this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
622 points (86.1% liked)
Memes
45189 readers
1414 users here now
Rules:
- Be civil and nice.
- Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Are you really asking why it’s racist for white settlers to call the Chinese head of state a yellow animal? Do you think it wasn’t racially motivated when people made similar “jokes” about Barack Obama because they “just referred to one individual specifically”?
whut
Also I thought the joke originated from China
Ok, I never thought about the "yellow animal" angle, so thanks for bringing that up. I just always assumed he didn't like the comparison because it was like insisting he was short and fat and since he didn't like it, everyone sorta just ran with it as an insult. Meanwhile I was thinking "who the hell doesn't like Winnie the Pooh? He shoulda embraced the comparison"
So yea, thanks for the extra info.
I'd say regular people in general don't think that deeply about these things.
And though the skin theory sounds correct, i still think it's about the short and fat part more. It affected his dignity and image, and as i understand it, the concept of 'giving face' is of great importance in chinese culture.
White settlers? Some brief searching tells me the origin was from Indian social media and then taken for use by Chinese citizens who disagree with him.
So in the same vein, all those monkey caricatures of Putin are also racist as well then.
I mean yeah, depicting people as monkeys is generally rooted pretty explicitly in racism, and even white eastern europeans have been subject to racism from western Europe. Read what Emma Goldman wrote about that "conniving slanty eyed Asian"(paraphrased) Stalin.
When have racist depictions of Eastern Europeans as monkeys been a thing?
In the origin of the meme, by your logic, Obama was compared to a tiger.
Is Obama orange and striped with a white belly?
Tigger is very similar to a slur used against black people.
LoL that's such a stretch.
Plus everyone knows Tiggers are marvelous chaps, and loaded with vim and vigor. Tiggers are wonderful things, and so, hardly an insult.