Human Rights Watch Goes Way Overboard! >>>MOD EDIT<<<

Remember the Time magazine cover of OJ that darkened his features to make him look darker and more sinister? Was that racist?

 

I wish some of these companies would issue a simple response to complaints like this

"(*)(*)(*)(*) off"

would suffice.

 

No, it's exactly how white people act.

Think about stop and frisk in NYC. They were just officially labeling what racial profiling does anyway. How many white people are stopped 'just because'? When you hold up your hand, do you get 3 taxis? When you pass a black man, who's more likely to be scared in that situation knowing nothing but the appearance of the other person? Ever heard of 'white flight'?

All these things and more continue to this day. Take a good hard look at your own town and tell me segregation isn't still happening. Most white people don't even know what white privilege is because they've never experienced it from any other vantage point other than being white.

Do you know why black people are angry? Because of white people. They're not looking for so-called equality. They're looking for justice and usually, justice is far from reach. Do a little bit of digging outside your bubble. And this 'white guilt' crap I keep hearing about is just sidestepping the issue of reality.

No one's taken anything from white people. We've taken from everyone else and there's still quite a bit we haven't given back.

 

Maybe blacks ought be asking why whites are scared of them, rather than just crying about whites being scared of them.

ALso, that has nothing to do with this thread. It's a stupid poster, get over it.

 

Yeah, that's the classic white who doesn't realize they have white privilege comment to anyone who says otherwise because they'd have to face reality. "Get over it."

Sure thing, when you stop reminding black people that they don't get the same justice as white people.

 

even if we agreed that was the case, and we don't, this stupid AD has NOTHING to do with it whatso(*)(*)(*)(*)ing ever.

Why are you trying to make it something it is not? Jesus.

 

The ad does have something to do with which is the point you're missing. There was a point in american history when blackfacing was done by white people to make black people look foolish, stupid, etc. Whether this ad does that is debatable, but it's not something that magically got erased from history.

 

so what? You ever heard of the first Amendment?

You ever see this movie?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381707/

Funny stuff, now tell me why black people should have some extra protection from private companies making fun of them?

Answer, they shouldn't.

 

you cite one movie whereas we did this for years in pop culture. YEARS. Thousands of examples of blackfacing. When a white person considers it, they should reconsider if they're not getting input from an independent black person not attached to it so they can give their impression of whether it's legit, and this would happen only if the black facing is done as a stance against blackfacing, similar to Tropic Thunder's Robert Downy Jr. blackface. They were making fun of people who think it's okay to do it.

And as well, you're comparing corporate advertisement to entertainment/art. There's also a difference to some degree in that comparison.

 

This thread is more about false claims of racism, you don't really need to inject your own racism into it. If you want to argue about white people then maybe try the race relations section. This is way beyond the scope and you don't actually need to be racist like this in order to discuss this topic.

 

The point is it's not history in Thailand. I think HRW went too far in suggesting racist undertones should also be respected in other cultures where they don't even apply!

 

No there isn't . The ONLY difference is you and others WANT to see racism when it's about blacks.

 

And what I said was that if there's a claim, it's because the non black person obviously wasn't thinking. Whether the intention is there or not, if it can be interpreted as such without the intention, then it is still racist if people of the color portrayed says it's offensive. The end. However, I think people aren't taking into consideration why it would be considered racist and try to validate their own racism or rather lack of perspective in some cases with counter arguments of no consequence to the issue of whether the ad was considered racist or not. It was, it is and it's primarily because it was a non-black that created the poster/ad.

So...yeah, you're going to get dragged into this kind of discussion. If nothing else, the thread should be moved to race relations.

 

That's more or less what happened.

This was actually a great ad if you think about it. Just controversial enough to get somebody from the fringe PC to call it to the attention of the media and get the brand across!

 

So, essentially what you are saying is that EVERY white person needs to always be on egg shells , making sure they NEVER do anything that a black person could POSSIBLY consider racist....

 

Like I said, nobody said it was offensive except for the complainant. It's THAILAND. Foreign nationalities and cultures get routinely mocked, everywhere in the world, even in the USA. You're comparing it to US standards. That ad would be different if it were posted down south or in Harlem.

 

No, you have to be aware that what you do or say might be considered racist to someone else. If you make that mistake, the worst thing you can do is dig in your heels. Maybe talk to that person and see if you can understand why you're in the wrong, not double down on being wrong. That's pretty much all it takes.

 

How is exercising free speech EVER wrong? See that is where you guys go wrong EVERY TIME. You try to legislate speech.

Is that poster illegal? No? Then shut up about it.

 

Agreed with you there. However, corporate mockery, whether intentional or not, shouldn't be happening. Like I said, there's a difference between art and advertisement. Plus, isn't it an american company anyway? I think that's mainly what the complaint was. I don't think anyone would have a complaint with a native Thailand company making that ad. However, the image is touchy and the exact same ad would be fine had it not been black and red. Maybe blue and yellow and then the real intention of the image is intact and no one's questioning whether it's blackface or not. Seriously, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to think for 2 seconds about what a reaction might be in this specific case.

 

It's an Asian person made to look like she's made of chocolate.

People have been made up in different colors for millenia in artistic ways to depict something or to sell something else other than a human. Is a chocolate rabbit racist as well?

Here's one of a woman made to look like she's a plant, not chocolate. I don't see the Sierra Club or Green Peace raising sand about this one?


People just need to chill out. Racism is not the purpose behind everything that is depicted in brown or black colors. Don't like the proliferation and supposed increase in racism? Stop making everything about it when it obviously isn't, and I guarantee that the impression of an awful world will decrease exponentially. Making fights like this also marginalizes the actual racists acts (boy that called wolf comes to mind).

 

Why on Earth has nobody mentioned what should be the real outrage about this story? What is HRW doing wasting time on an ad in some doughnut shop when there are far more serious issues to deal with in Thailand? If I was a major donor to HRW I'd be furious, as I'll bet dollar to doughnuts that isn't what they told the donors they'd be doing with the money...

 

Thats a pretty fair point actually. If a donut shop poster is the greatest human rights violation going on right now, boy we must be in great shape as a planet

 

Its a wonder they kept the end of human trafficking and child prostitution so quiet, one might think such a victory would be worth mention...

 

And 45 million displaced persons, wonder where they ended up? Probably Kansas.... no ever notices anything here lol

 

Is that why you are really there? Does this have something to do with 'strange' happenings to koala bears in your country?