I rarely write about images, but when I came across this today I had to post it.
Here are my questions:
- Do you find this image funny?
- Is this image racist?
- Would this image be less racist and/or more humerous if a white person such as Eminem or Vanilla Ice was clearly pictured?
Comments encouraged’
March 28th, 2007 at 8:13 am
1. I don’t find this image real funny. I mean, I smiled but didn’t laugh.
2. In my opinion, this image is not racist. Where some guy may see black people, I see rap artist in the first place. The punchline (write letterz n shit, yo) is clearly a reference to rap lines. One may argue that there are only black people on the picture… So what? 99% of famous rap artist are black… Big deal.
The funny thing is that this picture may have been made by a black guy. So I am just asking to the people who think this picture is racist: if the author of this picture is black, is this image still racist?
March 28th, 2007 at 11:26 am
1. Kinda funny, the juxtaposition of the picture and the product name. The tag line is a throw away humor-wise but fits the culture.
2. Do I think the image creator is racist? Probably not, probably digs hip-hop. Is the image racist? No. Could a racist enjoy it as racism? Yes, but f*’em.
3. An added white person would be a token and destroy the humor.
[FWIW I’m an older white guy who grew up in a racist culture.]
March 28th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Maybe it’s not clear to all…
“Word” in the vernacular is kind of a solemn affirmation.
or consulting a hip-hop dictionary
http://www.anthonyvitti.com/hiphopdictionaryw.html
word
1) (n) Biblical (John1:1). “logos”: truth.
2) (interj) Exclamation or term of endearment.
March 28th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Thanks for the comments guys…personally I found it humorous as well but when you think about the social context you start to ask questions…
I think what I really like is the juxtaposition of the rappers and Microsoft…can you imagine 50 Cent sitting down to his Mac book to type an essay?