Apu is offensive!

[Shiranu]

"Apu is offensive! never mind that he actually represents a hefty portion of Indian immigrants that work convenience stores and have thick Indian accents! Forget all of that!"

I don't think anyone is denying that there are plenty of Indians like that, either in this thread or in the videos provided.

But i'm also not sold that this is a relevant argument anyways. The issue is not that Indians are being portrayed this way, it's that they were almost exclusively portrayed this way until actors like Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, Pryanka Chopra and so on only very recently began to pave the way for Indian characters who were defined not the fact they were "Indian" and playing "Indians" but rather who were liked as characters for their characters own merits.

Apu, at his core, is "brown-face"; it is a white actor pretending to brown and to do it in the most stereotypical way he possibly can to make fun of someone. He is the animated equivalent of Micky Rooney's, "Mr. Yunioshi", or late 1800s minstrel shows... and the people who defended those made the exact same arguments.

I don't think minstrel shows should be illegal, Micky Rooney should have been arrested for his just... horrible... depiction of Japanese-Americans, or that Apu should be written out or the Simpsons punished for how they portrayed him. But the entire point of this thread was to both mock and dismiss someone who spent their entire life being the butt of a joke, and that's fucked up.

It would be one thing if there were any depictions of Indians in media that weren't the butt of the joke, but until only very recently that wasn't the case. If he was calling for the Simpsons to be banned... I would be right besides you in saying that he needs to calm the fuck down... but when all he is saying is that he wants to see Indian people portrayed as anything more than just a joke... what is so fundamentally offensive about that?

[Shiranu]

My personal take on SJWs are not that they are in an actual "oppression Olympics", though it definitely comes off that way. They're in a "virtue olympics". The one that finds offense and tries to correct the most things is the most virtuous. Don't worry about if it's not even a thing that needs fixing, they're gonna want to fix it anyway.

Honest question here... who the fuck cares about those type of people?

Name me one "SJW" who currently holds a position of power in the American government. Name me one court case that has been passed in the favour of "SJW ideology". Shit, as an American... it's getting to the point where I am tempted to ask even one recent moderate leaning piece of legislation that has been passed lately.

The "SJW" you talk about are like the "radical vegans"... yes they are loud and obnoxious as fuck, but that's about it. Who gives a shit?

[Draconic Aiur]

Honest question here... who the fuck cares about those type of people?

Name me one "SJW" who currently holds a position of power in the American government. Name me one court case that has been passed in the favour of "SJW ideology". Shit, as an American... it's getting to the point where I am tempted to ask even one recent moderate leaning piece of legislation that has been passed lately.

The "SJW" you talk about are like the "radical vegans"... yes they are loud and obnoxious as fuck, but that's about it. Who gives a shit?

*cracks knuckles*

[Shiranu]

*continues to wait*

[Draconic Aiur]

*continues to wait*

*cracks knuckles while looking at Shiranu who knows my exfreind is now a politician who supported Hilary the most SJW like*

[Draconic Aiur]

Why should anyone care that the SJW and Feminism poisons everything it touches?

Gee I wonder.

[Munch]

The hippies did not "want to drop out". The hippies were heavily involved in the Civil Rights marches, were holding protests at universities over free speech (such as holding a police officer hostage for 32 hours at Berkley who had arrested a student calling for racial equality), were one of the most iconic symbols of the anti-Vietnam War movement and of course were a huge part of the Environmental movement and anti-Nuke movements.

That's good considering modern sjws (and third wave feminists) want to ban freedom of speech.

[pr126]

That's good considering modern sjws (and third wave feminists) want to ban freedom of speech.

Only to those who disagree with them.

[Draconic Aiur]

Only to those who disagree with them.

Thought police

[Baruch]

Why should anyone care that the SJW and Feminism poisons everything it touches?

Gee I wonder.

Most social change comes from psycho teens murdering their parents.  We don't kill our teens first ... because our legacy ...

Biggest laugh ... Shiranu is an expert on the 60s, was right there at the 68 Democratic Chicago Convention Riots, next to Abbie Hoffmann.

If the US was Marxist, the SJWs would be pickup driving, gun totting red neck wanna-bees.  Youth IS wasted on the young.

[PickelledEggs]

lol "brown face"

Why do you say that? because it's a white guy voicing him? Dude. 6 or so people voice the entire 100+ roster of characters on that show. Why would they hire an extra person to voice a character when they already have someone that is able to do it perfectly?

Maybe you would want to supply that extra person's salary, @Shiranu ? lol

[Munch]

wonder how good Shiranu be at the hummingbird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buaAEYuR-9Q

[Shiranu]

Why do you say that? because it's a white guy voicing him?

In part, and partly because he was told that being as stereotypical as possible was a plus.

Dude. 6 or so people voice the entire 100+ roster of characters on that show.

Brown face doesn't have to be done with malicious intent to still be brown face.

Maybe you would want to supply that extra person's salary, @Shiranu ? lol

Again, no one is saying the character needs to be removed or necessarily that they need(ed) to hire an Indian to portray him. All that has been said is that the character in his current incantation is offensive. Think Ben Kingsly in, "Gandhi"... very, very few people had a problem with an Englishman playing Gandhi, and even Nehru said that Gandhi himself would have been amused and supportive of it.



There are plenty of changes that could be made to the character that would make him both a better character and a less offensive one at the same time, but ultimately at this point the damage has been done. But I just don't understand how pointing out a character caused tangible effects in the real world is so triggering to yall.

And I didn't touch on it earlier, but this, "Well, George Carlin was offensive too!" is just complete hokey. George Carlin's humour, AFAIK, never really played off of making fun of racial stereotypes. The more accurate comparison would be to compare Apu to Carlos Mencia... which like every other example I have used, I don't think should be banned or silenced or anything like that but we, as audiences, need to realise it is scraping the bottom of the comedic barrel.

To compare Apu to Carlin is an insult to the quality of Carlin's comedy.

[Munch]

your the only one here offended by this.

[Munch]

There are plenty of changes that could be made to the character that would make him both a better character and a less offensive one at the same time, but ultimately at this point the damage has been done. But I just don't understand how pointing out a character caused tangible effects in the real world is so triggering to yall.

the only damage risk comes from thin skinned social justice cry babies like you looking to get offended by anything to help your PC points grow, and the risk being them actually changing the character to suit that shallow need.
We've seen what happens when thats been done in comics, big surprise, the social justice cry babies who wanted more pc reforms in comics, ended up not even buying the comics, and it ruined it for everyone else as well, forcing marvel to take two steps back to win genuine fans back.

http://thefederalist.com/2017/04/12/forcing-political-correctness-employees-characters-killing-marvel-comics/

The biggest mistake modern media can make is trying to appeal to the easily offended generation, since all you do it get offended, and then don't even support the ones who make the changes for you.

And even if they did change Apu, you'd just find the next thing to get offended by and drag that down too.