A plea to white celebs+media

So Meryl Streep responded to criticism of the all-white film jury for this years Berlin Film Festival...and it wasn't pretty. And she is not the only one prominent white celeb to stumble,joining the likes of Michael Caine,Helen Mirren,The Coen brothers,and even Julie Deply in putting there foot in there mouths.

And this leaves me very conflicted,because i think these are genuinely talented folks. heck,as a aspiring filmmaker some of these people imagined working with someday. But being talented unfortunately does not understanding the issues regarding lack of representation/support for black people along with other POC in creative industries.

And so,i am issuing a plea to white celebs,and media in general. Media,stop asking white celebs about diversity. If they actually have a good understanding of the issue they will probably bring it up themselves. And to white celebs,please just admit you don't have a good understanding of the issue. Because what you think are some hot takes is just plain aggravating for the rest of us to hear.

A Discussion of Satire

For anyone who doesn't know, the Colbert report posted a satirical tweet. In case you haven't seen it,here's a screencap(he has deleted it)

This tweet inspired a lot of strong feelings,both pro and against. For me,i believe Colbert was trying to make fun of Snyder for his ridiculous defense of using the "redskin" name, and not intentionally trying to hurt Asian-Americans. To me this was a well intentioned attempt at satire that came out wrong.

The main reason is because of the power dynamics. As a straight white dude, you are pretty much at the top of the totem pole in America,while Asian Americans are less so. Hence its very hard for the former to make jokes about the latter that don't come off oppressive,even if that isn't the intent.

To expand on that,i think its possible to be a perfectly good person and make mistakes,because we're human. Sometimes we don't know realize how our words/actions come off. To illustrate, there was a time i said something offensive to a Asian friend without realizing. When i was informed of how i fucked up, i apologized to said friend and we still keep in contact.

So to me, that experience taught me 2 things. First is that generally when a marginalized group are telling your actions were problematic,its better to just listen and apologize. Sure some may continue to hold a grudge,but i feel most will probably forgive if they get a genuine apology. Secondly, it instilled in me a belief that society as a whole would make a lot more progress on various ism issues if we learned to listen to criticism instead of dismissing it.

Related to that,i think we need to have real discussion about who gets to claim benefit of the doubt/satire when jokes go wrong.  I think we all remember the backlash MHP got(and still received even after apologizing), and recently another prominent black woman got attacked on twitter for satirizing herself. So i do think more marginalized groups don't seem to get that same benefit of the doubt when it comes to comedy which is a problem. This kinda relates to my main point,which is the context of who has more power is the main issue here.

Also, the creator of the #CancelColbert hashtag who happens to be a Asian Women has gotten rape/death threats over this,along with people ridiculing her name. So there is a issue of how people who say they aren't racist will sink down to that level if a POC says something they don't like.

Vines i can't stand

Im a semi-regular viewer of Worldstarhiphop, and of vines/trending videos in general. I can generally find enjoyment out of them,but there are a few types i have no interest in watching. I've seen all these types in Vine compilations regularly,so they don't seem to be isolated incidents.

Punishment porn- These are the videos where parents harshly discipline there children,and put it on the internet for all the world to see. There are a few reasons why these upset me

To give a little background,growing up when it came to discipline my mom was the harsher one when it came to that. The one time my dad was legit angry with me he didn't need to use spanking or anything to show that. Now I've seen a lot of people seem to express a nostalgia for that type of discipline,and believe it made them into a better person.

I don't agree with that. Whether or not i felt guilty about my actions had nothing to do with the punishment i received. In the example with my dad,even though there as no psychical punishment i felt guilty as hell about what i did(For anyone wondering,what happened was that basically i asked one of my aunts to give me a ride home from school. Ended up getting a ride from a friend,and forgot to tell said Aunt).

But i realize different people have differing opinions on that. However,even if you think that kind of punishment is justified,why record it for the internet to see?Like what is making your child's punishment a spectacle for strangers to watch supposed to teach?

And one thing i've noticed is that a lot of these videos seem to be black girls getting punished for acting like a "ho". Just to be clear i don't want anyone's punishment used for entertainment like this, but this brings up a whole other set of issues.

Smackcam/Yaga-Im not sure how this idea started,but there seems to be this pervasive idea that if you film yourself assaulting someone,somehow that is supposed to make it comedy. At the very least with Jackass and its imitators you got the sense they are having fun with it,or trying to. But i've seen people randomly smack fast food workers(because really,the life of a fast food worker isn't miserable enough apparently), and some pretty vicious hair pulling(Who's victims seem to be elusively black women),and i have no idea why i should see it as anything but physical assault.

Swearing kids-All i see here are parents using there kids as props for internet fame. Either the kid has issues the parents are exploiting,or they are coaching the kids into saying those things. Both of which repulse me. Also, videos where parents make there kids cry on purpose are a no-no for me too. Honestly, 90% of vines involving kids are not something i want to see. I don't mind adorable videos of kids doing adorable things,but most vines involving kids don't fall into that category.

For anyone curious about why i focused on black women at certain points in this post,its because of things like black women being more likely to suffer,and die from domestic violence. And considering a lot of the violent vines seem targeted towards black woman/girls(just right now im seeing people tweet about a vine involving violence against a BW, and worse apparently it happens with a group of BM standing by and doing nothing)), it brings up unfortunate implications.But in general i've just gotten tired of people using vines as a excuse to be violent,or recording violent acts instead of actually trying to stop it.

Dear White People

Recently POC created a hastag on twitter called #ifiwaswhite, to vent about oppression and systematic issues they feel affect them. In response some white people created the hashtag #ifiwasblack because they felt POC were being racist with the original hashtag(I also saw some white people going after specific POC who were using the #ifiwaswhite ht). I've noticed this happen a lot when POC are talking about there issues, and i think it has to do with how most of the time white people and POC are using different definitions of racism.

Most of the time, POC are using the prejudice+institutional power defintion of racism, while white people usually looking at it as prejudice only. Along those lines, many POC feel people like them lack to institutional power to oppress others. Hence why some of them say you can't be racist against white people.

Related to that, unless if they attach a name to there critique usually they're not targeting any specific white people when talking about systematic oppression. They are speaking generally,but i've seen a lot of white people seem to take these statements as personal indictments against THEM,when its really not necessary.

A few days ago i was talking with my white dad(My mom is black and my dad is white) and i started to bring up how white people seem to love bringing up Morgan Freemans now well known quote where he says to stop talking about race they leave out the part where he criticizes black history being relegated to a month.Before getting into why i think that is i said "i don't mean to be reverse racist" and he said "go ahead". For the record i happen to believe its because that part isn't as comforting to white people,and thus chose to ignore it.

But the reason i bring this up is because he didn't feel offended by a racial critique,and had no problem listening to it. I have been able to pretty regularly discuss racial issues with him,and so i feel a dialogue is possible. But first i feel white people need to stop taking any racial critique as a personal insult. If you know you are not prejudiced towards people of color,then you have no need to be offended by said critiques.

Also, sometimes if a POC of color is responding to something you said negatively most likely they have a problem with a statement you said,and not you as a person. In college one time i used a word that i was informed is offensive to Asian people. After finding this out i apologized to the person i said the term to, and we're still friends. Now i can't promise this will happen every time, but i would venture if you give a apology that feels sincere most POC will let it slide. 

So basically, before calling a POC a reverse racist,please think before going with that. Cause most of the time, they are not talking about you. if you know it doesn't apply to you let it go.

The Richard Sherman debacle

or how people can be quick to use the N word

Now, i don't follow sports...like at all. But i did manage to hear about the Richard Shermen clip(here). I found the video amusing but didn't make much of it. That is until i saw people quick to call him a Nigger and use a racially coded insult like thug. Now, he was definitely a bit over the top in the clip,but its not like he was hurting anyone so i don't think its that big of a deal. For gods sake, he is a sports player who just had a good game and was probably just really excited. 

Personally,i am more disturbed that people were so quick to bring up racist terms to express there disagreement. When Charlie Sheen did that infamous "winning" interview, i don't remember anyone bringing up his race in there comments on him. And in none of the coverage of Rob Ford's multiple scandals, i don't remember people bring up his race either. But apparently if a black person gets a bit animated people think its ok to use what has generally been accepted as racist language towards him or her. And we're supposed to be living in a "post-racial" society.

Now, a while back a football player named Jason babin(Who looks white to me,tho i could be wrong. Definetly doesn't look black) ripped a guys hair off and held it like a trophy. I looked up his name on twitter to see if i could get a general idea of how people reacted to it, and there seemed to be barely any real outrage, and definitely no racial insults. So apparently getting a bit too excited in a postgame interview makes a black person a nigger/thug, but ripping out a guys hair is perfectly ok.

I've seen people bring his his education at stanford as a defense against the racism being hurled at him. I do appreciate the effort,but to me his education shouldn't have to be brought up to prove he's not a thug. I would love to hear from people more invested in sports than i am on this, but from what im seeing this whole incident seems to have stirred up some repressed racism in folks.

In what is a sad irony, this has happened to coincide with MLK day. if this has shown us anything,is that we may be further from MLK's dream than we thought

Bad comparisons

 A list of words not to use

 Sometimes, to make a point we like to compare things. While at times this can be a great tactic, other times it can come off just offensive.This usually happens when using a historical tragedy as a comparison. Im not saying you can never use a historical tragedy as a comparison,but if you do please make sure the situations are actually comparable. To help with this,i have decided to make a list of events/people you should think twice before using as fodder,along with evidence of them being used incorrectly

Slavery
Examples of bad comparisons- Food Stamps,Obamacare,Jennifer Lawrences shooting schedule(Tho to be fair,Russel has since apologized for this)
Why its bad-Unless if the thing you are referring to is the systematic denial of all human rights and personal agency for a entire group of people, it is not ok to use this as a comparison. Just because you feel a program is unfair,does not make it slavery.

Hitler
Examples of bad comparisons- Both Bush and Obama have been compared to him. From what i've seen,this comparison is usually used politically
Why its bad-Unless if the person you are referring to is systematically trying to exterminate a entire group of people the comparison is not appropriate. Now i am no fan of Bush, but i do not believe he is comparable to Hitler. Comparisons to Nazies are bad for basically the same reason. 99% of the time there are better ways to voice your disagreement with someones leadership/actions

Holocaust
Examples of bad comparisons- Again,Obamacare
Why its bad-If you're not referring to a systematic annihilation of a entire group of people, don't bring it up.Just like with slavery,just because you disagree with a program doesn't mean it has any relation to the Holocaust.

Rape
Examples of bad comparisons- Filibuster reform
Why its bad-Most often this is used to express discomfort caused by someone or something. However,unless if said discomfort comes from unconsensual sex, you don't get to compare it to rape.

I realize these explanations probably got a bit repetitive, but that's because they all basically boil down to the same thing. Which is appropriating a horrible,tragic event just because you don't like something and can't think of a better way to get your point across.

The whole MHP Controversy: A perspective from a interracial child

As most of you know,there was a huge controversy about a segment Melissa harris perry did on Romneys adopted black son. Suffice to say,i had a lot about to say about that one that i posted at various times(twitter and facebook mostly),but i've decided to collect them all in one permanent place.

First off i did not offended at the segment. I mean, both sides of my family have joked about my parents being a interracial couple at times,and its all good. That is what i was reminded of when seeing the segment. Interracial families(and people from them) can laugh at themselves from time to time,and as long as a person isn't obviously hateful about it or anything i don't think its a big deal for most interracial families/children.
 

What does annoy me is people who aren't from interracial families and never really cared about them before suddenly appointing themselves savior of them. Now, im not saying this applies to every single person who expressed offense at the segment, but i definitely feel like most of the conservatives participated in the backlash were like this. And speaking of of who participated in the backlash,there seemed to be a conspicuous lack of prominent interracial people getting to speak on this. Which frankly i find more insulting than the segment. People from interracial families can speak for ourselves.

I feel like the only reason Perry got attacked so much is because she's a black women. I mean, when the cheerios commercial with the interracial families got a bunch of backlash i didn't see many people standing up for it. The only mainstream coverage of it i could find was from MSNBC. And in the Phil Robertson interview that got so much attention for its homophobic comments,he also said some rather idiotic shit about blacks being happier pre-civil rights which didn't get much attention in comparison to the homophobic comments(Just to be clear, i think both statements deserved widespread condemnation). So yeah, im not sure i trust the sincerity of this baklash

With all that said, even though i don't think her on-air apology was necessary, i respect that she gave one that didn't fixate on intent unlike a lot of the ones given by public figures when they mess up. A recent example of that is the Ani Difranco apology,which seemed like a whole lot of words without much substance to them. On a related note, i can't remember the last time a white person gave a apology as sincere as Melissa's for offending black people.