rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

whoa, rong thread.

works okay

By the third time I re-read that sentence, it began to make sense even in this context.

it seems like whatever the joke the ppl in the photos are in on it http://picsofaznstakingpicsoffood.tumblr.com/

I knew an (azn) girl who bought a DSLR just to take pictures of food for her food blog

i'm gonna say racist; but then again people should stop taking pictures of their food, so i give it a cautious pass if it shames any asians into stopping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uw6ZkbsAH8

maybe a lil' racist, mostly hilarious

shackle shoe: is this racist... you decide.

http://i45.tinypic.com/1fztxu.jpg

http://www.freep.com/article/20120619/NEWS07/120619061/Adidas-withdrawing-shackle-shoe-Jesse-Jackson-criticism?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cp

The designer, meanwhile, says the inspiration for the shoes was a cartoon character and toy from the 1990s called My Pet Monster, which is purple and blue and is restrained by orange shackles.

That explanation did not convince Lola Adesioye, who writes in the Guardian that the whole episode reflects badly on Adidas:

"There's no doubt that Jeremy Scott, despite his assertions to the contrary, was making a statement about the enslavement of human beings. If he wasn't, he would not have used a shackle-like ankle cuff – with all of its implications.

the guardian: "that's racist"

"Blogger Rachel Tension writes on Stylite.com that pulling the shoes was “an unfortunate decision that says more about people’s propensity to 1) see racism where racism isn’t necessarily hanging around and 2) be really dumb on the internet"

blogger: "that's not racist, also u r dumb"

that's a good one. I'll have a nuanced take on it in just a minute

why would anyone want to wear those

looks like something the bondage-pants crowd would enjoy

Lola Adesioye didn't really say that they were racist. Her take was that they would obviously remind a lot of people of the slave trade but that they said more about consumerism than race.

i'm not sure this is racist. are people just angry at jeremy scott for being a 'weird' designer?

or for being dumb and not realizing the connotation of putting leg shackles on a human?

was my pet monster racist

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/sports/horse-racing-discovers-new-drug-problem-one-linked-to-frogs.html?_r=2&hp

Jeremy Scott is the toolbag with the stupid hair, right

This is basically "not racist but COME ON"

is the first thing that someone thinks going to be "oh, my pet monster!"

because I seem to remember that toy but didn't until prompted

actually, I think I HAD that toy

It had a catchy jingle iirc

it was honestly the first thing _I_ thought of.
i think it's the same color and design.

Me too

we're not racist
we're old
possibly old and racist but mostly old

^and other lyrics from "Lulu"

I guess if it was really my _favorite_ monster I'd sure remember it better

This is basically "not racist but COME ON"

― Victory Chainsaw! (DJP), Tuesday, June 19, 2012 5:35 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i also thought of my pet monster initially

nb it was actually he-man

I thought Adidas was being cheeky about Nike's sweat shops.

None of my monster toys wore shackles.

http://cdn.necolebitchie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/My-Pet-Monster.jpg

http://cdn.hypebeast.com/image/2009/10/adidas-originals-jeremy-scott-2010-preview-7.jpg

http://images.partyamerica.com/images/products/en_us/detail/P445596_dt.jpg

ha, who could conceivably stand behind that

Why do shackles remind one of the slave trade more than of just any pre-19th century prison?

Also, those 'shackles' don't look so comfortable.

when people think of prisons in the US the first thing that comes to mind is the staggeringly disproportionately imprisoned black population, if I had to hazard a guess

it's not so much "shackles" as it is "shackles on basketball shoes, equipment for a sport currently dominated by black men" that is evoking the slavery imagery

I just see basketball players, they could be black, white, purple like "my favorite monster"...

I think it's a stretch to see these as racist or even particularly insensitive but I can see the consumerist angle and there might be some patronizing 'kids killing each other over Air Jordans' tired shit going on. Over all, my response is 'meh'; not remotely interested in them and I don't trust the man's aesthetic all that much. That urban toreador look above seems a little desperate.

purple like "my favorite monster"...

lol

Yeah, the intent could be totally innocent* (I think it is). Not racist, but a weird example where the external context does all the heavy lifting and flips perception.

*in no way satorially innocent

^r

"No, no, we're not here because of the racism claims. We're just the fashion police. Hands behind your back!"

if these were marketed as basketball shoes i would better understand that association but these are definitely hype streetwear? btw i immediately thought of my pet monster

This is basically "not racist but COME ON"

yeah i'm really not trying to minimize anybody's reaction to what they find offensive about these shoes but i kinda see this as a natural progression in the work of a kooky designer who has been putting massive cartoon wings on sneakers for a while now

this goes back to one's ability to edit IMO

like, sure this design makes sense in the context of the Jeremy Scott aesthetic, but what are these shoes going to look like when 17 year old black teen puts them on (ans: just as stupid as it did when JS put it on, with added unpleasant, unintended overtones)

maybe if the shackle wasn't completely superfluous-looking to the rest of the shoe, like say if it was actually attached to the opening of the shoe and served as a final fastener to keep the shoe on rather than as a decorative piece with a long ass chain on the back, it wouldn't have evoked as negative a reaction

If your feathers were a little lighter, I'd say you were thinking too hard on this.

"What if the shackles on the shoe commonly worn by African-American athletes were created from a puffy silver band found at the top of the shoe, above the laces? Then maybe only spacemen from Mars and stardust explorers would be the only ones offended. "

What if we just didn't market athletic shoes with shackles in the first place.

Are you selectively reading here or were you just jonesing so hard to tell the black dude how he should react to something with racial overtones that you're skipping over the points where I am saying "regardless of intent, it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that these shoes would cause an uproar"?