipper

― i dont love everything, i love football (darraghmac), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 14:05 (eight years ago) Permalink

zorn smash

― p.m.s.b. (pre-mall smoke bomb) (zorn_bond.mp3), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 15:55 (eight years ago) Permalink

is this chorus racist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4s6H4ku6ZY&ob=av3n

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 21 September 2010 18:57 (eight years ago) Permalink

?

― my friend flocka (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 21 September 2010 19:01 (eight years ago) Permalink

http://dasracist.net/

― am0n, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 19:02 (eight years ago) Permalink

just had to look up if "Blockhead" had any meaning I was previously unaware of

― frogbs

not a long history of racist insults in charlie brown. "dennis the menace", otoh...

― milkshake duck george bernard shaw (rushomancy), Thursday, 6 September 2018 14:16 (eight months ago) Permalink

Not only are there untold numbers of racist epithets out there, both current and half-forgotten, but there are also untold numbers of folk etymologies that misidentify the origins of words. So any thread devoted to delving into the racist origins of certain words or phrases is bound to contain about equal amounts of information and misinformation. Let's drop the idea.

― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 6 September 2018 15:58 (eight months ago) Permalink

^ yeah bad folk etymologies are a menace

― faculty w1fe (silby), Thursday, 6 September 2018 16:04 (eight months ago) Permalink

In lieu of further discussion here, can anyone recommend a book/books on the subject?

― Digital Squirts (Old Lunch), Thursday, 6 September 2018 16:50 (eight months ago) Permalink

just had to look up if "Blockhead" had any meaning I was previously unaware of

― frogbs

not a long history of racist insults in charlie brown. "dennis the menace", otoh...

― coetzee.cx (wins), Thursday, 6 September 2018 16:56 (eight months ago) Permalink

spooks and ghosts

― pplains, Thursday, 6 September 2018 17:49 (eight months ago) Permalink

another questionable one - getting "the itis"

one time i let "niggardly" slip in conversation and felt really bad about it afterwards

― Nhex, Thursday, 6 September 2018 20:53 (eight months ago) Permalink

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/kimberley-strassel-mueller-may-have-trump-in-his-sights-but-hes-been-very-good-to-obama-and-his-team

― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 7 December 2018 17:02 (five months ago) Permalink

This might not be the right thread to bring this up in (so many racism threads...), but I find this developing story of bigoted ass showing interesting.

https://www.houstonpress.com/news/franci-neely-appears-in-viral-video-yelling-at-a-family-taking-birthday-pictures-11228931

It's been bouncing around local social media this week. The person in question was initially thought to be some rich rando, but as the linked story reveals, this person is actually a pretty major Houston socialite, somebody who's on a load of Charity honor roles and has, like, buildings and shit named after them.

― a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 21 February 2019 20:11 (three months ago) Permalink

Are you really wondering if that was racist?

― A is for (Aimless), Friday, 22 February 2019 01:41 (three months ago) Permalink

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/NINTCHDBPICT000481760748.jpg?w=960

WHAT THE DUCK? Waitrose axes ‘racist’ chocolate Easter ducklings after customers complain dark brown figure is labelled ‘ugly’

The Trio of Easter Ducklings were temporarily pulled from shelves while new labelling was put on packaging

WAITROSE has apologised over a "racist" Easter duckling product after customers complained the dark chocolate one was labelled "ugly".

The £8 box set of white, milk and dark chocolate ducklings upset some people for being marked "fluffy", "crispy" and "ugly".

It was temporarily pulled from shelves by the high-end supermarket so the packaging could be redesigned after a "small number" of customers were offended.

The Waitrose Trio of Chocolate Easter Ducklings are now available to buy again in shops and online.

Although not made explicitly clear by supermarket bosses, it's thought that the name "ugly" may have been chosen as a reference to the classic fairy tale song The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen.

The song is about a "stubby and brown" duckling which is mocked and shamed by other ducklings, but grows into a beautiful white swan.

One Twitter user shared a picture of the chocolate product and wrote: "Crispy, Fluffy and Ugly - trio of Easter ducklings at Waitrose.

"Ugly is the dark one on the right.

"Overheard women saying 'this is not right', I agree, doesn't look good at all.

"Thousands of other options... Why ugly?"

A Waitrose spokesperson said: "We are sorry for any upset caused by the name of this product, it was absolutely not our intention to cause any offence.

"We removed the product from sale several weeks ago while we changed the labelling and our ducklings are now back on sale."

― sexual consent... on the blockchain (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 15:02 (one month ago) Permalink

Isn't the whole point of Andersen's tale – the reference is abundantly clear – that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?

― pomenitul, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 15:27 (one month ago) Permalink

A bird by its plumage, rather. Wouldn't want this to get too self-reflexive.

― pomenitul, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 15:33 (one month ago) Permalink

Crispy duckling?

― jmm, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 15:37 (one month ago) Permalink

I need a ruling on this one:

https://i.imgur.com/INoxIHk.jpg

First time I heard this "play on words" was 30 years ago from one of my dad's friends. It was the punchline to a racist joke about a black man who dropped his wheel of cheese down the side of the hill, whereupon my dad's friend picked it up and carried it home.

I haven't heard that joke told again since 1989.

BUT I have heard plenty of well-meaning folks make the same pun since then. It's always made me a little uncomfortable, since I remember hearing that joke, but also because it's a "play on words" revolving around a supposed African American dialect. However, I see the pun made so often, I'm starting to wonder if this is just me. Kinda like how I grew up thinking the word "fart" was a profanity, but now you just about hear it said in Disney movies.

― pplains, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 17:19 (one month ago) Permalink

When I was a child, everyone who told me this joke used a Mexican boy as the character who dropped the cheese. 🤔

― GDPR vs GAPDY (DJP), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 17:42 (one month ago) Permalink

(IOW, it's not just you)

― GDPR vs GAPDY (DJP), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 17:43 (one month ago) Permalink

Having never heard the joke in spoken form, it took me a while to figure it out. But I did. It's racist.

― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 17:52 (one month ago) Permalink

I saw an ad for Subway yesterday where the slogan was iirc "NACHO AVERAGE SANDWICH" and am kind of amazed that a whole marketing team and whoever else thought that works as a collection of words you see for a few seconds at a time in the street

― Terry Major-Ball Will Tell You (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 17:53 (one month ago) Permalink

puns don't really work that way

― frogbs, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 17:58 (one month ago) Permalink

I don't get the 'speed zone' thing

― kinder, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 17:58 (one month ago) Permalink

A pun on Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson

― ebro the letter (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 18:00 (one month ago) Permalink

especially since a 'speed zone' invariably denotes a lower speed limit and that is exactly what the ad is supposed to be promoting.

― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 18:00 (one month ago) Permalink

I'm hungry for a big plate of notyo's

― frogbs, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 18:02 (one month ago) Permalink

hmm... this one's iffy.

― Nhex, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 18:53 (one month ago) Permalink

When I was a child, everyone who told me this joke used a Mexican boy as the character who dropped the cheese. 🤔

See the irony here for me is that the joke's never been about Hispanics.

― pplains, Tuesday, 9 April 2019 21:35 (one month ago) Permalink

Machismo = excessive manliness

Machismo = excessive cheesiness

― Gunther Gleiben (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:06 (one month ago) Permalink

Nachismo, gah

― Gunther Gleiben (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:07 (one month ago) Permalink

Nachismo = excessive racialness

― ☮ (peace, man), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:22 (one month ago) Permalink

btw, don't do this to nachos you guys.

― ☮ (peace, man), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:23 (one month ago) Permalink

personally i wouldna chose to

― he once took my hand and poked Neil Armstrong in the butt (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:26 (one month ago) Permalink

You know what I'm taco about.

― pplains, Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:28 (one month ago) Permalink

i guess the question here is can a bad pun overcome its historically racialized context once that context becomes, uh, highly attenuated

― Jaki Liebowitz (rushomancy), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:41 (one month ago) Permalink

Somebody's response to an advert for an upcoming Africa day being 'when is Ireland Day' & not liking being told March 17th.
Going on to say it's a religious day when I thought it was a widespread commercial event across most of the globe.

― Stevolende, Wednesday, 10 April 2019 13:55 (one month ago) Permalink

ireland is my favorite continent

― Jaki Liebowitz (rushomancy), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 14:05 (one month ago) Permalink

(xp) Celebrating a Welshman, of course.

― Do you like 70s hard rock with a guitar hero? (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 14:08 (one month ago) Permalink

I think I first heard the nacho/not-your thing on Seinfeld when Elaine said it. I didn't think of it as a dialect joke.

― adam the (abanana), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 20:48 (one month ago) Permalink

yeah I’ve never heard it framed as a dialect thing. it was always just a regular old pun.

― buttigieg play the blues (crüt), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 22:01 (one month ago) Permalink

There is a restaurant in Baltimore called Nacho Mamas. I had never heard the joke.

― ☮ (peace, man), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 23:22 (one month ago) Permalink

is the idiom (?) of ‘not wanting to be thrown in the briar patch’ racist?

― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 12 April 2019 19:07 (one month ago) Permalink

how long has the circle/OK hand gesture been a white power thing? i had not heard of it before the kavanaugh hearings

― mookieproof, Friday, 10 May 2019 14:29 (two weeks ago) Permalink

It’s stupid as hell. I use that emoji when I wanna use it bc they don’t own it.

― :∵·∴·∵: (crüt), Friday, 10 May 2019 14:35 (two weeks ago) Permalink

https://medium.com/s/story/does-the-ok-sign-actually-signify-white-power-or-what-6cf3309df985

― pomenitul, Friday, 10 May 2019 14:37 (two weeks ago) Permalink

the reason they do it is to make libs look like morons

― Mordy, Friday, 10 May 2019 14:43 (two weeks ago) Permalink

I seem to recall an article months back arguing that point

― call me cismale (Noodle Vague), Friday, 10 May 2019 14:44 (two weeks ago) Permalink

To quote that article I linked to, re: Zina Bash:

Instead of acknowledging her *actual* politics—working for possibly the most overtly racist administration since Americans literally owned other Americans—leftists, liberals, and centrists got caught up in a circle jerk about whether a hand sign that members of the far right have been using to troll us since at least 2015 has any significance.

― pomenitul, Friday, 10 May 2019 14:45 (two weeks ago) Permalink

libs are perfectly capable of making themselves look like morons, stfu white power dipshits

― michael keaton IS jim thirlwell IN ‘foetaljuice’ (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 10 May 2019 14:45 (two weeks ago) Permalink

Pareene had a great piece the other day about how the youths immediately recognize this shit for what it is because unlike respectable adult media they're not busy dousing everything in gallons of smarm. it's almost always very clear when people are doing shit like this to demonstrate solidarity with racists.

― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Friday, 10 May 2019 14:51 (two weeks ago) Permalink

it sucks because there's also the age-old "circle game" which we did when we were kids and now you got conservative media screaming "oh now the circle game is RACIST?? I told you they were nuts!!"

― frogbs, Friday, 10 May 2019 14:52 (two weeks ago) Permalink

^yeah

― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Friday, 10 May 2019 14:52 (two weeks ago) Permalink