[Half and half]

I'd rather have slanty eyes than the big round eye surprise look.

Americans walking around with a constant "Hmm?" look on their face.

[Korey]

ITT, people debate whether an ad with white people slanting their eyes is racist, really?

[ElectricBlue187]

I just thought I'd post this here, if someone is interested about that kind of stuff in France : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOlhv7s2-mE It's a really famous TV sketch from the late 90's called "the invaders", it's a parody of the american sci-fi series about "aliens" being hidden everywhere among the humans. It's full of stereotypes about immigrants, mostly about arabs up until the end where they switch to clichés about asians. It plays on the fears of some people that France was getting overriden with immigrants. This was really borderline humour in the 90's, it would probably be a little bit difficult to do the same thing now. No subtitles but you can kind of guess what's going on.

hmmm I am trying to figure out what your point is in this post

[Alvarius]

I'd rather have slanty eyes than the big round eye surprise look. Americans walking around with a constant "Hmm?" look on their face.

The ad's offensive.

But why is saying stuff like this OK?

[ScientificNinja]

The ad's offensive. But why is saying stuff like this OK?

It's not.

But that's what a lot of Asian kids living in Western countries are taught to say/think by their parents as a response.

Of course that's in no way a justification as two wrongs don't make a right.

(waiting for some asshole to crack a "two wongs don't make a white" joke)

[Alx]

I get the feeling youre one of those asians who dont mind getting called a chinaman either. "Whats the big deal, Im from china - well vietnam technically. And Im a man. So it makes sense."

Depends on the context, but in many situations I wouldn't mind, indeed. If someone asked me "are you Chinese ?" I would answer "I have Vietnamese origins actually", but only as a piece of information.
In French "Chinese" is most colloquially used in place of "Asian" because it's shorter, even among the Asian community. There is a "Chinese district" that is mainly occupied by Vietnamese, when I do my shopping there I always talk about "going by the Chinese", we all go "to the Chinese (restaurant)" to eat springrolls and Pho, ... heck even when we were kids our parents called Pho "Chinese soup" (I won't say how they called our grandparents, but it's another example of "turn racist slurs into cute names and destroy their bad meaning").

The Asian community here knows who they are and where they're from. That's their own business and they don't feel a need to "fight for it" or anything, and I think it's not unrelated that there's no racial tension with Asians in France (no violence in the district, no discrimination on recruiting, no destruction of Asian symbols, ... ).

The problem there is her perspective is from a homogenous culture where non-Asian on Asian insults are not common place. It's just like the Shaq/Yao Ming thing. Say "ching chang chong" to an Asian American and they'll be deeply offended. Yao Ming didn't view it as an insult.

Exactly. And in many European coutries, Asian insults are not common place either, and as a consequence the infamous gesture is not an insult there.

I mean, it wouldn't even make sense any other way. I'm not saying it was intentionally MALICIOUS mockery, but it was unquestionably mockery.

If anything, the butt of the joke are all the people who were tricked into making silly faces to see the ad...

It's 100% historical resonance. Remember when there was a big uproar when Prince Harry wore a swastika armband for his Halloween costume? It's not like he was actually a Nazi, right, or intentionally trying to offend Jews or Germans. (Or anybody who lived through the Blitz, I guess.) But it was still a big deal. Well, the Civil Rights Act (and, before that, the lynching of black people who tried to vote in the south) is even more recent history than World War II, and blackface is tied up in all of that.

Precisely. That's why for countries having a different history, a blackface is just someone playing with makeup, and nothing racist. It's all about context.

[ChiTownBuffalo]

Brother, you still have a colonized mind.

[Alvarius]

The whole false consciousness thing is wearing thin, ChiTown.

You're not going to berate the guy into being offended.

[Moppet13]

This doesn't even work, maybe it's because I'm already a bit Asian.

[Fusebox]

It's not. But that's what a lot of Asian kids living in Western countries are taught to say/think by their parents as a response.

That sounds like some made-up racist propaganda to me.

[Simplet]

I find Simplet's posts far more agitating than the ad campaign.

I'm going to take this as a compliment, but could expand on that a little bit?

hmmm I am trying to figure out what your point is in this post

I was just trying to show how far you can play with racial stereotypes in France before you go too far. And the answer is, you can go pretty far. Not that asians having slanted eyes is a "racial stereotype", it's just a fact of life.

Brother, you still have a colonized mind.

I've always considered it strange that people believe they are freer by rebelling than by simply not caring. If you find that the way white peple view asians is offensive to you, you're freer by rebelling against it than by submitting to it and accepting it. But rebelling against it is still a passive attitude you assume in front of the guy making fun of you.

Alx doesn't even care about white people doing this gesture simply because he believes that there can be nothing shameful whatsoever about having slanted eyes, so why would that gesture bother him? If a white dude is dumb enough to believe he's being insulting by doing ths, at least from a european point of view he's just going to look like a child, and a stupid one at that. There is no need at all for Alx to waste energy being offended, just like you don't give a shit about fundamentalist christians thinking you're a murderer if your wife gets an abortion.

[Zoe]

Exactly. And in many European coutries, Asian insults are not common place either, and as a consequence the infamous gesture is not an insult there.

Just because one person isn't offended doesn't mean it's not an insult.

[Half and half]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/...8861237400073/

Radio Netherlands said MP Arend-Jan Boekestijn sent out an apology about referring to Chinese as "slit-eyes" while taking part in a Twitter discussion on the number of people who died in China while Mao Zedong was in power. Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/...#ixzz1yzzWBHwM

[pigeon]

DThat's why for countries having a different history, a blackface is just someone playing with makeup, and nothing racist. It's all about context.

And that's why if a bunch of Chinese government officials dressed up as Nazis, nobody would care, right? No context?

[StoppedInTracks]

What do you know... it really works. Too bad it is still racist.

[Alucrid]

The ad's offensive. But why is saying stuff like this OK?

It's not and it's actually quite stupid since it's imply that there aren't Americans who are Asian.

[Half and half]

It's not and it's actually quite stupid since it's imply that there aren't Americans who are Asian.

Take it easy now. I'm making fun of the original ad's suggestion that all Asians have slanted eyes.