२१ मार्च, २०१३

"I feel the Dior cast is just so pointedly white that it feels deliberate."

"I watch that show and it bothers me - I almost can't even concentrate on the clothes because of the cast.... And recently they're changing from a very diverse, worldwide, multicultural cast to just a very Germanic-looking white girl.... Natalie Portman could complain that John Galliano was a racist, but I feel [Dior designer] Raf Simons sends the same message."

११६ टिप्पण्या:

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

What we need is something like the Stasi or the KGB to check up on people to make sure that they get the Diversity thing right.

And, we could also encourage people to inform on one another.

अनामित म्हणाले...

After looking at the pics, I'm not so sure that the models are so much white as they are albino.

edutcher म्हणाले...

How dare they use white people.

Where do they think they are, Europe???

अनामित म्हणाले...

"God, those disgusting evil white people are hideous to ever look at.

They must be banished from the scene."

Meanwhile, if they'd had an all-darkie catwalk, they'd be celebrated.

Fucking racist, white-hating assholes.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

Also, we should form some sort of consortium that monitors the political and social opinions of performers, so that we can blacklist the ones who don't conform to the current orthodoxy.

Eric the Fruit Bat म्हणाले...

The problem of racial preference in runway shows will go away once they can build a robot that's skinny enough.

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

Hey, don't y'all be haters 'cause the Scully-man is all about the brown sugar.

Balfegor म्हणाले...

Fashion is all about aesthetics, though, and like it or not, people of different races look different. An aesthetic that works on people of one race or colour may not work on people of a different race or colour (e.g. khaki or camel topcoats work well for people who are very pale or very dark, but look odd with people in between). Fashion is almost the only area where differences in racial phenotypes really can legitimately matter.

ricpic म्हणाले...

Isn't there one fashionista concerned that those poor girls are starving to death?!

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"After looking at the pics, I'm not so sure that the models are so much white as they are albino."

As someone who has been called "albino" (as a slur), I am always amazed at how some people — who would never exclaim to someone's face about how dark they are — feel free to exclaim "you're so white." They don't mean it as flattery. They mean to say "Ugh! You're so white." But the notion that it's acceptable to talk like that in normal society unwittingly reveals traces of belief in white supremacy.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

But the notion that it's acceptable to talk like that in nomral society unwittingly reveals traces of belief in white supremacy.

Huh????

Althouse, you're kidding, right?

White supremacy?

You've been living on a college campus for far too long.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

CNN launches a Diversity War on Silicon Valley.

We might as well destroy one of the few functioning industries we've got left, right?

Because nothing is more important than... well... whatever the fuck all this shit is about.

Shanna म्हणाले...

Fashion is all about aesthetics, though, and like it or not, people of different races look different.

I think this would be particularly important depending on what colors you were pushing that season. Stuff that would look awesome on one person look dreadful on another. And if you want a uniformity of look for your show, it would make sense.

Chip S. म्हणाले...

Irrespective of color, those were some ugly-ass people at the link.

अनामित म्हणाले...

They are ghostly. Where are their spray-on tans?

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

All the k3wl kidz are into anti-white racism, so the quoted speaker must be pretty k3wl!

Shanna म्हणाले...

Look at the caption on one of the pictures!

"Another white model at Dior's Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2012/2013 fashion in Paris"

Sam L. म्हणाले...

First-world problem: So attuned to the possibility of being offended, or someone being offended, or thinking that someone could/might possibly be offended. Or will take offense just for the frisson of faux-offendedness.

अनामित म्हणाले...

lol. Note how Althouse turns an insult thrown by white-haters into some kind of proof of the stereotype of white supremacy.

Such leftist womanthink.

I had some darkies try to say that to me once ("you're so white" as an insult/putdown). My response: "And damn proud of it."

They shut up after that.

Sam L. म्हणाले...

And, which of those two ugly guys is the first raaaaaacist and which is the replacement?

Not that I care, but, which should get the more hate?

अनामित म्हणाले...

But the notion that it's acceptable to talk like that in normal society unwittingly reveals traces of belief in white supremacy.

---Right. Because when white people used nigger and chink in regular conversations, it was because they believed backs and Chinamen were superior. (/sarcasm)

You pee all over yourself, Easy Annie A.

Revenant म्हणाले...

I don't know about "pointedly white", but the women in those photos are hideous. They look like painted corpses.

Dust Bunny Queen म्हणाले...

feel free to exclaim "you're so white." They don't mean it as flattery. They mean to say "Ugh! You're so white.

Maybe they mean pasty, pale, colorless, unhealthy, look like you've been living under a rock, get some sun fer gawds sake!!

Nothing to do with white supremacy.

On the other hand, your certainly wouldn't hear anyone say to a person of African or Hispanic extraction..."Man, you are so DARK."

X म्हणाले...

But the notion that it's acceptable to talk like that in normal society unwittingly reveals traces of belief in white supremacy.

not to mention misogynist and homophobic.

Sorun म्हणाले...

"...certainly wouldn't hear anyone say to a person of African or Hispanic extraction..."Man, you are so DARK.""

Black people probably say it to each other, especially the "mean girl" types.

virgil xenophon म्हणाले...

DARK? Where do you think the term "Shine" came from? (e.g., "She's so black she shines!")

Basta! म्हणाले...

The offending models look Vulcan. Is that now considered a subset of white, or is it just plain alien?

RE: "you're so white", what DBQ said. I get this, and what they mean is why don't you have a tan, you look *unhealthy*, you should get out in the sun more. Me: the sun's out? Where's my umbrella?

President-Mom-Jeans म्हणाले...

Althouse says:

"But the notion that it's acceptable to talk like that in normal society unwittingly reveals traces of belief in white supremacy."

This has to be one of most retarded things I have ever seen you type. And to think, some poor bastards are paying huge amounts of money (or more accurately the taxpayers will be when they default on their loans) for your "wisdom."

Ugly Ann, ugly.

Shanna म्हणाले...

Also, I feel, it feels...one of those is redundant.

DADvocate म्हणाले...

Tell the self-appointed racist PC police to go "fuck off." (Garage's favorite term lately.)

DADvocate म्हणाले...

Also, I feel, it feels...one of those is redundant.

Repeatedly redundant.

Julie C म्हणाले...

DBQ - When I was in the Peace Corps (in an African country) some students of mine were telling me something about one of their classmates. I wasn't sure who they meant. They said, "oh, you know him, he's black."

Whaa??? was my thought. Being a careful white person, I didn't say anything but they kept saying, He's black! Finally, I couldn't resist. I said, "okay, but everyone here is black!" They thought that was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

They pointed out to me that the person in question had very black skin, as opposed to this group of kids, who had somewhat lighter skin. And of course, it goes without saying that almost all of the kids in that country were shades darker than many black Americans.

virgil xenophon म्हणाले...

Look, this is all part of the all-pervasive lefty, multi-culti PC "diversity" crap--and its been around for a long time, too. I can remember a "coordinator" (a young white female recent coll gad) our (mainly white) Old Louisville neighborhood preservation society hired back circa 1979/80, upon being sent to a conference on neighborhood development in Philadelphia (with our money) reporting on a tour of the more successful neighborhoods and unabashedly describing them as "overwhelmingly embarrassingly
white." This shit has had a LOOOONG gestation period..

Eric the Fruit Bat म्हणाले...

One of the nice things about being fishbelly white, like me, is you can work your face on over to full-red, given enough time, sun, and booze. Drunken pushups seem to help, too.

The truly great ones can even make it all the way over to purple . . . at least the nose, anyway.

Michelle Dulak Thomson म्हणाले...

All I can say after clicking through is "Man, that is some seriously butt-ugly clothing!"

And there are people who might possibly be able to carry off a dress in that fire-engine red, but not anyone whose complexion is fish-belly white. Michelle Obama might make it work, possibly.

KCFleming म्हणाले...

Worse, none of the models are gay men wearing dresses.

Goddamned bigots.

virgil xenophon म्हणाले...

Of course Ann would faint with the vapors if I dredged up the old 30, 40, 50s phrase "free, white, and 21."--now a "racist slur"--back then simply a realistic snappy (even if an unconscious callousness toward the black condition) of commentary on the reality of the human condition for the majority race...

See, the bottom line about all this "structural racism" crap is that "minorities" simply cannot accept the fact that they are not culturally dominant and that this nation was established and developed primarily by White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Is the fact that, (should I re-locate to Japan) all street and storefront signs in Japan are in Japanese an indication of "structural racism?" Or just of cultural dominance?

Question for Ann: "Is the fact that the perfume "White Shoulders" is obviously so named signifying beauty and allure an example of "structural racism?

Discuss..Compare and Contrast..

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"Maybe they mean pasty, pale, colorless, unhealthy, look like you've been living under a rock, get some sun fer gawds sake!!"

Well, that's my point. Your associations are completely rude and you wouldn't think of expressing a comparable big ball of emotion with respect to a person's darkness. Please examine why you think this is okay. My assumption is that you think it's okay because of traces of white supremacy that you are unwilling to acknowledge.

Why would you tell a very pale white person that they ought to "get some sun fer gawds sake!!" That sounds completely rude. There's nothing UNhealthy about not tanning. And a very pale person would get sunburned, so you're saying go burn yourself. It's outright mean.

Yet you think you're making it BETTER by saying these additional things.

You would never dream of saying comparably mean and scientifically false things to a very dark person.

Colonel Angus म्हणाले...

Frankly, I am quite sick and tired of those idiots who seem to think being white is some sort of disease or curse.

Sorry but my life isn't magically 'enriched' because I gazed upon a 'person of color'.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

And, here I thought you were being sarcastic or funny, Althouse.

You're really serious?

Jesus Christ.

KCFleming म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
KCFleming म्हणाले...

Telling persons of pallor to get some sun is rude as hell, certainly.

But if you harbored traces of white supremacy unacknowledged, why would you ask Whitey to tan up?

I really don't get it.

And I have no doubt that in Africa, the darker skinned get similar rude comments from lighter skinned blacks.

Because they are just people, and people say rude things.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

That was pretty rude, Pogo.

I demand an apology.

KCFleming म्हणाले...

If they are friends, however, telling Whitey to go to the beach is completely appropriate banter.

KCFleming म्हणाले...

I pray to Our Lady of Perpetual Apology, for my unbearable whiteness of being.

Colonel Angus म्हणाले...

But the notion that it's acceptable to talk like that in normal society unwittingly reveals traces of belief in white supremacy.

This makes no sense. Care to elaborate or is this one of those fancy pants academic tests to 'discern what I really meant'?

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

Saying that Althouse has "fancy pants" is probably proof that you are a white supremacist, Colonel. Fancy pants, as we all know, represents nostalgia for the days when the only beaver shots men wanted to look at were of white women in white cotton panties.

Now, if you asked her whether she had a full bush or a landing strip... that would be Diversity in Action.

Chip S. म्हणाले...

Colonel, I think she's saying that saying "you're so white" is like saying "you're so thin". It's like a humblebrag directed at someone else.

Compare it to saying "you're so fat".

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

What can be said to egghead white women these days without insulting them?

Apparently, we can ask them how they prune their pubic hair.

Anything else?

President-Mom-Jeans म्हणाले...

Althouse doubles down on retarded.

It's okay Ann, I forgive you for your sin of whiteness.

Everybody knows that you get absolution because you are a University Professor, you are "one of the good ones."

You still have to say 10 Hail Sharptons though as penance, just to be doubley safe.

KCFleming म्हणाले...

@Chip S.

Sure, but how is it white supremacist?

I can be thick sometimes, so help a dumb guy out here, willya?

Chip S. म्हणाले...

thin >> fat

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

You still have to say 10 Hail Sharptons though as penance, just to be doubley safe.

The prayers must be directed to Morgan Freeman.

अनामित म्हणाले...

A few of the dresses are quite pretty. Their makeup is hideous.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"But if you harbored traces of white supremacy unacknowledged, why would you ask Whitey to tan up?"

You're relying on the presumed status, high self-esteem, and privilege of white people. You think it's okay to kick them because you perceive them as "up."

It's the same logic that makes it seem okay to insult men and to say all sorts of sexist things against men. The people who think that is acceptable are betraying their own belief that males really do hold a position of superiority.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Inga, your daughter called. She wanted to know if she needed to killer self for Mein Obama today or at a date to be named later.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

Think about all the statements to males that they should tone down their masculinity. It's acknowledging that they have too much of what is dominant and need to back off to be fair.

But to tell a woman to butch up is not acceptable.

Same thing.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

"Colonel, I think she's saying that saying "you're so white" is like saying "you're so thin". It's like a humblebrag directed at someone else. Compare it to saying "you're so fat"."

Well put.

Examine the assumptions underlying etiquette.

President-Mom-Jeans म्हणाले...

Keep digging, Ann.

God forbid that you admit that you said something stupid and move on.

How ugly.

Colonel Angus म्हणाले...

Colonel, I think she's saying that saying "you're so white" is like saying "you're so thin". It's like a humblebrag directed at someone else.

But she said it wasn't meant as flattery. How does telling someone they are so white as a slur and its acceptable convey a belief in white supremcy?

Sorry, where I come from, folks are a bit more plain spoken.


Patrick Henry was right! म्हणाले...

Being pale is a sign of sickliness for white people. That's all that a paleness comment means. Geeez!

Patrick Henry was right! म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Chip S. म्हणाले...

Eh, I was mostly thinking about the times my mom would say, "You're too thin. Have some pie."

Too many shades of meaning in all this for li'l ol' me.

Shanna म्हणाले...

And I have no doubt that in Africa, the darker skinned get similar rude comments from lighter skinned blacks.

Same as in India.

If they are friends, however, telling Whitey to go to the beach is completely appropriate banter.

I think a lot of times people associate tans with vacation – when you come back from vacation you tend be more stress free and happy. So maybe it’s more about that.

X म्हणाले...

y'all knock it off. you know what she means. it's the White Supremacy of Low Expectations and Albino Jokes.

Chip S. म्हणाले...

One last thought: If Althouse had said "the perception of whites' privileged status" instead of "white supremacy", would this be as controversial?

अनामित म्हणाले...

What the hell is going on here and why are people fighting!?

Sometimes reading too much into what people say is a way to confuse a simple statment. I do however understand underhanded digs disguised as complements. Or is this a case of an insult disguised as ......um.....oh gosh, I'm confused.

KCFleming म्हणाले...

"you perceive them as "up.""

I do?

It's double secret supremacy!

Balfegor म्हणाले...

Re: Ann Althouse:

Your associations are completely rude and you wouldn't think of expressing a comparable big ball of emotion with respect to a person's darkness. Please examine why you think this is okay. My assumption is that you think it's okay because of traces of white supremacy that you are unwilling to acknowledge.

No, I think it's obviously because if you insult anyone other than white people, you'll get accused of being racist. It's just one of the little hypocrisies one is expected to observe when speaking English in America.

greenlantern म्हणाले...

I was wondering how the inevitable backlash against multiculturalism and Obama Fatigue would would look.

Balfegor म्हणाले...

Re: Chip S:

One last thought: If Althouse had said "the perception of whites' privileged status" instead of "white supremacy", would this be as controversial?

Less charged, perhaps, but still wrong.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

And, I can't paint my face black either...

Because that would be super racist!

What am I gonna do with all that left over shoe polish?

अनामित म्हणाले...

Easy Annie A. keeps saying her stupid argument tat insulting someone as "white" some how shows white supremacy.

Because when people casually made fun of blacks in regular conversation, it did NOT mean they thought blacks superior.

And Easy Anne A.: telling someone to stop being so masculine is insulting masculinity, but says nothing about male supremacy. Your feminist logic makes zero sense, and you know it.

Shouting Thomas म्हणाले...

We need a Federal agency to monitor these things and advise all of us on when we are doing things properly.

I'm tired of trying to figure it out all by myself.

X म्हणाले...

affirmative action is starting to look like a klan plot.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Easy Annie A, saying more stupid things:

You're relying on the presumed status, high self-esteem, and privilege of white people. You think it's okay to kick them because you perceive them as "up."
---No, you kick those whom you perceive to be of little threat.
You do not kick those who will knock you out.

Which is why leftists like you won't post pictures of Muhammad but will openly blasphemy pictures of Jesus. Because Christians won't blow you up. Muslims will.

President-Mom-Jeans म्हणाले...

According to Althouse white supremacy is just like global warming: Everything is evidence of it.

President-Mom-Jeans म्हणाले...

And if you dare question it then you are a flat earther denier heretic/racist.

Dust Bunny Queen म्हणाले...

Your associations are completely rude and you wouldn't think of expressing a comparable big ball of emotion with respect to a person's darkness. Please examine why you think this is okay. My assumption is that you think it's okay because of traces of white supremacy that you are unwilling to acknowledge.

What an utterly and completely steaming load of bullcrap.

First of all, I was pointing out that when people remark on your particular paleness, they aren't thinking of white supremacy but rather on your actual paleness. Is it rude to remark about how people look anytime? Usually. Unless you are concerned about their health. "Wow, you are so pale, are you well?" "Man, look at those dark circles under your eyes, are you getting enough sleep?"

Second. I never said it was OK. Those whiter than white comments might be construed as negative comments and it IS rude but have nothing to do with white supremacy. It is just as rude to remark how dark someone is. As I already stated.

Now if I remark how tan you are, and you want to, you can think of it as a white supremacy comment. "Wow. Look how dark tan you are, it must be nice to have all that wealth acquired from your supreme white privilege that allows you to take those fabulous vacations in Bermuda."

White supremacy statement would be something to the effect of "Look how white you are. You are so lucky to be the whitest chick I have ever seen. Edgar Winter would be jealous."

Please examine how you think that someone insulting you "Ugh, you are so white" because you are extra pale shows traces of white supremacy? You don't make any sense.

And I have no doubt that in Africa, the darker skinned get similar rude comments from lighter skinned blacks.

Thus it is all over the world. The extremes of dark or light and what is culturally desirable.

Sweetbriar म्हणाले...

The only thing I get from Dior using the palest of models is they have a particular design aesthetic for this year's product which young, porcelain white models which appear more as design drawings than persons particularly suits. The only element of colour on the girls is the Dior red lips and the shadow indicating the eyes. They are walking fashion sketches, colour on a white page. What will the complaint be when someone has a design concept that calls for black models only? Are you not allowed to do that either?

I find it far more interesting that he dropped the hems and blew out the petticoats. It's one of the few lines that really doesn't carry well on teenagers. He (the designer) isn't asking about the colour of your skin, but the maturity and power of women, not girls. And Althouse missed it.

President-Mom-Jeans म्हणाले...

The thought processes of a 2008 Obama voter.

Ugly stuff.

X म्हणाले...

more evidence of the white supremacy inherent in the system.

Balfegor म्हणाले...

If you want an example of a comment about skin colour that actually reflects assumptions of white superiority, try Lord Curzon's crack: "Dear me, I never knew that the lower classes had such white skins."

Automatic_Wing म्हणाले...

Thanks for sharing your microaggression, Althouse. Really puts things in perspective.

Darrell म्हणाले...

Fucking white people!
Why don't they do the world a favor and just go away?

Scott M म्हणाले...

If the cast of models for a long stretch of time has been multicolored, wouldn't making it all white this time around be diverse within the context of the show's history?

अनामित म्हणाले...

@ScottM:

For the left, like Easy Annie A., the definitions always change to suit the leftist meme.

What is diverse today is undiverse tomorrow if both definitions serve the fascistic march.

अनामित म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Colonel Angus म्हणाले...

I suppose if Althouse made her point plainly rather than in lawerly wordcraft, much confusion would be avoided. However she is a lawyer and its more rewarding to be vague in expressing oneself while you lecture on what you really meant while self congratulating yourself on your cleverness.

Craig Landon म्हणाले...

I guess Anna Wintour didn't want to be recognized.

Patrick म्हणाले...

There's nothing UNhealthy about not tanning. And a very pale person would get sunburned, so you're saying go burn yourself. It's outright mean..


You need to sharpen up here, or at least recognize your assumptions are pretty narrow. Someone who is very pale looks to me like they never get out and exercise, and indulge in a sedentary lifestyle devoid of fresh air. Can you really conceive of no way other than "tanning" to get some color? Go for a walk, do something outside? That seems pretty narrow. It's not the "tanning" that is being suggested, it's getting off one's ass and doing something outside.

Assuming racist assumptions like you have is stupid.

Why would you tell a very pale white person that they ought to "get some sun fer gawds sake!!" That sounds completely rude.

That's not nearly as rude as:

My assumption is that you think it's okay because of traces of white supremacy that you are unwilling to acknowledge.

President-Mom-Jeans म्हणाले...

Angus, you give her way too much credit for "lawyerly wordcraft."

She said something incredibly stupid, which probably passes for brilliant insight inside the faculty lounge.

She gets rightfully called out and mocked here, but of course cannot admit to a mistake.

Hence the doubling down and mental gymnastics to justify how saying something negative to white people about how white they are is evidence of white supremacy.

That or the Altzheimers posts are a subtle message, and it is kicking in.

DADvocate म्हणाले...

My assumption is that you think it's okay because of traces of white supremacy that you are unwilling to acknowledge.

When I hear liberals complaining about a group being too white, I hear traces of white superiority in that complaint. Then if you complain about a group being too black/Hispanic, you're racist. Liberals view whites a superior and most minorities as inferior and use these racist beliefs as the foundation of their accusations of racism against others.

Asians screw up the whole narrative.

Balfegor म्हणाले...

Re: DADvocate:

Asians screw up the whole narrative.

Well, we always have. In the 19th century, the British had to introduce affirmative action for Whites on their Imperial civil service exams because otherwise all the slots would go to Bengalis. In the early 20th century, popular anxiety about the "Yellow Peril" reflects assumptions not of White superiority but fears of White inferiority. Popular literature retreated into the kinds of fantasies of ineffably masculine White elan that one sees in, for example, Kipling's short story "The Head of the District" or in different form, in the Fu Manchu novels of Sax Rohmer and articles like this in the New York Times.

tiger म्हणाले...

If the show was done completely devoid of any 'white' models it would praised to the rafters.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Asians screw up the whole narrative.
---That's cause Asian chicks are hot.

lowercase म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
अनामित म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
अनामित म्हणाले...

A famous SF writer (as usual, can't remember who) was once asked by a whining female fan why he didn't have more (or more in-depth) female characters in his stories. His sensible response? "Write your own damned stories".

I always think of that when reading these kinds of complaints. Is whitey the only one who can create businesses, institutions, art?

Establish your own damned couture house.

joe म्हणाले...

Althaus:


//As someone who has been called "albino" (as a slur)//


And thus it began for the Aleman, a slur never forgotten. But, was it really a slur, or a straight face/dry wit humor of another Aleman?
Remember, it was the Alemans who gave us the "liberal idea" that a nation is a "race."

अनामित म्हणाले...

Balfegor:
Re: DADvocate:

"Asians screw up the whole narrative."

Well, we always have. In the 19th century, the British had to introduce affirmative action for Whites on their Imperial civil service exams because otherwise all the slots would go to Bengalis.[+ further examples]


What I find interesting in all this is, despite their demonstrated superiority in these competitions, Asians are competing for places in prestige institutions created by white men, not Asians. Why isn't it the other way 'round? (Semi-rhetorical question, of course. Historians have thought long and hard about that conundrum.)

Popular literature retreated into the kinds of fantasies of ineffably masculine White elan[...]

One could call it "nostalgia", perhaps, but for centuries that ineffable élan was hardly a fantasy. It made the world we live in.

MarkD म्हणाले...

Somebody ought to be using that white privilege. It's not doing anything for me.

Yes, Asian chicks are hot. I'm still wondering where the submissive myth came from.

Aridog म्हणाले...

Pogo said...

I pray to Our Lady of Perpetual Apology, for my unbearable whiteness of being.

Thread WINNER!


Pssst: After the fat chicks can't dance bit, I'm not touching this color thang.

अनामित म्हणाले...

I'd say the comments reflect a somewhat jaundiced point of view, but I'd probably be accused of being anti-Chinese.

chickelit म्हणाले...

Lighten up, people!

Aridog म्हणाले...

chickelit sez ...

Lighten up ...

You're on a roll today!

Balfegor म्हणाले...

Re: Anglelyne:

What I find interesting in all this is, despite their demonstrated superiority in these competitions, Asians are competing for places in prestige institutions created by white men, not Asians. Why isn't it the other way 'round? (Semi-rhetorical question, of course. Historians have thought long and hard about that conundrum.)

It's comparatively easy to get into a US or western university. Your English doesn't even have to be that good. You think there's more than a handful of outsiders who could pass the entrance examination to get into Seoul National, or the University of Tokyo? It isn't even that it's hard (though it's certainly more demanding than SAT + grades + fake personal statement + padded extracurriculars). It's that you need to know the language. Written Japanese and Chinese are a lot harder to learn than English (you need about 20,000 characters for literacy). Korean writing is easy to learn (thank you Sejong the Great), but the language itself is ranked one of the most difficult in the world.

Those are some very high barriers to entry. As a result, to the extent they have foreign students, they're mostly foreign students who got in through a different admissions process, taking languages largely in English.

Meanwhile, even competitive Western universities are a lot easier for just about anyone from anywhere to get into. And they do. The result of that, though, is that western universities have the benefit of smart people from all over the world (a lot of whom end up being Asian, to the extent Asians are not kept out with informal quotas as they so often are), rather than just their own populations. And that makes Western universities -- particularly American universities -- stronger, as academic institutions.

Balfegor म्हणाले...

Sorry, taking courses largely in English. Not languages (haha)

Titus म्हणाले...

I think the women in those pics are very interesting looking.

Not hot but chic.

Love the paleness.

I love being white but am known to do the brown.

tits.

अनामित म्हणाले...

ZOMG! White people!

And lots of them!

Synova म्हणाले...

It is pointedly white, but it's not caucasian white, it's sort of plastic-white. At least the pictures at the link. Maybe zombie-white, but they haven't started to rot yet.

I don't know if darker complected models should be put-out over it or not. Sure, you lose the job, but you also don't have to look like an as-yet-unrotted zombie.

Synova म्हणाले...

"As someone who has been called "albino" (as a slur), I am always amazed at how some people — who would never exclaim to someone's face about how dark they are — feel free to exclaim "you're so white.""

That's really weird. I think someone asked my mom if she bleached our hair once... or it was my aunt and cousins... I'm a bit confused to the story. Get in the sun a little bit and we were all white-white-white blond when we were little kids. But there was an albino family in my home town (I don't know quite what the relationships were) but two sisters who went to my school and graduated when I was maybe in 3rd grade and an older man that worked at the community college. They may well have been Scandinavian, but albino is very very different from being super light. And how does it ever get to be a slur? I suppose that's what I think is the really weird part.

Synova म्हणाले...

Didn't some designer get in trouble a few years ago for spray painting the models black? Including black ones, because it was an unnatural shade of black.

I notice that a couple of other people also said that these models look dead. Not white... dead.

chickelit म्हणाले...

And how does it ever get to be a slur? I suppose that's what I think is the really weird part.

I guess if you associate albino with "lab rat" it makes sense.

This just triggered a memory. Family vacation to South Dakota in in 1972 or so--I think it was the same season as the big Black Hills flood (I blogged about that here). We visited Jewel Cave and just happened to meet a husband and wife team who had spent much of their adult lives mapping and exploring the cave. They were both slight in build and had the palest, finest white skin. They both had stark white hair. I knew they weren't albinos--even as a kid--because they had color in their eyes.

I just googled "Jewel Cave explorer" and found a photo of the husband, Herb Conn who just passed away.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Balfegor: It's comparatively easy to get into a US or western university.

I was referring to the historical "always have" you claimed, not the current global access to heavily-marketed American universities. It's Europeans, not Asians, who have been "screwing up the narrative" for most of the last millenium, despite their inferiority in many things historians try to measure. (E.g., the Scientific Revolution is European, despite Asians having been more technically and theoretically advanced. And Europeans seem to be a bit dumber than Asians on average, by any available metric of intelligence.) Yet here we are.

X म्हणाले...

if you knew you wouldn't have your job without your skin color or gender, you might need elaborate theories of white supremacy and white male privilege to keep the hamster wheel spinning. anything to avoid the red pill.