Olympics / Aug 11, 2008 / 1:51 pm
This is Not Good for Spain
From MSNBC.com right now:
Spain’s Olympic basketball teams seem to need a lesson in political correctness, evidenced by a full-page advertisement that appeared in the sports daily Marca, the country’s best-selling newspaper.
According to The Guardian, the advertisement features a photo of the men’s team and one of the women’s squad with each player, including Los Angeles Lakers forward Pau Gasol, making slit-eyed gestures.
The teams are posing on a basketball court decorated with a picture of a Chinese dragon, and each player appears to be pulling back the skin on either side of their eyes.
You can check out the reported image of the ad HERE.
Source: MSNBC
August 11th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Michorizo says:
Snoop Dogg has been pulling that same look for years and noone ever called him out on it.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Coop says:
The Spanish are renowned for their racism, particularly evidenced by their sporting endeavours. Never mind, it’s only because they’re a bunch of lazy uneducated greaseballs!
See what I did there?
August 11th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Damon says:
ok, a little bit inappropriate, but we want to talk pol. correctness and mention cjina in the same sentence?
who cares.
lets play ball
August 11th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
fallinup says:
I don’t think harm was meant to be made here by Spain. Maybe it’s just that sick sense of humor. Isn’t this the same country that Runs with Bulls, and has festivals where everyone throws food at each other???
Not saying the photo is right. But hey…It’s Spain.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Celts Fan says:
Posted this and the link to it in the Ricky Rubio thing like 2 minutes ago. The Chinese will make them disappear. Bullet holes count as dying from natural causes right?
August 11th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Zibala says:
Spain are always racist. When our football team (england) play theirs they always make monkey noises
August 11th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Homeless J says:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
I think this is hilarious, but that’s probably because the olympics aren’t in America and they’re not eating hamburgers and wearing fat suits in the picture.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
doc says:
Well good for us when we get that good homecourt advantage. They gonna be slanting they assholes shut from this good raping they about to get.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
heavy d says:
The Chinese government is probably fine with it. Makes them look sympathetic. Now if the Spanish team wore masks over their mouths or Free Tibet t-shirts then it would be on.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Kevin K says:
why does paul gasol even bother using his hands to make his eyes look slinted when he has slinted, ugly, lazy eyes from the start. hope USA kill them spaniards in the olympics
August 11th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Homeless J says:
How does one go about slanting their asshole shut?
Is it anything like Martin Lawrence’s prison butt clench technique?
August 11th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Tha Boddy says:
SMH someone had to know they would get the green light or they would not have ever thought of taking the picture. With so many snitches around the world if it was gonna be a secret it would have not lasted long…Viva La U.S.A
August 11th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
shake&bake says:
I wonder who had this dumbass idea and then how do you get 15 grown men to agree and say, “Wow, what a great idea for a picture!”
August 11th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Homeless J says:
snitches? It’s a promotional picture. they took an ad out in the paper with it.
I cant think of anyone who’s ever committed a crime and then took an ad out in the paper saying I DID IT.
like “uh oh we better call Carmelo because dudes are snitching on spain!”
August 11th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
marcus the great says:
lol i think thats funny as shit
August 11th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Kermit the Washington says:
@ Zibala…
Doesn’t the Spanish soccer team make “monkey/gorilla noises” at EVERY team they play??
August 11th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Alex from AZ says:
I’m an asian guy myself and find it amazing that there isn’t a single person in mainstream American culture that ever loudly voices criticism against asian sterotyping. If something like this happened in America targeting African Americans you can bet it would be making headlines all across the world and rightly so. I def. feel for all the Chinese-Spanish who had to look at that tasteless image.
RANT. I realize that I’m taking a Spanish ad and applying it to an American point of view which is def. out of context. Hopefully, this image will catch on and the Spanish team will take some heat for it. Thats why you should pose for stupid pictures, once its out there you can’t take it back.
August 11th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Alex from AZ says:
I’m an asian guy myself and find it amazing that there isn’t a single person in mainstream American culture that ever loudly voices criticism against asian sterotyping. If something like this happened in America targeting African Americans you can bet it would be making headlines all across the world and rightly so. I def. feel for all the Chinese-Spanish who had to look at that tasteless image.
RANT. I realize that I’m taking a Spanish ad and applying it to an American point of view which is def. out of context. Hopefully, this image will catch on and the Spanish team will take some heat for it. Thats why you shouldn’t pose for stupid pictures, once its out there you can’t take it back.
August 11th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
THE ROCK says:
If you smell what the rock is cooking…
August 11th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Damon says:
@zibala
they also did that this summer in austria to england?
oh well, i forgot…
but come on now, some idiots make these noises, you cant call them racist in general. and this picture doesn’t mean they are racist either.
August 11th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Jeronimo says:
@Zibala,
Given that you seem a sensitive individual and an English person, it’s easy to assume you’ve sometimes heard the words “ni**er”, “nip”, “paki”, “ch*nk”, “sheep-shagger” (referring to Welsh men), etc., etc. come from the lips of an Englishman. Does it make ground to say “England are always racist”? I don’t think so, either. Having said so, yes, there are some racists c*nts in Spain, but to say an entire country is racist, that’s way too much.
Moving on this subject, I can’t judge, since I’m not Asian [I'm a Spaniard, obviously] but let me assure you that if, say, the Chinese squad would dress up as bullfighters, or wear wigs and fake beards à-la-Gasol for a picture promoting a tournament played in Spain I would be laughing for a good while.
August 11th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Shannequa says:
What’s shakin’ Dime? Y’all put up some real goodass articles, my man.
(T)HUG4EVA.
August 11th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
daquest?on says:
this is hilarious it aint racists its funny…yall take all of this stuff wayyyyy too seriously
August 11th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
BALLZ says:
Sorry daquestion, I agree people take shit way too seriously, but this really isn’t funny. Bet your sweet ass if they’d put on black face to mock team USA Jesse and Al and them boys would be going fucking nuts. They may not have meant to be racist, but that shit ain’t cool. Can’t believe one person on the team didn’t say “Wait a minute, the rest of the world may not share our sense of humor…”
August 11th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Manny says:
Jeronimo,
I don’t think the analogies you drew work very well. Dressing up as a bullfighter isn’t the same as slanting your eyes. I’m not sure if you can see that, but not all Spaniards are bullfighters. It’s something they choose to do. Chinese people ARE people who have those eyes. It’s not a choice or a profession.
I’ve never been to Spain, but seeing how these players and the media seem not to give a damn, I’m forced to conclude that racism is quite rampant and tolerated in Spain. I’ll probably skip it on my next trip to Europe.
August 11th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
dapro says:
This wasn’t funny it was tasteless on Spain’s part
I was a bad choice for a joke. I don’t think they were intending to be racist but it wasn’t smart either.
Another thing, every time something happens that is sensitive to another race that is not African American-stop looking to us for sensitivity as if we can empathize with every cause. Our anger stems from more than a picture, we actually lost millions of lives due to racism
When you experience 400+ of racism, rape, brutality and inhumane treatment then holla at me.
August 11th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Manny says:
@ Dapro,
Pretty much every (non-caucasian) civilazation that was colonized by Europe has been through that.
August 11th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
dapro says:
Manny
While true many (non-caucasians) civilizations experienced similar treatment but it’s not to the extent of Africans or African Americans.
I don’t want to turn it into a race arguement. Point is I just don’t want to be the measuring stick for racism as a black man.
August 11th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Jack says:
Manny - I hope Spain is able to bear the loss of your visit on your next trip to Europe. I hope the Spanish tourist industry does not crumble without your patronage.
August 11th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
fiyaman says:
I agree with Dapro…yes I think it was racist gesture (probably more so because it from Spain where they are known it be racist) I also dont like everyone group that gets discriminated trying to compare themselves to black. Yes everyone has been discriminated against but blacks have had it worst and still get discriminated against left and right.
The only people that stand up for black people is black people. When another grp faces discrimination everyone is in uproar and if a black person doesnt raise hell then ‘we are accused of being racist or not having sympathy.’
We have to fight our own battles. I already see people here mntioning Jesse and AL ( not a fan of theirs but still they stand up when needed) .. everyone needs to have someone on their side to take up issues for them.. Jessa and AL cant come to the rescue of every grp (then what ?everyone says they are looking for the camera)
August 11th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
nola says:
completely agreed alex. looking at this picture gave me two reactions. i typically take stereotypes lightly because more often than not, it’s used humorously. however, i do believe it’s a double standard that asian stereotypes are always hilarious to everyone, ie. small eyes (among other things…) math nerd, etc, yet if i posted here and talked about the massive amounts of watermelon/koolaid parties african americans throw, i’d be immediately called a racist.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
AB_40 says:
I don’t know if it’s really racist or a bad bad joke but they’ll take some heat for it. If they’d all get dark makeup on they face so they black with black lipstick and stuff what would happen then?
Everybody makes rascist remarks from time to time…
EVERY SINGLE ONE of us has one time in their life made fool out of another persons way of talking or doing… that is normal you laugh at other people but you don’t do it on a big stage like this… you can put everything on line these days so things like this are dangerous and DUMB.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Three Stacks says:
AB_40, making yourself up like Mammy with lipstick and makeup and that photo aren’t even on the same level.
Nola, I don’t think anyone would call you racist, black folk DO throw a crazy amount of chicken/watermelon/kool-aid parties. I added chicken to your list for factual reasons.
It’s like everyone has a kneejerk reaction to these kinda things. It’s gotta be either racist or funny. I don’t find the picture to be either. It’s not that I find it offensive, I just don’t see the humour in it. They could at least be a bit more creative if they wanna piss off a billion people.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Manny says:
@ Fiyaman/Dapro:
I don’t think either of you have lived life outside of your own shoes (and neither have I), so to subjectively say who has had it the hardest (over the course of centuries, no less) doesn’t make much sense to me, nor do I think it’s very useful.
@ Jack(off)
I bet you voted for George W. Bush.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Alex from AZ says:
Yeah, my feelings toward this picture are very much along the lines of “Spain you can do better then that” but just looking at Spain and pointing a finger is silly, if you just take a step back and look at the Asian stereotypes prevalent in American media, what Spain does is pretty ordinary. Maybe, being half Asian, I am hypersensitive when I notice something not politically correct (doesn’t mean I’m always offended at them) but I would challenge any of you readers to be mindful and analytical next time you see any Asian character in the TV, movies or whatever, because, more often then not, they aren’t depicted in the most socially flattering manner. What’s worse is that Asian people don’t seem to care at all, (or at least enough to garner any attention) which confuses the heck out of me.
John Cho and Kal Penn for Life.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Young Lebron 23 says:
Racist, depends on who you’re asking. Do I care no. I do it sometimes. What’s next Andrei Kirlienko gets mad that someone shoots a Russian with an AK-47?
August 11th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Amar says:
whatever, some brazilian soccer players did the same stuff during the world cup when it was over in japan in 2006 . . .
August 11th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
yoda says:
well, this reminds me of shaq and his kung fu comments about yao, few years ago. it was wierd sense of humor, that some find funny and other find it offensive.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
daquest?on says:
if u ask me it looks like a sign of friendship and solidarity, trying to emulate the other culture, keep in mind that they is a dragon sign infront of them. Now if there was something written that actually made fun of chinese ppl then that would be racist.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Big V says:
^^^
I either missed the joke or you’re the stupidest mofo ever.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Alex from AZ says:
If they were only doing it as a sign of solidarity or cultural appreciation they could have chosen an infinite number of other things that didn’t toe the line of being culturally offensive.
Trying to extrapolate out deeper meaning behind their pose is silly because, I would guess there is a 99% chance that the photog just said “make yourself look like you have slanted eyes” and I’m also 99% positive that if you asked the players on the Spanish team if their intentions were to offend, they would say no. I would also add, in response to what others have written that holding another country to a different standard when it comes to race is understandable. America is a privileged nation when it comes to our acceptance and embracement of different races and cultures (relatively speaking of course) and one can’t hold a grudge against a country that doesn’t come from the same “melting pot” (in a historical sense) that the USA does.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
daquest?on says:
@ big V what does my opinion have to do with being stupid? in reality i dont care because im not spanish nor am i chinese
August 11th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
daquest?on says:
@ alex the spanish are weird ppl, like someone else said they run with bulls for fun
August 11th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
dapro says:
There is a clear difference between racist and ignorant
This is more ignorant for the simple fact the intent was notto hurt another group of people but to make an attempt at humor through a gesture, comment, etc….
Racist would be doing this with the pure intent of insulting or inflicting mental or physical harm
August 11th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Three Stacks says:
I’m not even so sure about the whole small eye thing. Are they really that small? I had an Asian girlfriend (Korean, not Chinese) whose eyes were huge. And so far watching the Olympics, the Chinese folk’s eyes seem pretty normal sized to me.
If they can get Pau and Yao doing the eye thing together, THAT would be funny.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Dagomar says:
dapro: the Asian-American experience has its own share of suffering, and that before the internment camps of the Second World War. The building of the railroads especially was done with Chinese blood. But it’s useless to compare who’s had it worst. That’s like saying no African American should complain about racism to a Jewish person, because Jews went through the holocaust. Come on.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
daquest?on says:
wtf ?? y r u talking about suffering and ww2?? u are definately taking this too serious
August 11th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
schoops says:
daquestion… you may not be racist, but you’re ignorant as shit. Mocking the way someone looks NATURALLY just isn’t cool. Yeah people make jokes about stereotypes, that shit happens. what’s Fu*ked up about this is that it’s done by a political body (they rep spain) and was published in a national paper. Course this shit happens all the time, everywhere, but spain flaunts it. And the friendship/solidarity thing… i just hope your humor didn’t translate on a mesage bored, otherwise you are a real dumb F*ck.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
schoops says:
daquestion… you may not be racist, but you’re ignorant as shit. Mocking the way someone looks NATURALLY just isn’t cool. Yeah people make jokes about stereotypes, that shit happens. what’s Fu*ked up about this is that it’s done by a political body (they rep spain) and was published in a national paper. Course this shit happens all the time, everywhere, but spain flaunts it. And the friendship/solidarity thing… i just hope your humor didn’t translate on a mesage bored, otherwise you are a real dumb F*ck. o well.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
daquest?on says:
@ schoops what i said about friendship and solidarity was not a joke i was dead serious but i think yall are the dumb fucks that take this pic was too seriously
August 11th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
ugly_fish says:
f*king Spaniards! I thought Jose Calderon was cool. We should shave off our pubes and glue it to our face so we look like Caveman Gasol and the rest of those grease balls as revenge.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
daquest?on says:
and how am i ignorant??? im probably receiving a better education than you and some people here, i know 3 languages to perfection how much do u know?
August 11th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Three Stacks says:
LOL @ ^^^^^
Ignorance actually has nothing to do with how smart you are. The fact that you so readily flaunt your education and the fact that you know 3 languages to perfection, that could be construed as being ignorant.
August 11th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Three Stacks says:
@ ugly_fish
If you feel like gluing your pubes to your face, go ahead. I’m not so sure how that’s so vengeful, though. They get you upset, and you end up gluing pubes to your face? Sounds like lose-lose, LOL.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:59 am
daquest?on says:
ahahahahhahahahhhahaha ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
August 12th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Jones says:
@ daquest?on:
You really think you’re getting a better education than most of us?! Your ignorance, stupidity, and conceit is unprecedented. You can speak 3 languages “perfectly,” yet you can’t even spell “definitely” correctly! Yeah, I’m sure you’re quite the linguist. Oh, and I peeped your myspace page; you should have mentioned that you’re also a “song writter.” Idiot!
August 12th, 2008 at 1:14 am
daquest?on says:
@ jones.. that songwritter shit in myspace is an inside joke between me and my friends
August 12th, 2008 at 2:18 am
Jones says:
@ daquest?on:
Well, at least spell it correctly. It’s “writer,” not “writter.” Unless, the inside joke is to misspell words.
August 12th, 2008 at 2:41 am
daquest?on says:
it was supposed to be exactly like it was writen ooopsss i forgot its “written”…hahaha dont hate, don’t you have anything else to do than look into my myspace and find stuff to hate on??
August 12th, 2008 at 2:58 am
karan says:
hahahaha… thats funny
fuck political correctness
August 12th, 2008 at 3:07 am
daquest?on says:
finally someone that agrees with me
August 12th, 2008 at 3:47 am
mighty says:
Come on guyz, I am French, so please take a picture with your Road to redemption team rocking a “baguette” and a “beret” and i won’t be offended, even if this is the most oldschool cliché about France… and this photo can not fall in any f**king way into “racism” category…
You’ll never get away with this racism issue if you already fall for this kind of thing…
August 12th, 2008 at 4:28 am
AK47 says:
@ yoda
I was going to bring up Shaq’s coments on Yao…no one made a big fuss about it…how do you say double-standard in chinese? and in spanish?
I really think that the race issue is big in America, but please don’t try to bring your american mindset onto something that has nothing to do with it. As ackward as this picture is, do you realize that the perception of the what to do and what not to do may be different elsewhere? However, I do understand that Asian people may find this offensive and that the spanish were careless to say the least with that picture.
And finally, for all the guys hating on Spain, this blog is not a place to rant about your patriotism…had Spain not been fighting for gold in this olympics, I don’t think you would have made all those coments about this picture. Instead, go to Spain, see how people live and treat people there (bad and good), make up your mind and come back tell us! Talking about stereotypes is the worst thing…and it doesn’t help to change the way people think.
BTW, I’m not Spanish
August 12th, 2008 at 4:45 am
Three Stacks says:
Just to make this clear, a bunch of white folk from England making fun of a bunch of white folk from Spain, that’s not racism. That’s just two countries hating on each other. Same with Americans and the French, and whatever else. So that baguette and beret picture wouldn’t qualify.
Race has to do w/ skin color. If the Japanese athletes got together and took a picture like the Spaniards did…well, that would be one ridiculous picture, but it wouldn’t be considered racist, not in the least.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:21 am
AK47 says:
@ Three Stacks
Although I agree with you about the fact that the baguette and beret picture wouldn’t be seen as offensive, I think you’re wrong about the rest: I don’t like to bring this up, but the Nazis did classify races within the whites. They considered that the Slavs (people from Russia, Yougoslavia…) were inferior to Aryans. Yes those are differents races and yes there can be racism between people that apparently look alike.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:26 am
M Intellect says:
This is blatantly racist. If Spain wore afro’s, plumped up there lips and flattened they’re noses they would’ve got D-Blocked. No question.
They always do this racist shit. They did it to Samuel Eto’o when he was playing for their marquee team and one of the best players in their league.
They did it to Lewis Hamilton because he served Fernando Alonso.
They did it to the whole England Football team.
Some dudes out there even tried to run me and my boy over out there because they saw us leavin’ the clubs with some Spanish chicks. (We both still broke the chicks backs though. LOL)
I’m not saying Spanish people as a whole are racist or that the majority are, but Spain always seem to have some racist shit popping off.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Brock says:
I definitely agree with M Intellect. I’m never one to take things like this seriously, but there would have been an outrage if the Olympics were being held in Africa and a team decided to paint their skin and wear afros in an ad.
But because they’re just making fun of asians, nobody is making a big deal out of it. Why is it that blacks seem to brush off racism against other races and make something out of nothing when it concerns their own (Lebron James & Giselle magazine cover)?
August 12th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Suciniac says:
Apparently the CPC allowed this photo to be taken and published.If the Chinese government of all people didn’t have any problems with it,I don’t know why so many people here have their panties in a twist.If this were in Japan and the Spanish team dresses up as samurais or ninjas would it be racist??Chill people I don’t see how this is racist anymore than the Giselle-Lebron cover.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:31 am
yaks says:
Fuck the Spanish basketball team!
August 13th, 2008 at 2:48 am
Acascarla says:
Sólo una mente enferma es capaz de ver racismo en esto. Sólo una sociedad enferma como la anglosajona necesita llamar afroamericno al negro, mientras sigue llamando blanco al blanco, porque han conseguido que la palabra negro tenga un sentido negativo y vergonzoso. Para ser equitativos, no estaría mal que a los blancos empezáramos a llamarlos euro-americanos. Sólo el ámbito anglosajón se apropia del nombre de América para adjudicárselo a los Estados Unidos y llama a lo demás “Las Américas”.
Señores, en mi país, si las olimpiadas fueran en África y se hiciera un anuncio de la selección ataviada con vestimentas africanas, nunca sería tomado como una falta de respeto hacia los africanos, sino como un homenaje.
Yo, de pequeño, me he estirado muchas veces los ojos para jugar a los chinos… y el presidente de vuestro país (y el mío) se ha vestido con trajes típicos de la nación en la que se realizaba la cumbre de turno.
El muestrario de estereotipos con el que muchos pretenden sentar verdades aquí demuestra dónde está el nivel cultural USA.
Y si nadie entiende lo que escribo, salgan por una vez en la vida de sus camisas y aprendan algo distinto de lo que han aprendio cuando nacieron.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Givous says:
You can’t be serious, guys! In Spain that gesture is just for fun, they are only to blame for having been poorly informed if that advertisign campaign were intended to be released in China. I had no idea that gesture could be offensive, and I bet they dindn’t know, otherwise they just wouldn’t have done it. Can you imagine it if they were showing a stretched middle finger????
And in the end, how on earth can you just think of applying your US-point-of-view to everyone else over the world??? This is an advertising picture shot by request of a Spanish Sponsor… Oh God! You are not alone in this world, in fact you are only three hundred million people out of six trousand million! Oh, and most Spanish ARE NOT racists and feel shame at bullfighting, we have far better ways to have fun.