Actually, it brought up the topic back into the news.
So yes, it achieved something.
It is regrettable hat it inadvertently evoked racist imagery in Americans, but since they aren’t the main target group of this piece and I’m not too concerned with those feelings.
[quote=“SmashMartian, post:38, topic:37463”]
Hell, Australians don’t and we even share the same language. There was a bit of fuss a couple of years back over a KFC advert during the West Indies tour.
[/quote]That advertisement was done by an American advertising agency who knew damned well that it was racist, that it would go viral, and that there would be a huge uproar that would get the video seen by a ton of of people. They’ve since repeated this same BS with-
Maybe your average Australian person didn’t understand that the imagery is racist, but the creators did. And so does the creator of this image of Obama as an ebonics speaking thug.
This kind of stuff shouldn’t be spread around, or defended, or given a thumbs up by a site like BoingBoing which has repeatedly criticized Tea Party types for engaging in the exact same type of racist Obama caricatures. This is all just beyond fucked.
I suggest beginning to distinguish between racism and culturalism; it cuts through this crap better than any other distinction.
One notable aspect of American culture is the tendency to view themselves as the centre of the world, an impression somewhat reinforced by the effects of mass-media hegemony, but ultimately largely baseless; the average citizen of the rest of world probably knows more about everyone else than the average American, but that’s not to say they care to distinguish between individual Americans on as fine a scale as you might prefer.
The fact is, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, hip-hop is American in origin. If you point out it’s of African-American extraction, it’s ‘yeah, whatever’. Particularly since it’s a black guy running the show these days and more than half of Americans aren’t white.
IOW, we don’t give a fuck - Yankee go home.
Thank you.
Exactly this. Listen to this man.
Next time I see an image of a white person wearing a wife beater and overalls and it says hillbilly I’m yelling racist. If this was a picture of Obama hold a 9mm and throwing up some gang signs I’d buy the thug/hood part, but it’s not even a stretch to say that is a real picture of Obama wearing a backwards cap.
And we get to yell racist now when something just fits a group of people? Is that where this has gone to? Or is it only the minorities? Do teens/YA get the same treatment when they wear skinny jeans and thick rimmed glasses and are called hipsters? It’s like everyone is so overblowing the whole race angle to even see the fact that the NSA is trying to get it’s hands into every country’s surveillance organization.
I can’t see the forest for all those trees, but calling them a forest - that’s racist.
Because it is.
It’s not.
At least for the intended audience it isn’t.
It’s a german artist/activist and the audience is german too.
It might surprise you but not the entire world evolves around the US and/or caters to USian cultural sensibilities. If you deigned to read the thread you would’ve seen an explanation why it’s not racist:
Even the source for the BB article Verge calls it a:
silly illustration of President Obama and a warning for all to see: “NSA in da House.”
I assure you that the vast majority of Germans - even though they don’t wear hats - do not follow American news about presidental hats that closely. So no, “people” do not know this.
C’mon man, I’m betting most Germans also aren’t graffiti artists who closely follow international politics. The guy who did this piece - is. 
Edit: Just read this from you.
If the target audience didn’t include Americans, it wouldn’t have be projected on the U.S. Embassy - where it would be sure to be noted by U.S. officials and news. The content was about the leader of America, and about poor behavior by an American administration, and the image was on the U.S. Embassy. Who else was it directed at? Certainly not the German government or any local administrative concerns. The purpose of the placement was so that American officials would see the complaint!
I’m not disagreeing with the artist in any way, so let’s make that really, really clear. What I’m saying is that the only reason for him to post that image - which is propagandizing, and is designed to mock (which I am also totally fine with) - in that location is to complain to the U.S.
In a better world, we’d have a discussion here about how to do the same again, better, cheaper, larger-scale…
Gideon, I think you may be misinterpreting this image. The three components are:
Obama: Captured from an existing image - not overly lampooned (exaggerated lips or other racist characteristics on face) just in clothing inappropriate for the office. I believe the image to be a negative take on the HOPE poster campaign, and that means it’s just standard anti-propagnda fare. In fact, it’s really mild - because he was photographed several times on that holiday wearing the same White Sox hat.
The quote: “NSA in DA House” It’s a direct reference to wiretapping overseas, including the German chancellor’s cellphone (in Germany!) and listening to phones here when people travel. It’s a complaint directed at those activities, and nothing more. (“DA” is “yes” in German. It’s also a pun.)
The hand sign: That’s an “A-OK” sign, like Winston Churchill was fond of giving during WWII. It’s not turned around backwards to be rude (reversed is flipping the bird). So, it’s just a gag saying that there’s “approval” of the NSA being where it is - Obama isn’t stopping the NSA, he’s approving the actions.
I hope this explanation makes you feel better about the graffiti, after all - that artist is not an American playing to U.S. racial stereotypes. He’s a German, playing to international political stereotypes, and one of our greatest freedoms is the ability to complain about our leadership.
This is “Obama Chicken Fingers” all over again. I am sorry, but the world does not spend all that much time trying to keep track of bullshit American racial stereotypes.
Given the history of racism in the US which is well known the image is callous and insensitive. Commenters here have been saying a world leader should be able to take the heat but it is an offense to all people of color. Racism is alive and well in Europe, too, eg: Black Pete, the many depictions of “Blackamoors” during the Christmas season including mechanized “Blackamoors” and store window displays, Berlosconi’s “Bunga-Bunga” parties, calls for national purity, etc. I’m not expressing a nation-centric opinion. Racism is racism. BTW, I agree with the anti- NSA message of the piece.
Before you continue speculating and making a fool of yourself you should have a look at this:
… it’s a much discussed (more like a scandal) Spiegel article revealing that the NSA is spying from within (“in da house”) the US embassy in Berlin. That’s it what the activist is alluding to … not some veiled us-american racial stereotype.
BTW:
ja=yes (german/english); da=here/there (german/english); da=yes (russian/english)
There you have it. Well known … in the US.
Oh, you never heard of racism in the US before? You didn’t address racism in Europe. Do you excuse Asians for using Nazi references in advertising (which happens) because it’s not all about Europe to them?
The image, not the racism.
AS I and several others have already stated: Not every obscure culturally sensitive topic in the USA is well known outside the USA.
To repeat myself:
It might surprise you but not the entire world evolves around the US and/or caters to USian cultural sensibilities.
Here’s a rule of thumb I try to live by: don’t appropriate anything from a culture foreign to one’s own because one’s ignorance of it may end up insulting it. If the current president was a Native American would it be appropriate to depict him/her wearing a feathered head dress?
I realize that they’re spying from within the embassy. I never said they weren’t, so I’m not sure why I’m making a fool of myself. I’ve been following the story all along (since the Chancellor was tapped).
About my error on “da” and “ja” - I took three years of German in high school, and living in SoCal California have little use for it, so I apologize for zoning out on the phrasing. The pun still stands - it’s just calling attention to the location.
I never said anything about a racial stereotype - far from it. I was telling a person that none existed.
Yeah fine.
The activist was german, the audience was german and he referencing much discussed article by a german magazine.
Better don’t look up who Karl May was and what he wrote…
