KFC Pulls "Racist" Australian TV spot

There was discussion in my high school regarding the fitness of Twain in the classroom.

granted this was not any time near by...

There are a lot of other stereotypes that are often used in racial slurs, but aren't usually as controversial (less history of mean-spirited racism). Here are some I can think of (note that many of them, like rice, would need a racist context to be taken that way).

For black people:
Fried chicken, Watermelon, Grape Soda ("Grape Drink"), Bananas (when used in imagery, due to the monkey slur), Oreo (black on outside, white on inside)

For Asians:
Rice (see "Rice rocket")

For Latin Americans:
Tacos, Burritos ("my name is henifer lopez, and I eat tacos and burritos!"), Beans (calling Mexicans "beaners", there's even a song in Spanish that goes "don't call me a beaner ******* gringo wanker")

Here's another Chappelle bit that is very appropriate:

asians and rice is racist what the hell kind of culture do you have?
Thats not racist its fact.

Aboriginal folk here sometimes accuse some other Aboriginal person of being a "coconut"......black on the outside, white on the inside.

I've not heard food being used in such a way here....which doesn't mean it ISN'T, just that I haven't heard it. I think racist slurs here are more direct.

I knew about beaners, from TV shows like The Wire.

I think that's unfair...and an example of cultural imperialism from our side. What stuff gets used to slur people by xenophobes is not logical. I don't think we are in a position to have a go at the US over what form racist knocks take.

Ours are just different.

It's not racist inherently. But it is used in stereotypes (e.g. "rice mobile") and can then be used together with clear intent as slurs.

Mentioning rice won't every be taken as a racial issue unless you are clearly making it about race by using it as a synonym for Asian.

Of all the examples I listed, it's the least controversial I think.

But there really is something special about American culture that makes so much about race, in both positive and negative ways.

That may well be....my point was more that pejorative terms re race are not a US phenomenon.

or chocolate coated.

There has been another (probably) racially motivated attack in Melbourne today last night.
This has got to stop.

Fire 'attack' on Indian deepens race tensions
Just days after 21-year-old student Nitin Garg was murdered in West Footscray, 29-year-old Essendon man Jaspreet Singh was allegedly set alight in the street by four attackers about 2am yesterday.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/fire-attack-on-indian-deepens-race-tensions-20100109-m00j.html

I repeat a minorty element within Australia is responsible. Intelligent Australians do not subscribe to this kind of action.

SET ALIGHT!!!!

My god, how is he?

If you read the story at the attached link (above) you know as much as i do.
But there were indications last night that the story may be more complicated than it first appeared. Victoria Police said the incident did not appear to be race related and a police source said that ''there are things that don't add up'' in the initial reports.

While details are sketchy, it is alleged that Mr Singh dropped his wife at home about 2am after the pair attended a dinner party.

He then parked his car around the corner, in Grice Crescent, where he claims he was attacked by four men. He says they pushed him against his car as he stepped out, doused him in fluid and set him alight before fleeing.

Mr Singh allegedly ran from the car while peeling off his clothes. However, Detective acting Senior Sergeant Neil Smyth said that police had not located any burnt clothing in the area.

See, it's the little cultural differences. In America, people get set on fire because they are homeless. I wish I was joking.

Green Witch has responded really well, one other thought I have is that this was a specifically unthreatening, domesticated version of black people. Think pets.

That covers both how it could be a selling point (to white people) and also extremely disturbing to black people.

Minstrelsy/ blackface has a place here too -- the shows that black people would put on for white audiences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show

Sure, lots of people can . . . but the political rectitude gestapo who get all worked up, and want to ban the books from school libraries can't see that because they are obsessive focused on the hermeneutics: "this is racist symbolism, that is racist symbolism, you can't say that because it's racist, you can't write that because its racist"--and obsessed to the exclusion of intelligent analysis of the text they are dealing with.

You are full of crap Setanta.

There is a big difference between anti-racism and censorship-- and the people fighting against racism and the people banning books are diametrically opposed.

Civil rights groups like the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Policy Law Center and the NAACP are at the forefront of fighting against the very racist stereotypes that you are claiming shouldn't be fought against.

My belief is in Free Speech... and my tactic for fighting against racism is exactly the opposite of banning books. Free speech means that everyone has the right to say whatever they want. This includes the rights of people to label the books or ideas they find offensive as racism.

I want the books on the shelves, I want kids reading them. And, I want civil rights groups pointing out how racist they are. Having an open discussion about racist symbols in public is an important part of free speech. No censorship is needed.

Setanta is trying to shut Civil Rights groups up... not the other way around.

No, you are full of ****, Political Rectitude Queen.

I have not equated "anti-racism" and censorship, i have just pointed out that people who attempt to censor Huckleberry Finn do so because they are obsessed with the word "nigger" and not the content of the book. The rest of this is just your typical obsessional rant, which projects onto me the bullshit you ascribe to anyone who doesn't agree with you by every jot and tittle.

By the way, bright boy, it's the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you're going to rant, at least get your facts straight.

I'm not trying to shut anyone up, and it's a measure of your stupidity and your PC obsessional focus that you claim Huckleberry Finn is racist. I don't know what "books" you are talking about, the Wabbit and i were discussing that one book.

You're a ******* idiot, Brown, precisely because you are the kind of obsessional twit i was referring to previously.

Keep the **** out of my life, asshole.

I love the irony of the Anti-Defamation League being part of Setanta's Poltical Rectitude Gestapo.

What's hilarious here is that this ******* twit Brown supports censorship, while claiming that i am trying to shut people up. Censorship is the act of attempting to shut people up. No, i'm in favor of people being allowed to read any and all books, whether or not the Political Rectitude Queen approves of them.

I have never supported censorship Setanta. Heck, I don't even have you on ignore. Free speech works both ways.

You have the right to spout whatever nonsense you want, no matter how offensive. I have the right to call you on it.

No censorship involved.

(( Do you really think calling a man "Political Rectitude Queen" is any less idiotic than your original "Political Rectitude Gestapo"))

Strawman, asshole, you introduced the Anti-Defamation League into the discussion, not me. At no time did i disparage the ADL, the Southern Poverty Law Center or the NAACP. I'm just disparaging obsessional twits like you who want to censor books because you don't like the words found in them.

I consider people like you who want to shut others up because you don't like the words they use to be members of the Political Rectitude Gestapo.