Earlier this month, down in Chinatown NYC, some crazy parking cop mamed Twana Chapman tried to give Qiang Nian Zhu a parking ticket. Sounds pretty normal. After all, people get parking tickets all the time. Oh wait… Except this time:
Zhu still had a minute left on his parking pass
Zhu’s wife was at the MuniMeter buying another pass
Chapman decided to give Zhu a ticket anyway
Zhu tried to cover his registration number so Chapman couldn’t see it… She responded by shouting at him and smacking him in the face with her scanner
Chapman supposedly then started shouting “You f—— Chinese, go back where you came from. All of you f—— Chinese,” at the crowd that was gathering
Zhu gets ARRESTED for some nonsense (obstructing administrative blah blah blah), spends 9 hours in jail, and is now facing criminal charges
All of this is captured on security camera footage
Wtf. So the moral of the story is, even if you’re parked legally, cops can give you a ticket. If you argue, you get smacked in the head and arrested. Awesome.
Just for your info, wikipedia theorizes that the etymology of the above phrase is as follows:
It is unclear exactly how this expression came to be, but the consensus is that it is based on Native Americans having a distinctly different sense of property ownership as opposed to those of European ancestry. One theory holds that early European settlers in North America misinterpreted aid and goods they received from Native Americans as “gifts,” when in fact they were intended to be offered in trade, as many tribes operated economically by some form of barter system, or a gift economy where reciprocal giving was practiced.[6] It is also theorized that this stereotype may have been coined or exaggerated by the conquering European groups to denigrate the native people as dishonest and thereby justify their conquest.[6] A popular myth started by Europeans tells of early settlers trading firearms to a group of Native Americans for maize, who then promptly turned the guns on the Europeans and reclaimed their crop.
Just something to think about the next time you use or hear that phrase.
I don’t know why I’m still surprised to hear about this sort of crazy racist nonsense… But here it is:
A country club called The Valley Club in the suburbs of Philly is in some deep shit after they turned away a group of black and hispanic inner-city kids. These kids had come to the club to use their swimming pool through an agreement with Creative Steps, Inc., a summer day camp. Despite the fact that the kids had paid all the necessary dues, they were turned away from the club once the folks who worked there figured out that, oh no!, they’re not WHITE! *GASP*
What was the response from the country club?
“There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club,” John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement. – NBC Philly
A few days ago, IvyGate posted a video by a Yale a cappella group called Mixed Company. The gist of it is this: 4 Asian college students making a parody video based on Beyonce’s song, “Single Ladies.” Except they replaced “Single” with “Asian.” … and replaced pop lyrics with, erm… sort of offensive lyrics. See for yourself (brace yourself for the particularly ridiculous subtitled last verse):
I’m all for ironic, making-fun-of-stereotypes-and-those-who-use/believe-them humor… But this just isn’t that funny. I think the problem is with the execution. I think what they were trying to do was good… But they were just trying too damn hard without good enough results.
In short, it’s not quite over-the-top enough to place it in the “we’re clearly making fun of Asian stereotypes, not reinforcing them” category. People aren’t laughing at the stereotypes because they’re too busy either laughing at the performance or being uncomfortable with the subject matter. Judging by the comments on IvyGate, I think people are probably pissed because hits close to home without being relatable enough to be funny.
This really saddens me… Beacuse I love Snickers. Especially the new dark chocolate variety. Mmmmmm…
But man, this is terrible. I’m sure most of you have seen the new ad campaign featuring “clever” slogans such as:
“Sign up for a Hungerectomy”
“Enroll in Chocollege”
“Learn to speak Snacklish”
“Book an appointment with Doctor Feedzmore”
and my personal favorite: “Ride on The Ate Train”
Now, most of these ads, while kind of dumb, are mostly harmless (unless you’re really offended by sheer dumbness of it all, which case, perhaps you’ve been harmed. And for that, I’m sorry…). However, this new ad was sighted on a giant highway billboard on I-95, outside of Philly:
Sign Up For A Racial Sensitivity-otomy
COME. ON. Really? Chew Sum Yum? Did I sit on a flux capacitor and get zapped in the ass with 1.21 gigawatts of electricity? I haven’t seen this kind shit so widely broadcast since the days of Long Duk Dong. Not that being whispered quietly to oneself makes this sort of thing any less wrong… But for a giant corporation (who, as I mentioned earlier, makes some very tasty treats) to use such a terrible racial stereotype-driven idea for a somewhat silly but otherwise innocuous ad campaign is just very disappointing and upsetting.
I’d shake my fist, but I’m too hungry. Perhaps I will get a hungerectomy from someone other than (sniff) Dr. Feedzmore…
-fs
PS – As a side note, I saw someone on Facebook once get angry about the use of the term “hungerectomy” because she thought it was a play on the word “hysterectomy.” I really wanted to respond to the comment, but I didn’t know her so I didn’t… But dude, in case you are reading this, the suffix “-ectomy” refers to a procedure in which some part of your body is removed (e.g. appendectomy, tonsilectomy, thyroidectomy, etc). Outside of the word beginning with an “h,” there really isn’t any other similarity to the term “hystorectomy.” I’m all for getting angry at stupid shit. But you kind of missed the target with that one. Pump your breaks, man.
As if the Jonas Brothers weren’t awful/sickening enough (“show me what you got, Stevie“? Really?), a photo recently surfaced of Joe Jonas, one of the Jonas Brothers, doing what is turning out to be all the rage these days, the chinky eye:
Joe "Ass" Jonas
Will someone PLEASE give this 19-year old moron a swift kick in the nads??
Okay, I couldn’t resist posting about this craziness. According to TMZ, a lady named Lucie Kim out in LA has filed a class action lawsuit against Miley Cyrus for mocking Asian Americans with her “goofy” picture.
Now that in and of itself is pretty hilarious. But the best part is that Kim is claiming to represent the roughly 1 million Asians in LA County. She’s also saying that Goofy Pose Cyrus owes each and every one of them $4,000. So the grand total comes to… 4 BILLION DOLLARS!
Yes, this is a crazy. Yes, it’ll needlessly gum up the legal system for a bit. And yes, it’s crazy. But man, for once, I really wish I lived in LA! I want my money, Miley!!
For those of you who aren’t aware, Billy Ray’s little ray of sunshine decided it’d be funny to pull the chinky eye maneuver with some friends. The picture spread across the interwebs like wildfire, even prompting the OCA to release an official statement. Then, like clockwork, we got the obligatory celebrity apology. Y’know, sometimes (rarely) these things are pretty genuine and heartfelt. They generally don’t serve to excuse the behavior, but at least you get the idea that the offender feels bad.
Then there are “apologies” like this one that Miley “Bigot” Cyrus made on her fansite:
“I’ve also been told there are some people upset about some pictures taken of me with friends making goofy faces! Well, I’m sorry if those people looked at those pics and took them wrong and out of context! In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity! I was simply making a goofy face. When did that become newsworthy? It seems someone is trying to make something out of nothing to me. If that would of [sic] been anyone else, it would of been overlooked! I definitely feel like the press is trying to make me out as the new ‘BAD GIRL’!”
You have GOT to be kidding me.This is clearly not an apology, but was worded to kind of / sort of / almost sound like one.This is the kind of crap little children do when they get caught fucking around.They get defensive and they make excuses.She “apologizes” for the people who looked at the pictures and “took them wrong.”(wait, so did they take the picture wrong?How many people actually took the picture? I’m confused, Miley!) Normally you’d apologize for your actions, not other people’s actions. This statement essentially amounts to a big FUCK YOU to everyone that got pissed about her actions.
The sad thing (well, one of the sad things) is that she doesn’t even realize (or admit) that she was being offensive: “I was simply making a goofy face.” I see, Miley, you were simply making a goofy face. Brilliant defense.Look, even if this was some sort of inside joke THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT OKAY. Perhaps she meant to say “I was simply making a gooky face”? Hmm…
And yes, of course… Someone is trying to make something out of nothing. Right.It’s nothing to offend shit tons of Asian (and non-Asian) people everywhere. Good work.
Stop giving southern folks a bad name, Miley.
Oh, also, Adriel Luis of iLL-Literacy put his two-cents in via youtube. Pretty hilarious and well worth the view.
UPDATE: Saw Miley perform on the Grammys last night… She looked/sounded like a 12-year old trying to win a karaoke contest at a local dive bar. Seriously, Miley… Grimacing and waving your hand around does not make you sound any better. Nor does your awful intonation and timbre. Poor Taylor Swift did her best to carry the duet, but man, there is just no excuse for that level of shitty singing… Certainly not at the Grammys.
Posted by fistshaker 
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Posted by fistshaker 
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