Hedera Helix posted:

Would it fix anything to have Zwarte Piet be portrayed by black actors, alongside changing his name to simply Piet?

quote:

Zwarte Piet, or "Black Pete," has been controversial in the Netherlands for decades. A surprising number of citizens think the character, Santa's Little-Black-Sambo-lookalike sidekick, is harmless. An Amsterdam court ruled today that he's not.

The Associated Press reports, "the court said ... that Black Pete's appearance, in combination with the fact that he is often portrayed as dumb and servile, makes it 'a negative stereotype of black people.'"

Zwarte Piets were once openly characterized as Santa's slaves. Today, the Dutch refer to them as Santa's sidekicks and "good friends."

Protests against Christmas parades featuring hundreds of Zwarte Piets were especially strong this past December, and now parade organizers will have to reconsider including Zwarte Piets in this year's celebrations. But many Dutch citizens still don't get what the big deal is. According to Jessica Olien, who wrote about the phenomenon for Slate from the Netherlands in 2011,

Otherwise mature and liberal-minded adults may recoil from the topic and offer a rote list of reasons why Zwarte Piet should not offend anybody. "He is not even a black man," many will tell you. "He is just black because he came down the chimney."

Amsterdam parade organizers already have some solutions in mind, which include "using different colors of face paint for Pete, or merely smudging his cheeks with soot."

quote:

Zwarte Piets were once openly characterized as Santa's slaves. Today, the Dutch refer to them as Santa's sidekicks and "good friends."

V. Illych L. posted:

A lot of it is also reaction against anglophones insisting on using their frame of reference to judge these things. Which is guaranteed to rile up continentals.

Antwan3K posted:

This is really not the case here, as it kicked off when Dutch black people protested a 'arrival ceremony' (where they throw candy to children).

R. Mute posted:

I think he's talking specifically about some people on this forum reacting poorly when confronted by Americans about it.

R. Mute posted:

I think he's talking specifically about some people on this forum reacting poorly when confronted by Americans about it.

SedanChair posted:

It's tough wrapping your head around being lectured by Americans. Some of us are the worst enslavers, enforcers, and bigots on the planet. On the other hand, others of us have pretty much hammered out modern human rights and are your benevolent kings, to whom all other nations may look for wise guidance.

SedanChair posted:

drat dude way to be in the airport for a long-rear end time

Joementum posted:

Update: Reagan / Bush '84 bro left for Tampa. Meanwhile, I'm watching the tornadoes around Scranton on the runway at JFK.

SedanChair posted:

drat dude way to be in the airport for a long-rear end time

Joementum posted:

Update: Reagan / Bush '84 bro left for Tampa. Meanwhile, I'm watching the tornadoes around Scranton on the runway at JFK.

skaboomizzy posted:

Well, one more rear end in a top hat in the Tampa Bay area won't make that much of a difference here.

Edit to add: I went booze shopping today. Picked up Evan Williams green label for a party this weekend, black label for myself. Good decisions?

Pope Guilty posted:

I thought Burning Man was the libertarian Burning Man.

illrepute posted:

Vermont, the isolated mountain kingdom that will become the last bastion of civilization and healthcare in an America gone mad.

quote:

Chad Watkins has been charged with painting over "Anti-White" and changing it to "Love." The vandalized sign was taken down, restored and put back up. Meanwhile, someone leaked Watkins' name to the KKK before the charge was made public by the police.

Sharkie posted:

Didn't know where else to share this so




http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2014/03/31/new-billboard-in-harrison-put-up-underneath-controversial-anti-white-sign

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

I wonder what the 5% of Harrison, Arkansas residents who aren't white think about that sign.

R. Mute posted:

A huge part of the tradition is people dressing up as him and Sinterklaas and we honestly don't have enough black people to fill those roles, especially in rural areas like West-Flanders. It would be super weird to import them from other areas to fill those roles. And, y'know, kids like to dress up as him, so you can't just get black actors.

Plus, assuming you're also getting rid of the exaggerated lips and frizzy hair (because if you don't, you now just have black people dressed up as caricatures of black people), you might as well get rid of the blackface as well.

quote:

In recognition of their brave service, U.S. troops will be invited to a special 4th of July concert on the White House's South lawn featuring Mr. Worldwide himself.

Said Pitbull of the momentous occasion: "This is the American Dream." You bet it is, buddy!

He continued: "Thank you to all for making this happen — our troops, the USO and the Obama family — I deeply and truly appreciate it."

Past "Salute to the Military" concert performers include fun and Brad Paisley, fun., and Train. Good stuff all around — must really make our troops feel appreciated.

Joementum posted:

SALT CURES HAM posted:

tbh stormfront is largely pretty unfunny but occasionally it just dives headfirst into "andy kaufman is alive" territory



e: i swear to god i'm not kidding

midnightclimax posted:

If it's anything like 4Chan's /pol/, then no thanks.

Matoi Ryuko posted:

Christian symbolism in anime is downright hilarious.

ReindeerF posted:

I assume someone in Bumblefuck Mississippi is already shooting his Pitbull cassette tapes with a shotgun and filming it for Youtube.

Jerry Manderbilt posted:

Personally when I went to Europe it confused the hell out of me when the term "liberal" suddenly meant "quasi-libertarian" in a good number of countries.