Said Jennifer Epperson, quoted in "Which skin color emoji should you use? The answer can be more complex than you think" (NPR).
But is the yellow emoji really a way to stay neutral and leave race out of your texting? One researcher, Zara Rahman, argues that skin
tone emojis "make white people confront their race." But what are you supposed to do? If you're sensitive about white supremacy and you choose a white emoji, how does that distinguish you from white supremacist? But if you pick the yellow emoji, because it was the original emoji color and because you sort of identify with The Simpsons, how do you know that doesn't make you seem to be misidentifying yourself as Asian? Or worse, how do you know it doesn't seem to mean I don't want to confront my race.
Rahman says, "I completely hear some people are just exhausted," but emoji color selection is "one of those places where we just have to think about who we are and how we want to represent our identities." Why are social media companies subjecting us to "places where we just have to think about" some particular thing? They should be neutral platforms where we get to choose what to express and what to leave unspoken.
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89 comments:
Call me old school, but I don't use any emojis at all in professional settings.
More generally, is there anyone anywhere who *doesn't* behave differently at work vs. at home?
These people are mentally ill. Only a lunatic frets about the color of an emoji.
How 'bout we all go back to just using words?
Race emoji angst! (sigh)...This is what it's come to.
I don't often use emojis, but when I do, I use them while drinking a Dos Equis.
"I completely hear some people are just exhausted,"
That's what Trudeau said, fat lot of good it did him. "Some people are exhausted, but it's going to go on for the rest of your lives." is that it?
Or what do you do if you have a basic understanding of biology, know that skin color is meaningless, and couldn't care less? That's a tough one.
For some reason I thought of Bill Clinton being asked "boxers or briefs?"
The best advice is to never use emojis in a professional setting. Same with text smiley faces.
This one is easy. Just use your words.
Emojis in professional settings seems off . . . in casual emails with colleages I may use the occasional orz or OTL, but I don't think I would use an 絵文字. I suppose I'm just not that close with them.
Yellow is for slightly smarter, white is for average, brown is for dumber.
Its ubiquitous, isnt it? Even in Emojis.
Some people will look for any excuse to be oppressed. No appropriately shaded emojis? "Help, help, I'm being oppressed!! Come and see the violence inherent in the system!"
New emojis give you the opportunity to express your identity? "Help, help, I'm being oppressed!! Come and see the violence inherent in the system!"
Social media has clearly had a deleterious effect on our IQ. We've gone back to grunting at pictograms.
Sorry, if you’re discussing which “emoji” to use in your “social media” interactions, your not a “researcher”.
Fuck off!
From Caesar to The Fonz, the thumbs up icon symbolizes white supremacy.
Let us focus on first principles.
but emoji color selection is "one of those places where we just have to think about who we are and how we want to represent our identities."
This is a perfect example of the gulf between the Left and Right. The wokesters on the Left are nodding their heads in agreement and snapping their fingers in praise, while those on the Right are laughing at the absurdity of it.
“emoji color selection is ‘one of those places where we just have to think about who we are and how we want to represent our identities.’”
Umm, actually it’s not.
Sometimes it's better to simply accept "you is what you is" so to speak. Tired white old male with my pronouns and color intact.
So much room for mocking in this entire thing.
Anyone who spends any time at all contemplating what color emoji they should use would be better off getting a part time job and doing something productive with their time.
Good gravy.
The leftist skin-color obsession is exhausting.
Oh for Chrissakes...
Honk if you don't use emojis.
argues that skin tone emojis "make white people confront their race."
"Skin tone?!?!?" Whose skin?
emoji color selection is "one of those places where we just have to think about who we are and how we want to represent our identities."
These people get more ludicrous all the time. 👿
With the Russians screwing around near the Ukraine: the Chinese infecting the entire world with a lab produced virus; the Iranians about to go nuclear; we are supposed to be concerned that some snowflake is worried about what color emoji (emoji, for christ sake!) to use.
need proof, that NPR is full of it? And total Crap?
Here you go!
Serious Question
If your network listeners are Overwhelmingly White Upper Class Elitists...
Shouldn't they ALL be drowned in a Tsunami ?
I mean, Are THEY the problem?
Number of people assaulted by truckers- zero. Number of police injured by truckers- zero. Number of arsons committed by truckers- zero. Number of government buildings broken into by truckers- zero. Number of actual riotous behavior, dumpster burning, etc. by truckers- zero. Why, it’s almost exactly like the summer of BLM riots and previous Democrat occupation of the Wisconsin statehouse!
Number of liberal politicians condemning the truckers- many. Number of politicians who praised and supported the BLM “mostly peaceful” riots- even more.
Yep, they’re exactly the same as the news media seems out those troubled by the protests and ignores hundreds (or is it thousands?) of Ottawans walking around with jerrycans. I would say gas cans but as our two countries are separated by a common language, jerrycans seems to be their preferred term.
There is no one more obsessed with race than an adherent of anti-racism.
As is the case with much sensitivity driven fads these days, it is but a tempest in a tea pot. The current age is going to look as silly as the Victorians.
I don't care what color your emoji's are. As a matter of fact, I think emoji's are dumb. People are too worried about what gender M & M's are now, and what color emoji to use. Grow up.
The majority of the NPR audience (86%) identifies itself as white. African-Americans make up the second largest audience for total NPR programming, comprising 5%
hmmm 86+5=91% . . .
So, only Nine percent of NPR's audience is either
Asian
Mexican
Indian (dot)
Indian (feather)
Pacific Islanders
No Wonder NPR doesn't like the Yellow (or red (or brown)) emoji(s)
This would be a problem for me… if I had ever used an emoji or ever intended to. For that matter, I don't even know what you "use" an emoji for.
Who does this stuff? Last night I stayed up late to watch the first time SpaceX used their novel chopsticks mechanism to place StarShip on the Booster. SpaceX intends to actually CATCH returning rockets with them; drastically reducing turn-around time; cutting costs and accelerating project timetables. These people are changing the world. Do they waste their time fretting about what color emoji to use? I seriously doubt it.
I cannot exaggerate the contempt I have come to feel towards these navel-gazing…I don't even know what to call them. They certainly aren't journalists. Cultural writers? Commentators? I used to view them with amusement, but they are sewing poison in our culture. Can't they see that, or is it their goal?
I think the official state religion has moved into the "angels dancing on the head of a pin" territory.
"But what are you supposed to do?"
You are not intended to know what to do. This foolishness is all about keeping you perpetually off balance, constantly afraid you'll unintentionally offend. The exhaustion and lack of emotional capacity they speak of is fully intended.
There's never a lack of First World Problems around here.
"But what are you supposed to do? If you're sensitive about white supremacy and you choose a white emoji, how does that distinguish you from white supremacist?"
But you miss the whole point of this ridiculous 21st century discussion . . . you can't do anything and not be considered to be a white supremacist by someone who wants to see one.
I tremble at how future rational people will judge us living in this point in time. Whereas our forebears fought truly existential threats we'll be seen as the unserious generation who fought over the "proper" emoji to use in text messages.
Bary Sullivan
To be fair here, I use an Apple custom mega emoji with family and very close friends: it shows a light skinned guy with gray hair, a mustache, and glasses. The emotions are then layered onto this base. I would like to go with one with whiter hair, but this gets the job done. But for everyone else, I use stock yellow based emojis.
Rahman says, "I completely hear some people are just exhausted," but emoji color selection is "one of those places where we just have to think about who we are and how we want to represent our identities."
Yeah, figuring that out is number one on my list of priorities.
I won't know who I am until I do.
Baizuo. Stupid White Savior problems.
The left is descending into madness with their own smear tactics. Race-based emojis? Teenage girls cutting off their breasts ... and by adult doctors with the consent of adult psychiatrists? Drivers driving their cars masked and alone?
Madness. Pure madness. The good news is that conservatives will be there to pull the wrecked cultural bus from the bottom of the mountain cliff and start to repair it. And that's just about where we are right now.
I don't think I've ever used an emoji in my life and my communications haven't suffered for it. So there's that.
🍆
Problem solved
Racism alert. I thought it was wrong to associate yellow with Asians.
I have a number of "Progressive" friends who use the /b/B/lack emoji, apparently in a bid for solidarity or something. It annoys me no end. (Another who does this is married to a /b/B/lack man, so I give her a pass.)
Pretty sure I've never used an emoji. But have received about a zillion. Who invented them?
Until I saw this article, I didn't even know other color emojis existed, and it then took me a while to figure out how to access them.
The word "exhausted" must itself be exhausted, because it does so much work nowadays.
There is nothing so simple that we can't complicate it.
I...just...can't...
How does one solve the emoji race color problem? Stop using them.
"I use the default emoji, the yellow-toned one for professional settings, and then I use the dark brown emoji for friends and family. I just don't have the emotional capacity to unpack race relations in the professional setting."
Said Jennifer Epperson, quoted in "Which skin color emoji should you use? The answer can be more complex than you think" (NPR).
But is the yellow emoji really a way to stay neutral and leave race out of your texting? One researcher, Zara Rahman, argues that skin tone emojis "make white people confront their race." ...
Rahman says, "I completely hear some people are just exhausted," but emoji color selection is "one of those places where we just have to think about who we are and how we want to represent our identities."
I'm an American citizen and a human being. My skin color only matters to me when I figuring out what color clothes to wear, or how much sunscreen to use.
If your skin color matters to you for more than the above reasons, then you're a racist. So I guess I appreciate people having the ability to let the rest of us know their racism by doing something other than the default
I'm pretty sure I'd never be accused of being formal in the workplace, but I've found emojis to be unprofessional at work. This makes it pretty easy for me to bypass whatever angst this latest issue is causing people.
I do notice when people use emojis outside of yellow, and I've thought of yellow to be just a default. I wonder if one solution would be creating a workplace avatar and then any bodily type emojis used would default to one's chosen/created avatar. I don't think anyone would bat an eye.
Use the transparent one
"But what are you supposed to do?"
Obsess over race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race race to the point you don't think about anything else.
Or you're a racist.
If the big decision you have to make is What color skin emoji should I use? I have to think that your life is extraordinarily privileged.
I just think it's none of anyone's damn business what color my skin is, or what my pronouns are. Even if I'm meeting them in person, when they can make their own assessment, I'm not going to declare myself. My privacy, my right.
First World Problems.
Do people really care about this? Good Lord.
"Rahman says, "I completely hear some people are just exhausted," but emoji color selection is "one of those places where we just have to think about who we are and how we want to represent our identities."
Exhausted from emoji selection? God help us!
When I say difficult conversation, of course I mean difficult for me, the noble person taking this on, at least a teensy bit morally superior to most of you. I'll blush a bit, I'll squirm in my chair. OK, that's over with. Now for the preening over you other racist, sick disgusting bastards. And let's just keep talking about this, pushing all other topics of discussion out of the way.
What the hell kind of profession are you in if you have a "professional setting" emoji?
I use a blue, frozen-looking emoji for world's oldest profession[al] settings...
Senator Rourke's son, Yellow Bastard, reminds me of Hunter Biden.
"Although, as you can see, there were some side effects."
So much room for mocking in this entire thing.
Of the next post... or the next one...
As long as the skin color on the pregnant man emoji is correct, that's all that really matters.
I'm not sure why the Chinese don't invade us right now.
This country would fall inside of a week.
The best take I saw was "I use the yellow one because it's the Homer Simpson color". That's actually a good take. Asians aren't yellow like Homer Simpson. It's only a slight shade, and that's not even all Asians.
Yet another reason to privatize NPR. No need to waste taxpayer money in a time of unprecedented budget deficits on this fluff idiocy.
never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by boredom
like, how much spare time do you have to have in your life that you think this is worth spending any of it on?
I wish I had the kind of cushy life where the color of the skin of my emojis was what exhausted me, and not, like, you know, REAL problems.
Jaundice supremacy!
The next time I use an emoji - of any type - will be the first.
Blogger Readering said...
Pretty sure I've never used an emoji. But have received about a zillion. Who invented them?
I believe it was Dr. E.L. Kersten.
I'm surprised the article didn't mention the professional cyclist who was suspended from his team for using the wrong skin color emoji in a tweet. Well, that and that he apparently supported Trump, so I guess it was proof positive that he was racist.
I use yellow emojis because I'm Homer Simpson.
I'm going to start using random colors all the time.
--Anthony (Lord/Sir)
These articles always make me think of Michelle Obama in 2008:
Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.
I mostly use the default, Simpsons-like. There are a couple of exceptions: If I’m using one of the hand gestures, I do those in Caucasian. Same for the Shrug emoji: 🤷🏻♂️
This is about using emojis as a way to entrap the ‘wrong’ people and get them cancelled/disciplined/fired/ostracized/loose their house/jailed etcetera. It’s a weapon.
"But what are you supposed to do?"
Well, now! We thought you'd never ask! You thought that too, didn't you? Glad we finally understand one another.
Here in the rural Philippines where I live, a lot of people worry about having enough money for rice, or to pay for their medicine because covid has put them out of work.
Ah, but rich upper class ladies in the USA worry about their emoji colour?
I just want a starship Enterprise emoji. Original series. Not that Next Generation crud.
I just want a Star Trek Enterprise emoji. The original series. Not that Next Generation crud.
I was disappointed that the emoji choices don't seem to include the full spectrum. I'd tend to pick green, blue or perhaps bright red.
I dream of a world where children are judged not by the color of their emoji.
This illustrates how NPR is a profoundly unserious organization that desperately deserves to be defunded. The Ukrainians seem to have convinced Joe Biden to stop beating his eardrums — for now! Inflation is at a 40 year high. School boards and teachers’ unions have gone totally insane. But NPR wants us to be concerned about the color of our emojis. Riiiiiiiiight.
My response is the raised middle finger emoji — two of them. In default yellow.
War drums, not eardrums. Autocorrect slipped that one past me.
Yancey Ward said...
These people are mentally ill. Only a lunatic frets about the color of an emoji.
______________________
Nah, they’re just playing “Bash Whitey.” It’s very popular nowadays. All white people must disintegrate in shame and guilt for being racist, which they are proven to be by the assertion of the Woke.
It’s also highly amusing.
So this is what black history mumpf has degenerated into.
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