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Racist street performance

delta_bravo

I was walking down Grafton Street this morning and spotted the usual activities on the street: musicians setting up and a few of those other performers. However one really got my attention. I had to do a double take when I saw this I haven't been down the street in a while so I don't know if this thing is a regular feature on Grafton street but to me it seemed quite a strange thing to have on the street. Firstly it seems overtly racist and secondly how do they expect people to give them money for doing this? It seemed quite unusual. Nobody others seemed to be paying much attention to it but thats often the case with these buskers that people ignore them. As far as I know buskers need permission to perform, I'm not sure if that applies to non music acts but it seems completely inappropriate to me.

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KyussBishop

ITS_A_BADGER wrote: »

maybe they arent making any political statement at all

Maybe, but it's pretty odd; I'd be surprised if they didn't see how it could be interpreted as racist.

el dude

All they're missing is a KKK hood.

Smiles35

There's a couple of lads in eastern europe doing a Putin mask and peanut head routine

delta_bravo

J Bourke wrote: »

YOU'RE the one making the racial connection here. All I see is 2 lads in masks.

Do you not find it unusual that 2 people decided to wear a gorilla mask and a Obama mask, wear identical clothing and then sit out on Grafton St looking for money?

Just to refer to earlier posts, I never said I was offended by it. I said I believe it to be racist. It definitely has some connotations with racism as someone earlier wrote about recent monkey chants being directed at football players coming to mind.

KyussBishop

J Bourke wrote: »

YOU'RE the one making the racial connection here. All I see is 2 lads in masks.

That's fair enough, it just makes me immediately think of recent stuff like this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2184303/Gael-Clichy-Bananas-thrown-pitch-Limerick-game.html

cml387

It could of course be a comment on the state of US healthcare as was stated earlier.

I look forward to their take on the problems of bilingualism in Belgium or France's burgeoning public sector deficit.

J Bourke

delta_bravo wrote: »

Do you not find it unusual that 2 people decided to wear a gorilla mask and a Obama mask, wear identical clothing and then sit out on Grafton St looking for money?

Not unusual, just open to interpretation maybe?

You see what you want to see, if you're inclined to be easily or willfully offended you'll put 2 and 2 together and come up with racism.

Absolutezero

Beggars.

WindSock

It was probably deliberately done to provoke a reaction or discussion by some first year students of some kind.

biko wrote: »

Is this racist? Without context we don't know.

Dunno, but why is Michelinman in a snazzy wheelchair in the background?

Boombastic

Obama is doing an impression of Micheal Jackson

not sure why it's racist?

Edit: unless they had a race?

Irish Guitarist

It's either meant to look ridiculous and nonsensical or they're comparing Barack Obama to a gorilla because they think he's incompetent. George Bush was frequently called a chimpanzee even though he was, and as far as I know still is, white.

KyussBishop wrote: »

Maybe, but it's pretty odd; I'd be surprised if they didn't see how it could be interpreted as racist.

Would it also be racist if someone wore a polar bear mask and his friend wore a Pat Butcher mask? I always thought Pat Butcher looked a bit like a polar bear.

Smiles35

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

Would it also be racist if someone wore a polar bear mask and his friend wore a Pat Butcher mask? I always thought Pat Butcher looked a bit like a polar bear.

I don't know, If the polar bears were looking for work as hookers might feel sorry for them

Boombastic

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

......
Would it also be racist if someone wore a polar bear mask and his friend wore a Pat Butcher mask? I always thought Pat Butcher looked a bit like a polar bear.

I think that'd be classed as a crime against humanity:D

A_Sober_Paddy

This is no way racist...people these days don't know what real racism is...apparently telling someone to go back to their country is racist by today's standard too...PC gone mad

latenia

If anyone doesn't think that's racist then you're either naive or stupid. The implication is quite obvious and I'd be mortified if an African-American tourist saw it. If I see them there myself tomorrow I'll be having words.

Difference Engine

Two people dressed up, sitting there not doing much and no one understands what's going on.

That's just called a sh!t street performance.

Even if they were trying to offend someone they have failed miserably. What's the story with the Gestapo coats?

Difference Engine

latenia wrote: »

If anyone doesn't think that's racist then you're either naive or stupid. The implication is quite obvious and I'd be mortified if an African-American tourist saw it. If I see them there myself tomorrow I'll be having words.

You might want to find out what they are doing before you go in all guns blazing. What if it turned out to be two black guys under the masks?

GoldenLight

I actually think people maybe jumping the gun here, all I'm seeing is a picture of a gorrilla, next to Obma, and as some pointed out politically it could be Obma sitting with a gorrilla in the room.

Now in saying that I really don't know if it's racists, it could be satire, (I would have to know a little more info).

What I find extremely interesting though, is that some posters are assuming it is actually racist, which would imply to me the second they see a gorilla and a person of colour in the same room, or on the same street, they automatically think, that there should be a link, now that is racist.

Who knows maybe that is what the performance artists wanted to imply, if so they where successful

MagicMarker

latenia wrote: »

If anyone doesn't think that's racist then you're either naive or stupid. The implication is quite obvious and I'd be mortified if an African-American tourist saw it. If I see them there myself tomorrow I'll be having words.

The implication is racist, but without context it remains merely an implication.

Also, not all black people are African-American.

Where To

Not all gorillas are black either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake_%28gorilla%29

tin79

KyussBishop wrote: »

If the performers are comparing Obama to a Gorilla (a common dehumanizing racist comparison, comparing black people to monkeys), then there's pretty much no way this isn't racist?

If this isn't what it's supposed to mean, then what political statement is being made?

If there's another political statement behind it that actually makes sense, then it may not be racist, but it's sure looking pretty bad...(find it hard to see how the performers wouldn't see potential, for it to be seen as racist)

Do you actually have a point or are you a professional fence sitter?

delta_bravo

GoldenLight wrote: »

which would imply to me the second they see a gorilla and a person of colour in the same room, or on the same street, they automatically think, that there should be a link, now that is racist.

Which of course as we know is a daily occurence.

tin79

latenia wrote: »

If I see them there myself tomorrow I'll be having words.

Tenner bet says you wont. Oh moral crusader.

e_e

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

PC gone mad

Yeah let's all go back to relying on ignorance and blind prejudice. :rolleyes:

I will never understand the people who try and attack political correctness at every opportunity. Whether it's racist or not it is still worth having a dialog about and questioning instead of just turning your nose at it. I get the feeling sometimes that some of the "Political correctness has gone mad!!!" brigade are just nasty people who have thought up some "clever" way of not being called out on their BS. Besides we'd still be set back hundreds of years persecuting people based on their race, gender and sexuality without it.

dj jarvis

MagicMarker wrote: »

The implication is racist, but without context it remains merely an implication.

Also, not all black people are African-American.

+1

they could also be Chinese , they could be albino
until you know and know the context debate is pointless

OP - why did you not go up and ask what they were at ? or were you more happy to make a snap judgment to fuel your PC feed paranoia ?
just asking like

dj jarvis

e_e wrote: »

Yeah let's all go back to relying on ignorance and blind prejudice. :rolleyes:

I will never understand the people who try and attack political correctness at every opportunity. Whether it's racist or not it is still worth having a dialog about and questioning instead of just turning your nose at it. I get the feeling sometimes that some of the "Political correctness has gone mad!!!" brigade are just nasty people who have thought up some "clever" way of not being called out on their BS. Besides we'd still be set back hundreds of years persecuting people based on their race, gender and sexuality without it.

or as they are commonly known, the " common sense brigade "
PC nazisim is killing freedom of expression, for fear of breaking some new anal taboo - **** em and **** them from a height

Ush1

People do know that humans are apes yeah?

latenia

Difference Engine wrote: »

You might want to find out what they are doing before you go in all guns blazing. What if it turned out to be two black guys under the masks?

Two Eastern Europeans according to an earlier poster. If you read the news at all you'll understand why that makes the racist aspect of this obvious.

MagicMarker wrote: »

The implication is racist, but without context it remains merely an implication.

Also, not all black people are African-American.

I deliberately said African-American instead of black (which would also make me cringe) because they would perhaps lack the context that those resident here might have of knowing that these guys aren't native Irish. They might only be here for a few days and presume this kind of thing is normal rather than rare and finally the person being compared to an ape would make it especially hurtful.

Doc Ruby

GoldenLight wrote: »

I actually think people maybe jumping the gun here, all I'm seeing is a picture of a gorrilla, next to Obma, and as some pointed out politically it could be Obma sitting with a gorrilla in the room.

The correct phrase is an elephant in the room. Also, even if they are black, what does it matter? Black people can be racist too. I would say yeah this is very poor taste street performance at best, racist at worst.

Never mind African Americans, any Americans are likely to be highly offended by it, and rightly so.

Ush1

latenia wrote: »

I deliberately said African-American instead of black (which would also make me cringe) because they would perhaps lack the context that those resident here might have of knowing that these guys aren't native Irish. They might only be here for a few days and presume this kind of thing is normal rather than rare and finally the person being compared to an ape would make it especially hurtful.

But we are apes.