This cartoon is a couple of week old, but it's still worth mentioning... another stupid jab at the questionable safety/sanitation of Chinese food products. It's wrong on so many levels, but what really gets me is that the cartoon conflates the questionable safety of food from China with Chinese restaurants in America. The message, if it isn't obvious: when it comes to Chinese restaurant food, you might as well be eating out of the garbage. But dude, I thought we were talking about food products from China? Some people can't seem to distinguish the difference: China Food Scare: A Dash of Racism. Oh, here's the Asian American Journalists Assocation's response to this cartoon: AAJA Writes Letter to Universal Press Syndicate Opposing Pat Oliphant's Latest Racist Cartoon
I've heard from a lot of people who think I shouldn't be so quick to side with China amidst all this mess in the news. Let me make this clear: I'm well aware that not all is well, and there definitely has to be some major monitoring and scrutinizing of products/food that comes out of China: pet food, toothpase, sea food, whatever. But what I've also become increasingly aware of is this anti-Chinese reporting and rhetoric that often has nothing to do with food safety. A lot of people and outlets have eagerly jumped to report on this, because it opens the door to all sorts of China-bashing. It's hard enough that it's generally considered fair game to make fun of Chinese people—and by extension, all Asians—but nowadays, it's practically considered fashionable. And in the United States, when it's "cool" to bash all things Chinese, you don't have to take too many leaps before some dumbass thinks it's "cool" to bash an Asian American guy in the head with a baseball bat. Dramatic, yes, but it's happened before, hasn't it?