Tag: racism

Now trending

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t really want to get too opinionated on the whole current issue of police officers killing unarmed black people, but I do want to point out what I think.

As unfortunate it is that this is all going down, it is still ultimately one gigantic media trend.  I can’t believe that I’m the only one who sees this for how it is, but the truth of the matter is that in light of one high-profile cops killing civilian story, all of them have been thrust into the spotlight for everyone to see when every single occurrence happens.

See, the thing is that if one scours the internet on a daily basis thoroughly enough, I’m willing to bet money that they can find a story of a police officer forced to kill a person in the line of duty, every single day.  Granted, they may not be allegations that the deceased may or may not have been armed, or allegedly yielding when it happened, but the fact is that police probably kill people every day.  Sounds gruesome, but not that it makes it any better, people, regardless of occupation, kill people, every day.  Shit, sparsely a day goes by where looking at local Atlanta news doesn’t yield a death happening in the AM hours.

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Sorry, can’t take it seriously

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’ll reserve any talk about the actual matters of the supposed cops killing black people epidemic, because I kind of want to write about it eventually, as well as the fact that when the day is over, my opinion doesn’t mean shit in the grand spectrum of things.  But I saw Kobe Bryant among numerous NBA players wearing this “I CAN’T BREATHE” t-shirt, and I couldn’t sit idly at the knee-jerk reaction that I had in my head:

Comic Sans?  Really?

If there’s one thing that just about anyone who’s ever used a computer in their entire life ends up learning, it’s that the use of Comic Sans eradicates any iota of credibility to absolutely any written word on the face of the planet, from the beginning of time to the end of civilization.

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The Racial Map

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Source: based on 2010 census data, an interactive map was created that displays a dot for every single person that participated, which is color-coded to what they entered as their ethnicity.  The result is what is being called the most comprehensive racial map ever created.

I have to say that this thing is really cool to tinker around with.  I don’t hide the fact that my interest is often piqued at the topic of race; some of it happens to do with the fact that despite my American upbringing, my Korean heritage technically makes me a minority, and then there’s the fact that I live in Atlanta, where in spite of the general perceived progression of the rest of the world, is a place where the topic of race and inequality is still a topic on almost a daily basis.  The race card is still flung around here like Gambit credit cards, in a far-fetched stretch to incorporate this analogy.

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Donald Sterling, Twelve Angry Men, and playing a little devil’s advocate

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last two weeks, the name “Donald Sterling” has been in the news very predominantly.  Donald Sterling is a very, very rich man, easily falling into the category of a billionaire.  Donald Sterling is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, a basketball team in the NBA.

However, the reason Donald Sterling has been in the news over the last two weeks is that Donald Sterling has pretty much been publicly outed as a racist and a bigot, based on a recording between Sterling and his mistress about how Sterling did not like the fact that she had a photograph with her and Magic Johnson, because Magic Johnson is black.  And then basically saying he doesn’t want people to bring black people to Clippers games.

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Apparently, people fail to get it until Ken Jennings says it

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t hide the fact that I take somewhat of a sadistic pleasure in occasionally mocking the Chinese. I’m Korean, and it’s something that many of all us Asian cultures do amongst each other, often ignoring what the rest of the world thinks about it. When the day is over, I have no objection against the Chinese or any other race; I couldn’t really care less about ethnicities as long as the quality of persons are acceptable to me.

However, something I also enjoy, is spotting sheep behavior/hypocrisy and calling it when I see it, even if it means inadvertently defending a Chinese guy. Basically, long story short, a Chinese guy, Arthur Chu, has been tearing up Jeopardy!, and this has been a problem for many fans of the show, as well as the eventual sheep that jump on a trending story.

Many of the detractors bemoan the way Chu is playing the game, because he is defying the typical meta of gaining control of the board, and clearing out categories systematically, one at a time. Instead, Chu is blatantly hopping around the categories, only pursuing the questions in the lower rows, which are all of higher values, but more importantly where the Daily Doubles are most often located. But it’s what he does with the Daily Doubles which apparently is drawing the ire of many Jeopardy! enthusiasts.

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Ownage or overkill?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: Man gets speeding ticket for going 40 in 25 zone.  Goes to trial to plead for reduced fine, ends up getting fined $1,000, a year of probation, driving school and a lifetime ban from the county.

At first glance, it’s basically an epically large punishment for a seemingly innocuous 15 mph over the limit offense.  Now most people probably wouldn’t really care about getting banned from Walton County, Georgia, considering it’s outside the perimeter, east of Atlanta and really isn’t known for anything other than being a scenic route on the way to Athens.  Honestly, in spite of the fact that the punished claims to feel that it’s unfortunate that he can’t legally visit friends he has in Walton County anymore, or capitalize on free babysitting, I can’t imagine the ban is the end of the world for him either.

The thing is however, the probation that he’s put on, which makes him legally incapable of leaving the country during the year in which it’s in effect.  Considering he’s a legal US citizen having emigrated from Jamaica, it doesn’t sound like he has a habit of visiting his homeland on a regular basis, but now it’s off the board as an option for the next year; I know people simply don’t like it when the options are taken away from them.

So ultimately, the question is was this punishment justifiable or was it overkill?

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We all know the NBA is racist, but come on

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I admit, I hardly pay any attention to the NBA these days, save for a few days in June, if the Spurs are knocking on the door of championship. But it doesn’t really take more than a casual basketball observer to see what’s going on in this situation, when apparently all of the NBA teams’ general managers got together and conducted a little survey about their respective league and its players, and happened to have one particular query called:

Which player makes the most of limited natural ability?

With an overwhelming majority of 24% of the vote, Kevin Love was voted the guy who made the most of “limited natural ability.” Think about that phrase for a second; it’s almost like saying the “fastest paraplegic runner with no legs” or “most capable clinically dead person.” Okay, so maybe those are some exaggerated examples, but there’s no denying the fact that it’s a very backhanded compliment of an “achievement” for NBA general managers to slap onto a guy.

The thing is, I know who Kevin Love is, because in spite of his apparent ability to maximize his limited natural abilities, he’s actually a pretty popular basketball player. Partially due to his propensity to hit some buzzer beaters from time to time and that he’s a pretty good rebounder, but mostly because the obvious fact that Kevin Love is white. He’s a white guy in the NBA, and has a pretty colorful personality to boot, as humorously evident in his candor in blurting out the very obvious as it pertains to his “win” as the guy to best utilize his limited natural abilities.

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