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[Vicetrailia]

"We"? Speak for yourself.

The red wasn't there before, it's there now,because it's more realistic that way. Of all the parts of an overall ugly statue, that part's the least ugly. It's an improvement.

Whoever sees blackface here wants to see it.

No its pretty easy dude, just takes a split second.

So the statue got complaints, some of them about the apparent blackface. They were swift and took it down hastily. People protested a bit and now the statue is coming back with modifications, hopefully to the blackface, but more importantly so the statue won't topple over, and won't need a cage. The results are positive.

But seeing blackface makes you prejudice apparently. Time to go.

 

[MazeHaze]

This is sad, I honestly can't believe we reached this point.

Yeah, it really is sad that people found the shitty black face looking paint job on a statue to be offensive. How dare they, everyone should only be offended by things that WE say are offensive. The only way to be truly anti-censorship is to belittle and censor the people that WE say are pro-censorship! Who's with me?!

 

[SatansReverence]

This is proof enough that there are people who are looking for any and every possible reason to be offended.

 

[GamingEnthusiast]

This may the dumbest and most racist way of saying that a certain ethnicity equate to apes. What world are we living in?

 

[themagicalkitsune]

Return the gorilla!!!

Yeah justice for Harambe. I too am very upset about this local issue that apparently is being taken care of.

I also like to beat around the bush and claim that people who see blackface are the *real* racists here. It's not like the perpetuation of blackface is mostly due to non-black folk's outright ignorance or insensitivity on the issue.

 

[VAL0R]

 

[Mahadev]

No its pretty easy dude, just takes a split second.

So the statue got complaints, some of them about the apparent blackface. They were swift and took it down hastily. People protested a bit and now the statue is coming back with modifications, hopefully to the blackface, but more importantly so the statue won't topple over, and won't need a cage. The results are positive.

But seeing blackface makes you prejudice apparently. Time to go.

Seeing anything racial in a fucking gorilla statue either makes you racist of eerily obsessed with identity politics, that's for sure.

 

[Big4reel]

to be fair the park probably looks better without it

 

[Lionel Richie]

Yeah, it really is sad that people found the shitty black face looking paint job on a statue to be offensive. How dare they, everyone should only be offended by things that WE say are offensive. The only way to be truly anti-censorship is to belittle and censor the people that WE say are pro-censorship! Who's with me?!

I'm going to ignore the hysteric tumblr sarcasm for obvious reasons, but instead just let me ask you this: do you have reasonable evidence they wanted to portray a blackface on that gorilla? And if you do, what would their intention be? Because it looks blackfaced just like that face on mars looks like Jesus Christ.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Seeing anything racial in a fucking gorilla statue either makes you racist of eerily obsessed with identity politics, that's for sure.

Why would it make you racist? Racist against who?

Lionel Richie
Why would intent matter? It being an accident or on purpose doesn't negate that in the end, the way that they added the mouth interior creates the illusion of blackface. It simply looks like it regardless of intent, and people want it tweaked.

 

[lifa-cobex]

The replacement is on order....

 

[Hissing Sid]

As a species we’re not going to make it, are we?

 

[PedroPanache]

I think it's mostly a crap gorilla statue. The allusion to black face, well yeah, I can see why people could see it that way, particuarly in this climate, but I seriously doubt it was intentional. That said, I'm sure Tucker Carlson is on the case and will stir the pot even more with that lovely confused facial expression of his. These are the stories that matter. I can't quite believe that somebody actually staged a sit-in protest in the cage till the gorilla's return. What a time to be alive.

 

[Mahadev]

Why would it make you racist? Racist against who?

Lionel Richie
Why would intent matter? It being an accident or on purpose doesn't negate that in the end, the way that they added the mouth interior creates the illusion of blackface. It simply looks like it regardless of intent, and people want it tweaked.

Because they're making an association between black people and gorillas, simple as that. Tell me, do you honestly believe if this was a black panther (the animal, in case anyone is confused) statue with a really red mouth they'd make the same association? They wouldn't.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Why would intent matter? It being an accident or on purpose doesn't negate that in the end, the way that they added the mouth interior creates the illusion of blackface. It simply looks like it regardless of intent, and people want it tweaked.

What do you mean why would intent matter? They removed the statue because some people complained it looked like a blackface, since that wasn't their intent they could either tell those people to fuck right off or you could (ideally) negotiate some on site alterations to it. But no, they took the easy approach of just removing it. Every time you unilaterally do something to appease one specific angry mob and disregard everyone else, you're going to turn a non issue into a bit of a problem. The politicization of everything has now reached pareidolia, don't you think making issues out of every single petty bullshit dilutes whatever actual problems there might be? Yeah people are within their rights to do just that, but how is that productive?

 

[Future]

"We"? Speak for yourself.

The red wasn't there before, it's there now,because it's more realistic that way. Of all the parts of an overall ugly statue, that part's the least ugly. It's an improvement.

Whoever sees blackface here wants to see it.

Not sure I understand posts like this. It’s irrelevant if you see it or not. Other people do see it with the new paint job, and if the city has a desire to keep society civil and make people happy, they change it. People in this thread see it. Everyone is different, so there has got to be some empathy and acceptance that different people with different backgrounds will interpret things in ways that you will not

Besides, there literally is no reason to keep it because as you mentioned, it’s an ugly as fuck statue. No one was loving and cheering for this gorillas presence before. So who gives a fuck if they take it down. You might as well do it to make people happy unless you have a chip on your shoulder against people sensitive to things like this.

This is similar to battles people have for taking confederate flags down. But at least then we are talking about a historical flag. This is just and ugly as sin statue. Open and shut case: take that shit down

 

[Vicetrailia]

Because they're making an association between black people and gorillas, simple as that. Tell me, do you honestly believe if this was a black panther (the animal, in case anyone is confused) statue with a really red mouth they'd make the same association? They wouldn't.

Blackface gets used on human figures primarily, and monkey figures secondarily. There's awareness on that. Plus black people are often described as monkeys, adding awareness to that. Add the two together and what may someone notice? Your black panther add is actually speculation.

What do you mean why would intent matter? They removed the statue because some people complained it looked like a blackface, since that wasn't their intent they could either tell those people to fuck right off or you could (ideally) negotiate some on site alterations to it. But no, they took the easy approach of just removing it. Every time you unilaterally do something to appease one specific angry mob and disregard everyone else, you're going to turn a non issue into a bit of a problem. The politicization of everything has now reached pareidolia, don't you think making issues out of every single petty bullshit dilutes whatever actual problems there might be? Yeah people are within their rights to do just that, but how is that productive?

This is a community issue, everyone got to exercise their voice, and they apparently listen to their community like good people do. The statue is coming back with fixes to other complaints/issues as well. I say that's productive, and hopefully everyone wins now.

 

[Lionel Richie]

This is a community issue, everyone got to exercise their voice, and they apparently listen to their community like good people do. The statue is coming back with fixes to other complaints/issues as well. I say that's productive, and hopefully everyone wins now.

I agree with you, but they could have done it better. Instead of removing when people first pressured, talk about it. Try to come to middle grounds, involve more people. Nowadays people seem so scared of being labeled as racists, it's bizarre and it leads to really rushed decisions which itself leads to stronger reactions and creates a turmoil out of absolutely nothing.

When I initially posted in this thread, I said this was sad. I don't think people seeing a blackface there is sad, I don't think people wanting the gorilla back is sad, I think the way this is handled and the fact that an ugly as fuck gorilla statue of all things turns into an issue is pretty sad.

 

[grumpyGamer]

There days every adult is a spoiled child, we keep rewarding stupidity and ignorance

 

[camelCase]

Embarrassing for the community

 

[gradient]

Take it down, stick a small copper plaque on it and put it back as a memorial to Harambe.

Context.

 

[WaterAstro]

I determined the President to be racist. Can we remove him?

 

[davepoobond]

I determined the President to be racist. Can we remove him?

If you think he is racist then you’re the real racist

Am I doing it right

 

[lifa-cobex]

If you think he is racist then you’re the real racist

Am I doing it right

 

[CyberMoose]