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Stereotypes and memes and racism, oh my! [split thread]

Mal12345

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By the way, the original Will Smith meme said "Earf, Welcome to it." That's not even being presented as an actual quote from the movie.
 

Poindexter Arachnid

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Token black member chiming in.

I did not find the meme offensive at all.
Keep yer helmets on, kids.

Oh, and Will Smith is a cunt.
I wish those aliens had killed his black ass.
 
Last edited:

Bamboo

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...I didn't mention anything about cigars?

if the joke is that special then just enjoy it and correct the spelling. or if you really think the whole "lolcats" thing will make it funnier the change it to "welcum 2 urf" which would make it clearer what you're going for.

visualize cheesy badass will smith with a cigar with the slogan "Welcome to Earth." it's funny in a macho swagger bullshit kind of way. ha ha. it made me smile. have a laugh and move on with things.

it's not rocket science.
 

gromit

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I don't know that I'm qualified to speak to whether the meme is racist or not. Although I would tend to err on avoiding things that might be blatantly offensive or inappropriate, especially once other people have given reasonable explanations as to why something could be interpreted as such (including in this context).

Their reasoning boiled down to the weaker point that the meme's intended sense is ambiguous. However, it's never been posted to any racist threads. I posted one link here from another forum in which racist memes predominated. Then, although I am a "lazy" intp, I browsed around the internet and couldn't find a single example of the meme in question being used in a racial context.

However, the above is kind of sloppy reasoning. Many things are racially insensitive without being posted in a racist forum or used in an intentionally/overtly racial context.

Edit...
if the joke is that special then just enjoy it and correct the spelling. or if you really think the whole "lolcats" thing will make it funnier the change it to "welcum 2 urf" which would make it clearer what you're going for.

visualize cheesy badass will smith with a cigar with the slogan "Welcome to Earth." it's funny in a macho swagger bullshit kind of way. ha ha. it made me smile. have a laugh and move on with things.

it's not rocket science.

Pretty much this.
 

Ivy

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I posted that at the beginning of the other thread. Not sure why the meme and video weren't redirected here for the sake of clarity for those who weren't following the topic before it split. Now it's all jumblefucked. This is where it started: Movies that You Liked at First Viewing But then Began to Hate

I didn't move that post because it was on topic, and because putting the hose on the catfight was more pressing at the moment, and because I figured someone could post the link here again since it's incredibly fucking easy.
 

strawberries

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why do people see his race before they see that he is a human with a cigar in his mouth? it's pretty much impossible to make a thh sound when you can't close your mouth.

and if it's supposed to represent how black people talk in certain parts of the US why is that automatically deemed lesser than other american accents and inherently offensive because no one would want to talk like that?

the picture isn't of a random black person. it's will smith. why would they be making a joke about will smith sounding like he's from the south when he's from philly, and doesn't speak with an accent that sounds like a southern american accent? the joke has zero resonance because he doesn't actually sound like that, so the idea that it was intentionally racist whitie backslapping humour is pretty lame-arse and unlikely. or are all black people interchangeable without any other characteristics beside being black, so one black guy's accent is every black guy's accent? will has to be generic black symbolism guy not will smith with his own history, accent etc. srsly?

but please, continue getting your paternalistic panties knotted up for him - a ridiculously successful businessman/actor/producer/musician's behalf (who happens to be black) cos he clearly needs help and stuff.
 

Cellmold

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Honestly when I saw it, I assumed it was parodying the cigar in his mouth.

Of course my cultural sensitivities are bound up in how I experience individuals, not the melanin count of the skin. However there are plenty of examples of subtle under-the-surface bias and prejudice leading from racist ideas. After all that's where the notion of privilege comes from, but it only exists insofar as people have those subtle biases.

If this is one of them, then I missed it sorry. However reading through the thread, this is clearly something that is better understood if you are from the United States.

Although when it comes to socio-economic class issues...I have JUST the country to hail from!
 

Mal12345

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I don't know that I'm qualified to speak to whether the meme is racist or not. Although I would tend to err on avoiding things that might be blatantly offensive or inappropriate, especially once other people have given reasonable explanations as to why something could be interpreted as such (including in this context).



However, the above is kind of sloppy reasoning. Many things are racially insensitive without being posted in a racist forum or used in an intentionally/overtly racial context.

Edit...


Pretty much this.

The reason it's NOT sloppy is that Marm justified her own reasoning by stating outright that it was generally accepted to be racist/classist meme. I asked for a cite ("cite?"), and she never gave one. There is not a shred of evidence to support questioning the hilarity of the meme. And the only cite EJCC came up with was cracked.com's "guess" that it was a racist meme after I asked for a single piece of evidence. Come on, it was only someone's guess.
 

Mal12345

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Where's the original picture?

The ORIGINAL is right here.

hE2EE2F24


But there are variations all over the internet.
 

Mal12345

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Honestly when I saw it, I assumed it was parodying the cigar in his mouth.

Of course my cultural sensitivities are bound up in how I experience individuals, not the melanin count of the skin. However there are plenty of examples of subtle under-the-surface bias and prejudice leading from racist ideas. After all that's where the notion of privilege comes from, but it only exists insofar as people have those subtle biases.

If this is one of them, then I missed it sorry. However reading through the thread, this is clearly something that is better understood if you are from the United States.

Although when it comes to socio-economic class issues...I have JUST the country to hail from!

She called it racist and classist. Nobody would use Will Smith for a racist/classist purpose. But there was a really good example of this which I can't find online anymore. It was a picture of some black guy wading through the New Orleans Katrina flood carrying a huge bucket of KFC. The KFC bucket was photoshopped in there, and in the original picture of the guy he was carrying something else, bags of groceries maybe. I don't remember exactly. Wish I could find it again.

Found it.

kfcloot4wk.jpg


And the original -

Katrina-LootersAreBlack-GuyWBeerTue30Aug05-AP-DaveMartin.jpg
 

violet_crown

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This post was irresistible. Otherwise I'd be done with this increasingly inane thread.


why do people see his race before they see that he is a human with a cigar in his mouth? it's pretty much impossible to make a thh sound when you can't close your mouth.

and if it's supposed to represent how black people talk in certain parts of the US why is that automatically deemed lesser than other american accents and inherently offensive because no one would want to talk like that?

the picture isn't of a random black person. it's will smith. why would they be making a joke about will smith sounding like he's from the south when he's from philly, and doesn't speak with an accent that sounds like a southern american accent? the joke has zero resonance because he doesn't actually sound like that, so the idea that it was intentionally racist whitie backslapping humour is pretty lame-arse and unlikely. or are all black people interchangeable without any other characteristics beside being black, so one black guy's accent is every black guy's accent? will has to be generic black symbolism guy not will smith with his own history, accent etc. srsly?

but please, continue getting your paternalistic panties knotted up for him - a ridiculously successful businessman/actor/producer/musician's behalf (who happens to be black) cos he clearly needs help and stuff.

You've got it. The bolded is the joke. Right there. What's offensive is that despite the fact that there was nothing stereotypical either about the actor or the role he was playing the falsely attributed speech insinuates that he's just another poor, uneducated black man. The link between poor/uneducated and black is so strong that people actually misremember the line after the meme came out.

Let's do it this way: imagine instead of Will Smith in that role, it was Tom Cruise. Then imagine the Welcome to Earf meme came out. Nobody would find it funny or memorable. They'd know that Tom Cruise doesn't talk like that, and if he did it was just because he had a cigar in his mouth. People don't generally make jokes about the way people talk with cigars in their mouths because it's not inherently funny.

What is funny to some people is black people speaking in a way stereotypical to them. There's a long history of people parodying that from the minstrel show onwards. Beneath it all, there is something very fucked up about some people deriving pleasure from extremely wealthy and popular African American actor behaving in a way that they're comfortable with believing that blacks ought to. They're putting the nigger in his place.

This is why the meme is racist.
 

Tyrinth

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This post was irresistible. Otherwise I'd be done with this increasingly inane thread.




You've got it. The bolded is the joke. Right there. What's offensive is that despite the fact that there was nothing stereotypical either about the actor or the role he was playing the falsely attributed speech insinuates that he's just another poor, uneducated black man. The link between poor/uneducated and black is so strong that people actually misremember the line after the meme came out.

Let's do it this way: imagine instead of Will Smith in that role, it was Tom Cruise. Then imagine the Welcome to Earf meme came out. Nobody would find it funny or memorable. They'd know that Tom Cruise doesn't talk like that, and if he did it was just because he had a cigar in his mouth. People don't generally make jokes about the way people talk with cigars in their mouths because it's not inherently funny.

What is funny to some people is black people speaking in a way stereotypical to them. There's a long history of people parodying that from the minstrel show onwards. Beneath it all, there is something very fucked up about some people deriving pleasure from extremely wealthy and popular African American actor behaving in a way that they're comfortable with believing that blacks ought to. They're putting the nigger in his place.

This is why the meme is racist.

Jesus -F'ing- Christ. You are trying so hard to find racism where there isn't necessarily any. It's kind of ironic, actually; how people perpetuate racism by trying to make sure that none exists.
 

Qlip

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This post was irresistible. Otherwise I'd be done with this increasingly inane thread.




You've got it. The bolded is the joke. Right there. What's offensive is that despite the fact that there was nothing stereotypical either about the actor or the role he was playing the falsely attributed speech insinuates that he's just another poor, uneducated black man. The link between poor/uneducated and black is so strong that people actually misremember the line after the meme came out.

Let's do it this way: imagine instead of Will Smith in that role, it was Tom Cruise. Then imagine the Welcome to Earf meme came out. Nobody would find it funny or memorable. They'd know that Tom Cruise doesn't talk like that, and if he did it was just because he had a cigar in his mouth. People don't generally make jokes about the way people talk with cigars in their mouths because it's not inherently funny.

What is funny to some people is black people speaking in a way stereotypical to them. There's a long history of people parodying that from the minstrel show onwards. Beneath it all, there is something very fucked up about some people deriving pleasure from extremely wealthy and popular African American actor behaving in a way that they're comfortable with believing that blacks ought to. They're putting the nigger in his place.

This is why the meme is racist.

Excellent point. I'm alarmed by how people are so adamant to defend their ignorance in this thread.
 

violet_crown

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Jesus -F'ing- Christ. You are trying so hard to find racism where there isn't necessarily any. It's kind of ironic, actually; how people perpetuate racism by trying to make sure that none exists.

I laid out my assumptions pretty explicitly, and am indifferent to some internet yahoo who can't grapple with them directly. Point out where I went wrong in my assessment or keep your opinion to yourself.
 

Tyrinth

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I laid out my assumptions pretty explicitly, and am indifferent to some internet yahoo who can't grapple with them directly. Point out where I went wrong in my assessment or keep your opinion to yourself.

"Internet yahoo", huh? C'mon, you can do better. ;)

You went wrong as soon as you started to assume what other people would think about the meme with a different actor. It's just an image with text over it. Quit assuming that it's deeper than that; memes rarely are.

When viewing that image (the original, not the text taken out of context) the first thing that comes to mind for me is Smith and Goldblum sitting in the fighter in the mothership chomping on cigars because of how their speech changes. You could replace Smith with Goldblum and the meme would be fucking identical (aside from the fact that it's parodying Smith's line). Quit seeing racism where there isn't any. It gives people headaches.

It's a matter of perception. Of course you can see racism wherever the hell you please, but don't make assumptions about other's motives or thoughts. It's annoying.
 

violet_crown

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I'm assuming you're surprised because--big city guy that you are--the satire of Clueless is kinda obvious. Having been raised in a small Texas town by my church lady grandmother I was pretty unworldly as a kid, and lacked the frame of reference to get the jokes. For instance, I'd hear this exchange:

Amber: Ms. Stoeger, my plastic surgeon doesn't want me doing any activity where balls fly at my nose.
Dionne: Well, there goes your social life.

and be like..."I wonder why Dionne's making fun of her for enjoying sports in spare time..? Is tennis not cool? Oh god, I had no idea.
2hobd5k.png
" *franticly runs to take notes on what cool California teenagers in movie think*

Ten years later, of course, I could come back and be like, "Yeah. That joke is definitely about sex and blowjobs and stuff. Which I have totally experienced, btw.
1900ub.gif
"



That's my reasoning on that. I'm unsure, though, whether to be hurt or flattered that you haven't figured out I'm basically Butters Stotch underneath it all. Does that mean I no longer have to keep you around for pointers on how the cool kids do things? :alttongue:
 
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