i recently came across a post that posed a very serious question:
"jenn f. found herself faced with a 'lucky taco' at the end of her meal at a mexican restaurant. it contained the following text: 'paco says, ‘a bird in hand can be very messy.’”
"is this is an appropriation of another culture? a cruel parody of an authentic tradition? an offensive stereotype to begin with that is no less offensive when re-racialized? or something else?"
this is what it looked like:
yeah, okay, seriously people, let's not get too carried away here. this...this is hilarious!! i mean, come on, a lucky taco?? "a bird in the hand can get very messy"??? that's straight up wise words right there! HAHAHHAHAHA!
the entry goes on to ask, "So this company took the chinese fortune cookie and re-racialized it…. three times over. Is this is an appropriation of chinese culture?"
no! i mean, wtf. are you seriously going to apply the term "re-racialized" to something that doesn't even have honest culinary roots and suggest that it carries any legitimate cultural connotations? if i'm offended by any part of this, it is the idea that chinese cuisine has a monopoly over the concept of a fortune cookie. the fortune cookie is something quintessentially asian american in origin, but it does NOT have a singular background. its history is diverse and deeply tied to the history of asian america. to denote the concept as patently chinese is tantamount to saying CREESPEE COOKIIIEEE WIS FORTUNE INSIDE IS FROM CHINA!!!!! WHERE PEEPOH HAVE SLANTY EYES AND EAT DOG!!
(that's cacophony going on in my head right now - i realize this is not what they are actually saying)
UGH. this is the kind of self-marginalizing aggrandizement that turns people off from being socially minded. because all this extrapolation is totally, utterly bullshit.
1 comment:
paco better wash his hands before he makes my burrito or i'll have ins on his ass.
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