5 ms·
One of these posters depicts a Chinese athlete curling a virus towards the viewer. How is that not a racist dog whistle?
by dahdum 5y ago
One of these posters depicts a Chinese athlete curling a virus towards the viewer.
How is that not a racist dog whistle?
- platinumrad 5y agoAbsolutely absurd for this to be buried.
- dqpb 5y agoChina is a country, not a race.
- platinumrad 5y agoAnd athletes are ordinary citizens and not representatives of the state.
- dqpb 5y agoAside from the fact that they are literally wearing their country's flag, I tend to agree with you.
- dragonwriter 5y agoWhile etymologically derived from “race”, the word “racist” doesn't observe the artificial (and, actually, grounded in race essentialism which is itself a racist ideology) artificial distinction between target groups being labelled as a “race” vs a “nationality” or “ethnicity”, and applies equally when the basis of bigotry labelled is on any of those grounds.
- dqpb 5y ago> the word “racist” doesn't observe the artificial distinction… Words aren’t observers. It’s you who doesn’t observe the distinction.
- Freak_NL 5y agoThe anonymous athlete adorned with the Chinese flag represents the Chinese state; this is a common visual cue in political cartoons. The artist could have used a less subtle design choice like a panda in a tracksuit (similar to how the US can be represented by Uncle Sam), but it would make the posters comical and it would detract from the chosen art style and references to the historic style of poster design these hint at as well as the message behind the posters.
- tsol 5y agoI still don't understand what that's supposed to mean
- LAC-Tech 5y agoCan you tell me about your personal morality here? I.E, are you against all caricatures whereby a 'segment of the population' non-existent person was used, in which case you'd be equally appalled at say a caricature of a trump supporter? But you'd be OK of it was Xi Jinping throwing the virus?
- platinumrad 5y ago> I.E, are you against all cricatures whereby a 'segment of the population' non-existent person was used, in which case you'd be equally appalled at say a caricature of a trump supporter? Yes, I think it would be bigoted to depict a random rural American putting a Mexican child into a cage. Is that what you meant by "trump supporter"? Because athletes are also just ordinary citizens unlike, for example, a border patrol agent which is a representative of the state. > But you'd be OK of it was Xi Jinping throwing the virus? Yes, of course people in positions of great power are fair game. Though I think it's a bit of a boring criticism compared to something he's more directly responsible for.
- LAC-Tech 5y agoThanks, your objections make sense to me now, and seem pretty consistent. I'd argue Xi is pretty responsible for the Covid outbreak, given the initial cover up (mirroring the SARS cover up - ie it's long-running state policy).
- platinumrad 5y agoI think that's a reasonable position, with Xi serving as a stand-in for the selfish nature of the CCP bureaucracy as a whole. I'm not a fan of the guy at all, but I don't think he was responsible for local attempts to try to hide the outbreak from, well, more-or-less him. If there is anything suggesting that a coverup was also ordered on the national level, with the intent to harm other countries (or, more likely, without regard for the well-being of other countries), then that would be really interesting to me.
- 5y ago
- mlindner 5y agoHow is that racist anything at all?