The Race Card – Apparently Robots are not Immune
As a general rule, I try to refrain from discussing racial issues here.
The reason for that is the simple fact that I am not really qualified to comment on most things on topic, as my experience is somewhat limited. Furthermore, I live in an urban neighborhood (six months ago a drug dealer was murdered a block away from the house), and I have worked in a variety of lower income neighborhoods in major cities. This has obviously led to some rather unencouraging encounters with people of other ethnicities – especially the younger generations.
This hasn’t made a racist. I’ve met too many good people of all groups – young, old, rich, poor, etc. to apply blanket stereotypes and prejudices to everyone. But, I’ll be the first to admit that seeing a consistent pattern of how some people act and talk while within their own circles, and how it changes greatly when they’re alone or in a mixed bunch has skewed my views of certain members of society.
So I usually leave the subject alone. But sometimes things come up that are so ridiculous that there’s only one way to view them.
The front page of Yahoo.com has been a plentiful source for asinine things to write about – to the point that when I find myself uncharacteristically short on things that annoy me Yahoo is the first place I turn to for inspiration.
Yahoo has come through yet again.
Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues
Harmless comic characters or racist robots?
The buzz over the summer blockbuster “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” only grew Wednesday as some said two jive-talking Chevy characters were racial caricatures.
Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They’re forced to acknowledge that they can’t read. One has a gold tooth.
As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide comic relief. But their traits raise the specter of stereotypes most notably seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” was criticized as a caricature…
This is either a publicity stunt to get even more attention for this movie or the single worst case of playing the race card in the history of civilization.
Source: tnpsc.com
You know, race is still a serious subject in this country. Even though society has made many strides toward equality, and it’s easier to talk about than it once was, there are still a lot of injustices that occur on a daily basis. Using it to promote a movie is probably one of the most despicable things I can think of.
But it would actually be worse if someone were actually offended by this and spoke out as a result.
I haven’t seen the movie, but I can imagine that the dialogue they’re referring to is simply a case of some benign urban slang along with some intentionally bad grammar – I is, I be, true dat, etc (at what point it became hip to actually speak in dialects that guarantee you to sound like a total idiot is beyond me – I think that might be a subject for another blog post). I can’t picture a couple of CGI robots in a PG-13 movie calling each other niggas.
This is the problem. You can’t criticize dialogue that is considered socially acceptable BY THE PEOPLE WHO USE IT. You’re not allowed to be offended unless you get upset every time you hear it. Slang and urban speak is a reflection of personality, not race. By criticizing the characters in question, the author is demonstrating a more racist attitude by implying that only black people speak that way, which I’ve learned first hand is definitely not the case.
This article is everywhere – from DIGG to FoxNews. Dignifying the possiblility that this is a case of racism is absurd, and really halts racial progress. I think Morgan Freeman said it best, and I will leave it at that:
Reader Comments
Hi Mike! I can understand the point you’re making, but I’m not sure that I can agree without seeing the film first.
The thing is, there is a history of using caricatures of minorities as comic relief in films and it can be needlessly hurtful and offensive when there are other ways to be funny.
For all I know, it might not bother me in the film, but I’m not comfortable with telling other people what they are allowed to be offended by or not.
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for the comment. Here’s my position: Anyone who intentionally acts like an idiot loses the right to protest those who caricaturize and make light of them. Those members of society who talk the jive jibberish and sport the ‘grills’ and wear the pants that are so big they have to keep one hand on their belt at all time are the idiots I am referring to.
Like I said in the article, slang and urban speak and the dress styles represented by that culture is a reflection of personality, not race. Not all black people CHOOSE TO walk around with their ass hanging out of their pants speaking ‘ebonics’ (the most retarded term ever invented, mind you) and yelling and being all loud and obnoxious all the time – in fact, most don’t.
There’s nothing racist about making fun of that behavior in the form of ‘jive talking robots’. Choosing to be offended by such benign things exudes hypocrisy and undermines the argument when something offensive actually occurs.