Actually, I was amused more than anything, and I'm a gay rights supporter. I'm hardly politically correct, so I probably should have signified that with a smiley. Not to mention the Song "Der Fuhrer's Face" is extremely catchy  

You can blame Monty Python for my hypocritical love of gay jokes. And Leeron, of course  

 

Sometimes things need to be seen within the cultural context of their time. Shallow ethnic stereotypes were common in the '80s. Look at MacGyver. I know they stereotyped Arabs. How about Back to the Future? Remember the Libyans were the villains in the van chasing Marty around the mall. There was less visibility of other cultures, it was the Cold War, and all people knew, if they were informed at all, was from a newspaper of the latest events. Now I can watch BBC, Aljazeera, Deutsche Welle, NHK World over-the-air, and see foreign coverage of world events, including events the US media doesn't focus on or covers in 30 seconds, but my 1985/86 counterpart?

Of course, going further back, we have the Censored 11 and very very blatant stereotypes like blackface and the Chinese stereotype. And look at how the Japanese were depicted in cartoons & comics. They were shown as subhuman! (But then they showed us by taking over our hearts and minds with toy robots   ) Seriously, look at '40s Captain America issues. Nazis were shown as mean-faced humans, "Japs" were shown as bespectacled, short, yellow-skinned, contorted face beings, like some kind of gnome with an Asian motif and 20th century army uniforms. Of course, being animated in Japan, there was no chance in hell Transformers would have an offensive Japanese stereotype. Far back, the Irish had a lot of stereotypes and were looked down upon in the US. Look at the '40s & '50s, everyone had to take a WASPish name. Lawrence Welk was Ukranian (he masqueraded as German), Jack Benny a Lithuanian Jew, Danny Thomas Lebanese, James Arness was Norwegian-German (the blonde from Lost in Space, Judy was this mix too. She would've been a wolf child because of being born to an occupied country's woman & a German soldier if not for being adopted by Americans), Dr. Smith a Russian-Jew. Yul Brynner and a handful of Cubans or Latinos (i.e. Desi Arnaz, Cesar Romero) were the exception. This went beyond taking a stage name that looked more American or was easier to pronounce, this was them hiding an ethnicity. It made America look far whiter, far WASPier than it actually was.

Over time, American culture, at least the mainstream of it, has gotten to stereotype other cultures less, well, less blatantly and less offensively. The '80s was, well, the '80s. People now (at least they're supposed to) know better. But then again, some racism and stereotyping has gotten official sanction, like the TSA's love of scrutinizing anyone who looks Middle Eastern (and apparently small children and elderly women) and how many seasons of 24 dealt with Arab terrorism? How many shows and movies used Arabs as 1-dimensional villains in the '00s? Racial profiling of blacks is still going strong in many cities/states. Same thing in television/movies with Italians. They make it look like they're always argumentative, eat pasta all the time and most are affliated with the mob.

A minor stereotype that was around in the '80s was the Japanese having a love of taking pictures and taking a dozen shots to every 1 an American would. Remember the scene with Data in The Goonies?

 

I don't think it works like that. Time doesn't have anything to do with this. It's the people. The way I see it, it's admit to incorporating race-centric jingoism or not engage in it at all. I don't see anything wrong with the Transformers cartoons or G.I. JOE cartoons at all. We've about covered that race doesn't mean a thing in a children's franchise. From the first episode of G1 to Zone to Beast Wars to now. Nothing's 'wrong' with the franchise in terms of race, other than Bay race baiting and dividing the fandom with his drama. I respect what he's done. But I hate how people like him and others that have no clue about two factions in a robot civil war should incorporate racial drama. End.

By the way, this whole "racism is exclusive to America" is complete bullshit. Just a fact. Look at the No Gaijin allowed signs in Japan. Worse than us. Just stating the obvious.

 

^This totally. Merry Beleated Christmas everyone.  

 

Everytime I hear any derivative of the word 'jingoism', I want to choke myself. Liking your country is jingoistic, wearing a flag pin is jingoistic, not going to Berkeley is jingoistic, not blaming Bush is jingoistic. JFC, can that word please be banned already.

 

I never said racism is American only. Japan has its gaijin issues and many parts of the world... and the US are very tribal in their mentality, being suspicious if not outright hostile to outsiders which extends not just to different skin colors to people of the same skin color that "talk funny" (which by their definition means they don't have the local accent).

 

Believe me; Japan is probably the most xenophobic of the first-world countries. And that means they're more xenophobic than "GIT THEM THAR MEXICANS OUT OF MAH BACKYARD" Murrika.

 

What about stand-up comedians?

 

No worries. I wasn't just referring to your post. It's a general matter. The way I see it, it seems like everyone keeps referring to A Thief in the Night as the worst thing of G1 or forget about the worst thing of G1 in general was the near end of Transformers as we know it worldwide. At least Pretenders, European TFs, Japanese TFs, and other franchises kept it going.

Who? Two bit hacks like Dane Cook?

 

Heh... kinda how people be-cry 'racism' and still call others 'gewunner' as a slur.

You said the "C" word you evil-doer! To the gulag with you (oh, I'm sorry- was that racist?)

 

This.

If you guys want a REALLY offensive episode, check out the Girl who Loved Powerglide. Woah. It's one of my favorite episodes, because holy shit. It is FUCKED. UP. It is so politically incorrect that it goes straight into hilarious territory. Sweet mother of God, is Powerglide a misogynist.

 

who gives they swear in the g1 movie

 

I absolutely hate comments like this. In England where I live, we have horrible organisations like the B.N.P. and the E.D.L. writing similar things to this on there propaganda. Its a complete myth often perpetuated by racist organisations to play the victim so they can feel justified in hating on entire cultures and groups of people. Everyone (white people included) can be as proud of there heritage and ethnicity as they want to be don't let anyone tell you any different.

 

here in america we have groups like the KKK who go further than just being "proud" of their heritage,they go as far as following hitler and his teachings and doing violent things to people of different colors and jewish people as well..I hate to tell you this but that quote is 100% true here in america because white people are NOT allowed to be proud of their heritage without being called racists..and black people (or "african americans" as we're supposed to call them over here and in some cases can get sued calling them "black") can and there are black orginazations just as bad as the KKK like the black panthers but they are allowed to spread their hate,which they shouldn't..I wish people could be equal like you said but it's just simply not that way here in the states and that can be blamed on poilitical correctness and the media making victims out of minorities..it's sad and I'm afraid may be the downfall of our country one day because people are getting fed up with it and it's worse here than people in other countries may realize..so I guess things are way different in the UK than they are here..just saying from a perpspective of an american..

 

Maybe in the US, but there has been a bit of controversy in the UK over the last few days with a black politician seen as being racist towards white ppl via Twitter.

Blown way outta proportion if you ask me but then that's the nature of the racist beast. It isn't just racism tho, ppl nowadays are so fucking pampered and pathetic that the slightest thing they don't like they bleat about and has some sort of -ism attached to it. Ppl need to grow a pair, deal with it and move on.

 

^^This..Big Time^^

 

I never noticed any problems with any xenophobia the year I lived in Japan. Probably because I chose to wear a belt and chose to have good manners. I also greeted people in their native language instead of our dialects of Mefirst or Yodawg.

I know this is not fair to Americans, because wearing belts or practicing genteel behavior is an affront to diversity, and by helping others, we would lose our competitive advantage.

However, it must be nice to live somewhere that you can safely leave your front door unlocked in any part of the country.

Psst: You're all XENOPHOBES!

 

Wow, please try picking up a history book. First of all, nobody has ever been sued solely for calling someone black. Try to find a case, I spent 5 minutes looking on Westlaw and couldn't find ANYTHING.

Second of all, we have something called the 1st Amendment in this country. It's totally fair for the KKK to hold rallies and spread their hate speech. It's when they deface property or act violently against people that their actions become illegal.
The panther party was formed as a result of not only the violence from groups such as the KKK, but government and institutional violence from the very police sworn to protect all citizens. Some of their language was certainly inflammatory and should be condemned, and any actual illegal violence should be and has been punished appropriately, but any group is allowed to exercise FREE SPEECH as long people aren't "talking" with their fists or violence. To compare the panther party to the KKK is ludicrous and distorts history.

 

I was with you until the quoted part.