5 ms·

The default was yellow which basically represents white people.

disgruntledphd2 4y ago
I mean, sortof, I guess, maybe. Given the history, one could make an argument that they represent Asians rather than Caucasians (it's always seemed odd to me that we ended up with this name for white(r) people, but such is life).
- SemanticStrengh 4y ago
  white skinned people should be called beige skinned people. Only albinos could pretend to whitehish-ness and still they are mostly not, because even if their skin maximally reflect light, they are still made of blood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism_in_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism_in_humans BTW humans can become easily become black in a continuous like manner https://alchetron.com/cdn/melanotan-ii-d26dbedd-94fb-434a-8d70-fc290197c63-resize-750.png https://alchetron.com/cdn/melanotan-ii-d26dbedd-94fb-434a-8d... extreme: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3198931/Reddit-user-claims-inject-illegal-pigment-enhancer-pale-super-tan.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3198931/Reddit-user... It's a very nice technology and is an example of permanent whole body genetic mutation via epigenetics.The issue is that it is irreversible.. The converse, a whitening substance does not exist yet but could exist in theory, by antagonizing the melanin receptors.
AnimalMuppet 4y ago
Really? The default was yellow because that's what Franklin Loufrani used back in the 1970s in France, and he's (probably) the one responsible for the smiley becoming a global icon. Did he intend yellow to mean white people? I'm highly skeptical, but I'd be open to listening if you have some documentation...
adamrezich 4y ago
this is the most insane recurring argument and I'll never understand it. sure that's how The Simpsons works, but that's not how LEGO works, so that argument gets canceled out. then you look at the yellow smiley face iconography that I'm sure has cultural roots somewhere but was universally used to specifically express universality—back when WAL*MART used it as their logo, were they specifically trying to market to white people, at the exclusion of all others?? then you take the history of emoji into account and you see that that doesn't really work as an explanation at all. it's like you (and everyone else who makes this inane argument) are trying to make something that's not white-people-centric, white-people-centric, just so you can complain about it being white-people-centric.
- twelvechairs 4y ago
  > that's not how LEGO works It is how Lego originated. See discussion at [0]. Early on they had a limited palette and would use yellow for caucasians and asians and at times used black for POC and red for native americans. The time where everything was yellow is also quite limited - and there was pushback from non-cacuasians until they were forced to include skin colours in NBA sets. [0] https://www.quora.com/Why-do-LEGO-minifigures-have-yellow-heads?share=1 https://www.quora.com/Why-do-LEGO-minifigures-have-yellow-he...
  - adamrezich 4y ago
    > The time where everything was yellow is also quite limited 1978-2003 is hardly a limited timespan in the history of LEGO! > and there was pushback from non-cacuasians until they were forced to include skin colours in NBA sets. right, because this is when they decided to make minifigs look like real people, instead of imaginary, race-neutral-ish, yellow people, once they got into licensing the appearance of real people for their minifigs!
stickfigure 4y ago
Maybe in an advanced stage of liver failure. It's really stretching to say yellow == white. The default color made nobody happy, which is exactly why it was the right solution to the problem.
- SemanticStrengh 4y ago
  actually the excessive yellowness brillantly avoided the uncanny valley of half-baked underspecified realism
- twelvechairs 4y ago
  There's a good history of it in Lego here [0]. You can see its a complex relationship but yellow has been used for caucasians (and asians) and has always had a difficult relationship for people of color. [0] https://www.quora.com/Why-do-LEGO-minifigures-have-yellow-heads?share=1 https://www.quora.com/Why-do-LEGO-minifigures-have-yellow-he...
three_seagrass 4y ago
You're being downvoted but you're kinda right. The longest running cartoon show in history (The Simpsons) uses yellow to represent white people, while POC are brown and black.
- SemanticStrengh 4y ago
  in racists terms, yellow has always denoted asian people (which is weird btw), simpsons are a coincidence
  - three_seagrass 4y ago
    It doesn't matter if the decision was intentional or coincidence, the fact remains the most popular TV cartoon in history has trained our expectations.
    - adamrezich 4y ago
      race-neutral smiley faces and LEGO minifigs predate The Simpsons—you're just taking your personal experience and projecting it onto everyone else.
      - three_seagrass 4y ago
        Sure, but Lego didn't have brown and black for POC. The training of expectations isn't exclusive, and more people consumed The Simpsons than Legos.
reaperducer 4y ago
The default was yellow which basically represents white people. I guess you missed the day Yellow Peril was covered in history class. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

I mean, sortof, I guess, maybe. Given the history, one could make an argument that they represent Asians rather than Caucasians (it's always seemed odd to me that we ended up with this name for white(r) people, but such is life).

SemanticStrengh 4y ago
white skinned people should be called beige skinned people. Only albinos could pretend to whitehish-ness and still they are mostly not, because even if their skin maximally reflect light, they are still made of blood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism_in_humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism_in_humans BTW humans can become easily become black in a continuous like manner https://alchetron.com/cdn/melanotan-ii-d26dbedd-94fb-434a-8d70-fc290197c63-resize-750.png https://alchetron.com/cdn/melanotan-ii-d26dbedd-94fb-434a-8d... extreme: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3198931/Reddit-user-claims-inject-illegal-pigment-enhancer-pale-super-tan.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3198931/Reddit-user... It's a very nice technology and is an example of permanent whole body genetic mutation via epigenetics.The issue is that it is irreversible.. The converse, a whitening substance does not exist yet but could exist in theory, by antagonizing the melanin receptors.

AnimalMuppet 4y ago

Really? The default was yellow because that's what Franklin Loufrani used back in the 1970s in France, and he's (probably) the one responsible for the smiley becoming a global icon. Did he intend yellow to mean white people? I'm highly skeptical, but I'd be open to listening if you have some documentation...

adamrezich 4y ago

this is the most insane recurring argument and I'll never understand it. sure that's how The Simpsons works, but that's not how LEGO works, so that argument gets canceled out. then you look at the yellow smiley face iconography that I'm sure has cultural roots somewhere but was universally used to specifically express universality—back when WAL*MART used it as their logo, were they specifically trying to market to white people, at the exclusion of all others?? then you take the history of emoji into account and you see that that doesn't really work as an explanation at all. it's like you (and everyone else who makes this inane argument) are trying to make something that's not white-people-centric, white-people-centric, just so you can complain about it being white-people-centric.

twelvechairs 4y ago
> that's not how LEGO works It is how Lego originated. See discussion at [0]. Early on they had a limited palette and would use yellow for caucasians and asians and at times used black for POC and red for native americans. The time where everything was yellow is also quite limited - and there was pushback from non-cacuasians until they were forced to include skin colours in NBA sets. [0] https://www.quora.com/Why-do-LEGO-minifigures-have-yellow-heads?share=1 https://www.quora.com/Why-do-LEGO-minifigures-have-yellow-he...
- adamrezich 4y ago
  > The time where everything was yellow is also quite limited 1978-2003 is hardly a limited timespan in the history of LEGO! > and there was pushback from non-cacuasians until they were forced to include skin colours in NBA sets. right, because this is when they decided to make minifigs look like real people, instead of imaginary, race-neutral-ish, yellow people, once they got into licensing the appearance of real people for their minifigs!

stickfigure 4y ago

Maybe in an advanced stage of liver failure. It's really stretching to say yellow == white. The default color made nobody happy, which is exactly why it was the right solution to the problem.

SemanticStrengh 4y ago
actually the excessive yellowness brillantly avoided the uncanny valley of half-baked underspecified realism
twelvechairs 4y ago
There's a good history of it in Lego here [0]. You can see its a complex relationship but yellow has been used for caucasians (and asians) and has always had a difficult relationship for people of color. [0] https://www.quora.com/Why-do-LEGO-minifigures-have-yellow-heads?share=1 https://www.quora.com/Why-do-LEGO-minifigures-have-yellow-he...

three_seagrass 4y ago

You're being downvoted but you're kinda right. The longest running cartoon show in history (The Simpsons) uses yellow to represent white people, while POC are brown and black.

SemanticStrengh 4y ago
in racists terms, yellow has always denoted asian people (which is weird btw), simpsons are a coincidence
- three_seagrass 4y ago
  It doesn't matter if the decision was intentional or coincidence, the fact remains the most popular TV cartoon in history has trained our expectations.
  - adamrezich 4y ago
    race-neutral smiley faces and LEGO minifigs predate The Simpsons—you're just taking your personal experience and projecting it onto everyone else.
    - three_seagrass 4y ago
      Sure, but Lego didn't have brown and black for POC. The training of expectations isn't exclusive, and more people consumed The Simpsons than Legos.

reaperducer 4y ago

The default was yellow which basically represents white people. I guess you missed the day Yellow Peril was covered in history class. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]