Gifs and ethnicity / "digital blackface", etc.

Barnacle said:
I usually just choose a random skin tone when the options pop up. Do people really choose emojis that look closest to themselves?!
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my Asian and black friends all use the darker skin tone emojis. Because why would they use the paler skin one? Surely it’s about what you recognise and identify with. Why would a black person for instance choose a white emoji when there’s a black emoji there? The issue is more that the white emoji is even a default. You should have to select a default in settings and not let your phone assume you are white.

that’s a WHOLE OTHER issue to gifs. Because gifs represent a story that reflects your mood/reaction, rather than an emoji which reflects you.
 
This bit of the article gave me pause:

As cultural critic and scholar Dr. Lauren Michele Jackson writes, the overrepresentation of Black faces in reaction GIFs is inextricably tied to the white gaze’s perception of Black emotional expression—namely, that it is bigger, louder, and overly dramatic... This sense of exaggeration implies a certain amount of performativity, which, in turn, is tied to a deeper, uglier history: blackface minstrel shows. Archetypal stock characters in these shows—Sambos, Mammies, Zip Coons, and Jim Crows (yes, that Jim Crow)—were frequently portrayed by white actors who darkened their faces with burnt cork or face paint (a theatrical practice that has endured into the present day) and played their characters with emotions hyperbolised for humour to the point of buffoonery.

And even something as seemingly innocuous as the gif Tisch posted takes on a different kind of slant when you consider it in those terms (to me at least)

Suomi said:
I don’t think it’s a problem on Moopy because Moopy is an intelligent site with well-intentioned comedians and attention-seekers who understand, for instance, the subtle genius of every Natalie Gordienko facial movement. I think dub’s opening post is more about the Internet generally, and the potential laziness and insensitivity of using the same gifs.
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WELLLLLLLL even well-intentioned people can unwittingly take part in behaviour that is ultimately harmful. So basically yes I did mean Moopy. :basil:

Anyway, I don't have the answers and I'm not completely sure what I even think about it, so don't worry about me judging your gif choices going forward everyone :SarahSideEye:
 
Phoenix said:
I think there’s something to be said when a white person keeps using gifs of black people to provide humor.
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I suppose it depends on context. If it’s a black person doing something intentionally funny then surely there’s no issue with who uses it or when as it’s a joke designed to be broadcast.
 
Good fucking grief, when will this racial madness stop?

We now can’t identify with people or characters from another race?
 
No, and I don’t want to. The idea of it is more than enough. I don’t believe in this culturally racial segregation that is going on.
 
The idea that black people only create black characters for black people and white people shouldnt use gifs of black people as a result is, in my opinion, far more damaging than the alleged act its self.
 
@dUb for what it's worth I find the points genuinely interesting and will read the article. My points were a way of discussion not argument.

Still not sure I completely agree I need to check myself every time before posting a pic/gif i simply find funny, but the fact that I've never even thought about it I do find interesting and the question about should I/should I have not at least demonstrated a bit of sensitivity I am pondering.
 
dUb said:
:eyes:
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Tyra Banks Judging You GIF
 
funky said:
my Asian and black friends all use the darker skin tone emojis. Because why would they use the paler skin one? Surely it’s about what you recognise and identify with. Why would a black person for instance choose a white emoji when there’s a black emoji there? The issue is more that the white emoji is even a default. You should have to select a default in settings and not let your phone assume you are white.

that’s a WHOLE OTHER issue to gifs. Because gifs represent a story that reflects your mood/reaction, rather than an emoji which reflects you.
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I just don't think I've ever thought about emojis that deeply. It's important there is diversity in them, but is it bad that I sometimes click the dark skinned ones for no real reason?
 
Tisch said:
@dUb for what it's worth I find the points genuinely interesting and will read the article. My points were a way of discussion not argument.
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Didn't think for a second you were being argumentative! I don't have the answers and I'm ALL FOR a discussion involving people who can be arsed to consider other points of view xo
 
big ron said:
The idea that black people only create black characters for black people and white people shouldnt use gifs of black people as a result is, in my opinion, far more damaging than the alleged act its self.
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No one has said that. Even the article says that people should examine why they use these black gifs all the time. It doesn’t say stop.

Your response seems to be about a whole other topic that no one, other than RS, has mentioned.
 
Barnacle said:
I just don't think I've ever thought about emojis that deeply. It's important there is diversity in them, but is it bad that I sometimes click the dark skinned ones for no real reason?
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I definitely see the difference between a gif where the reaction is being conveyed and an emoji where you’re representing yourself. Most POC I see or interact with use non-white skin tone for their emojis. And I actually think that’s cool. Specially if it annoys @RaspberrySwirl :eyes:
 
I can honestly say that I barely notice if gifs I post are by someone black or white... I mean obviously I know what race they are, but it’s never a deliberate thing.

I’m not against a discussion, but this is not really a discussion (and I mean the article, not you @dUb ) but another one of these ”if you don’t agree with this then you’re a racist” dead end conversations.
 
Barnacle said:
I just don't think I've ever thought about emojis that deeply. It's important there is diversity in them, but is it bad that I sometimes click the dark skinned ones for no real reason?
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It’s not bad per se because there is no intent to offend. But just consider that you haven’t thought about it deeply because you’re a white person and western technology has historically had ‘white’ defaults and we are shaped by that. It’s good to understand why.

Again, completely different to gifs.
 
It's amazing how a topic - mostly actually raised by black people, it should be noted - immediately gets people who aren't of that race getting histrionic about how they can't do anything anymore and that actually, the real racism is mentioning it in the first place. Chill out a little?
 
funky said:
It’s not bad per se because there is no intent to offend. But just consider that you haven’t thought about it deeply because you’re a white person and western technology has historically had ‘white’ defaults and we are shaped by that. It’s good to understand why.

Again, completely different to gifs.
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Am I allowed to say that as a left handed person I understand your point with this but for very different reasons?
 
Penelope said:
It's amazing how a topic - mostly actually raised by black people, it should be noted - immediately gets people who aren't of that race getting histrionic about how they can't do anything anymore and that actually, the real racism is mentioning it in the first place. Chill out a little?
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But what does it matter who rises the subject? The point is still that someone now made a harmless thing into another racial issue (that only lead to more racial segregation).



What do you think about us here being 90% males while 99% of the gifs we post are of females?
 
Penelope said:
It's amazing how a topic - mostly actually raised by black people, it should be noted - immediately gets people who aren't of that race getting histrionic about how they can't do anything anymore and that actually, the real racism is mentioning it in the first place. Chill out a little?
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This is why I felt the need to explain my initial posts. I don't want to be all "I don't see colour" (even if it *is* slightly the truth in the way @RaspberrySwirl is saying), but it's also totally wrong to dismiss actual concerns and challenges that make us think a little bit more outside of our normal comfort zones.

That said, the argument about Kandy Muss? Nah, she was just shit.
 
yellow emojis are racist
Penelope said:
It's amazing how a topic - mostly actually raised by black people, it should be noted - immediately gets people who aren't of that race getting histrionic about how they can't do anything anymore and that actually, the real racism is mentioning it in the first place. Chill out a little?
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I’m more histrionic about gifs
 
I think the gifs are mostly BASIC AS SHIT and DEMEAN YOU ALL!

If a black person tells me they're uncomfortable with the fact that a white person seems to basically treat black people as comedy character sassy shorthands to post all the time (and I will say that a non-insignificant amount of the time, someone who does that kind of thing actually DOES seem quite prone to saying stuff like 'oh I'm a sassy black woman trapped in a white man's body', or having an obsession with characterising black men as 'BBC'), I'd probably listen to them rather than saying they're trying to cause racial segregation. Particularly if they were just asking me to be mindful of it (famously the way racially segregated societies tend to be run :eyes:)
 
Penelope said:
I think the gifs are mostly BASIC AS SHIT and DEMEAN YOU ALL!

If a black person tells me they're uncomfortable with the fact that a white person seems to basically treat black people as comedy character sassy shorthands to post all the time (and I will say that a non-insignificant amount of the time, someone who does that kind of thing actually DOES seem quite prone to saying stuff like 'oh I'm a sassy black woman trapped in a white man's body', or having an obsession with characterising black men as 'BBC'), I'd probably listen to them rather than saying they're trying to cause racial segregation. Particularly if they were just asking me to be mindful of it (famously the way racially segregated societies tend to be run :eyes:)
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It all depends on the situation. What if someone is as obsessed with say black sitcoms as we are of drag race or Eurovision etc. Would that be making fun of black people rather than liking them?
 
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