More 'slant eye' images of love from Spain, and now Argentina

Since this blog has begun there have been interesting debates in the comments about a variety of topics. NBC's controversial decision not to show the games live on the West Coast (but still calling it "live"), the seemingly underage Chinese gymnasts, the punishment of a wrestler who was given a bronze medal that he refused to accept, the concept of Medals per Capita have all garnered their fair share of reader attention.

But the most commented posts that we have seen here have been those about the Spanish men's basketball team and the ad they posed for while pushing the skin of their eyes back. Most considered this clearly offensive, but most of our Spanish commentors didn't, nor did an editor of Hoy (a Spanish-language newspaper owned by Tribune, which also owns the L.A. Times). The Spaniards seem to believe that the gestures are one of camaraderie and playful fun with the Chinese, not at their expense.

Today we discovered two bits of what some might call fun and others might call offensive. The first is the photo above of the Spanish women's basketball team, which recently surfaced. There had been reports that the women posed at the same time as the Spanish men's hoops team for the odd ad that ran in a newspaper in Spain, but for some reason only the men's team photo has floated around the web. This new photo now makes it the third Spanish team to pose in this controversial manner, after the discovery of the Spanish tennis team's photo.

The second discovery comes via the Telegraph, which posted a photo of several members of the women's soccer team from Argentina joining in on the "fun." Not sure if this trend will continue, but if karma means anything, the women's soccer team from Argentina didn't win one game in Olympic play.

-- Tony Pierce

The Spanish women's Olympic basketball team being offensive or friendly, depending on where you happened to grow up. Credit: AP Photo/Seur

Comments

[Ignacio]

People in other countries pay much less attention that in the US to all this PC stuff. People get way too worked up about unimportant things in this country.

[Luis]

All this controversy has been stirred up by tha anglo-american media due to the obsession of the angloamericans with matters pertaining to race. It tells more about the angloamerican obsession- and sense of guilt- with racism than about any alleged racism on the part of the Spanish. It is also an attempt to impose on others the angloamerican code of behaviour. For your information, the Chinese Embassy in Spain issued an official note clearly stating that the Chinese in mainland China do not consider this gesture as offensive at all. The question, is, if the Chinese do not feel offended, why all this nonsense? By the way, what about racism in the US against the Hispanic population?

[simon]

the "people" who pay much less attention to "PC stuff" have never been the targets of racist or bigoted taunting and harrassment. i can tell you that it is never a pleasant experience.

[Gabe]

The Chinese embassy in Spain does not speak for me. As a Chinese person I say I'm offended. And let me tell you my friends are also offended.

[Baggio Claderoza]

Dear Slant-brained Spanish Team,

How many Spaniards does it take to change a liight bulb?
A. 5
B.15
C. What”s a light bulb?

[Elise]

I find all of these team pictures incredibly offensive. The Chinese Embassy certainly does not, nor will ever, speak for me. These pictures just show how utterly ignorant, provincial, immature, and downright racist these people are. That gesture is not funny, and it is not friendly whatsoever. It's offensive, rude, and small-minded. What's even more unbelievable is that these ignorant, provincial people are actually defending their actions. How cowardly and insensitive.

[Michael]

"For your information, the Chinese Embassy in Spain issued an official note clearly stating that the Chinese in mainland China do not consider this gesture as offensive at all."

Others have already pointed out that the Chinese embassy does not speak for them, but apprently, they don't speak for mainland Chinese either. How can they claim that it isn't offensive to them when the vast majority of them haven't even seen it? The state controlled media has been very careful not to let these images out-- furthermore, the few who have seen it really have no idea what the gesture means. One reaction from a person who was shown the photograph sums it up:

"They must be saying the Chinese people are really thoughtful because they're pointing to their minds," said Ma Yan Xin, 19.

Spaniards and sympathizers, wake up. This is not an Anglo-American ploy to get you to eat more Big Macs. This is all about you living in a bubble and insisting that you're right and everyone else is overly sensitive.

I really do feel sorry for the people of Asian descent living in Spain.

[Jen]

Oh yes, Americans are so racists... that's why we throw bananas at black athletes and make slant-eyed gestures at the Olympics in Beijing.

[Dennis]

Check out this guy's post from Seattle regarding the slanted eyes. It's brilliant.

http://tinyurl.com/5lktvc

[Connie]

Maybe the Asian teams should be photographed with a wet T-shirt and a bag of oranges hurled over their shoulders. "Oranges for sale Senor!"

[What's in a gesture?]

Ignacio: You should be writing about the 10% unemployment in Spain instead of wasting your time writing your comments on this site. If this is unimportant, why are you wasting your time writing on this site?
This has nothing to do with being PC. It's called RESPETO.

[What's in a gesture?]

Pobre Ignacio: Why is looking different such a big deal? It seems that people have to spend less time doing unimportant things like pulling their eyes, No? They should be recycling or doing things that matter, No? They should own up to things, No? God is watching, No?

[L.A. Times Risk Management Unit, Asian Dept.]

The Los Angeles Times might be sued for SLANTING the news against the Spaniards by not creating "Don't cry for me with slanted eyes, Argentina" blog.

[Daniel Ortega]

"With 2:25 to play at the Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, Spain was just four points behind and the crowd of about 13,000 was cheering on the Spaniards as if the game were in Madrid."

This is a paragraph of Jay Weiner's article about the gold-medal game against Spain. Please, try to use your brain. If the 'slant eye' image were offensive, Chinese audience would have booed every point of Spain. It didn't happened. Although they adore Kobe Bryant, they backed Spanish team. Why don't you think about it?

[bodhisattva]

Daniel:

12,999 of them have never been outside China to experience people making fun of them. you missed the 1 Chinese who gave up because nobody could hear his boos. Chinese do love a close match and like to root for the underdogs. They may not care for the Americans either but this was never about Americans objecting to people making fun of them. I'm not spinning things.