Goodness. I've been hearing about this goddamn photo all day. Looks like Miley Cyrus has learned a thing a thing or two from the Spanish basketball team. Or maybe just her douchebag friends. A photograph of the Disney pop princess doing the good ol' chinkeye with some friends recently hit the web. It's been all over the celebrity snark blogs, but I first saw it this morning here: Miley be making fun of the AZN!.
More on this here: Asian Group Not Mad at One of These People. And here: Miley Cyrus Slammed For 'Ching Chong Chinaman' Pose. And here: Miley Cyrus, Justin Gaston & Friends Mock Asian Features. And here's the statement from the OCA: OCA CRITICIZES SINGER MILEY CYRUS FOR MOCKING APA COMMUNITY.
For those who don't know who the most popular teenager in America is, Miley's third from the left. Is this how kids are posing for photos these days? Hey! Look at us spoiled punkass hipster kids making racist gestures! Because it's fun, and we just don't care. And it's, like, totally ironic or something, you know? Our friend here is Asian and the rest of us are white! Get it? Watch us all do the silly squint-eye!
Who is the Asian guy, anyway? Sitting there like a tool and letting his "friends" getting away with racist gestures. Not funny. And is it me, or is he actually trying to make his eyes look wider? Couldn't resist getting to hang out with the cool kids, I guess. Even if it means having to deal with this idiocy. Or maybe he's forgotten what it feels like when some jerk on the street does that out of real-ass hate.
No, I don't truly believe Miley Cyrus is racist. I do think she's a dumbass kid. Who, like her father, is neither very attractive nor much of a singer. Yes, I'm going to go there, because she's opened up that door. Are celebrities stupid enough to believe that, in this day and age, any and every photo one takes won't inevitably end up on the internet? Or maybe she didn't care.
Look, for better or for worse, millions of girls idolize and look up to Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, for reasons I cannot understand -- it's just not in my biology. I'm okay with that. But what happens when those pre-teens see Miley engaging behavior like this? What does it say to them?
I try to hold on to the hope that future generations of Asian Americans won't have to deal with that chinkeye mockery bullshit. Maybe it's a gesture that'll just die off. But I don't that's going to be a reality anytime soon. Not when you have photos of Hannah Frickin' Montana doing it too. This, my friends, is how ignorance gets passed on. My, it starts young. That's racist!