YouTube Wire: conservatives, yellowface, and white teachers in the ghetto

by guest contributor Luke Lee, Racialicious’s senior YouTube correspondent

Check out Luke’s own blog at real men are not

michelle malkinRecently Michelle Malkin has been trying to finagle a piece of the YouTube pie by posting a bunch of crappy videos from her “Hot Air” series. Latest on the list is a staunchly conservative version of “The View” where she talks with some other women about current events as well as some of the comments they receive as women bloggers and women bloggers of color. Michelle and La Shawn Barber,specifically, mention how they’ve been called “race-traitors” and “sellouts” in addition to (though this applies more to Michelle) all the physically and sexually violent threats that they receive. Now, I loathe Michelle Malkin as much as anyone else because of her comments about Japanese internment, about racial profiling and such but I think it’s a sad comment when people will make the most vile sexist and misogynistic attacks at her not for her screwed up politics and baloney ideas but rather that she’s a woman and a woman of color saying her opinion (however much you may disagree with it).

And speaking of conservatives…

ann coulterThere’s an interesting collection of clips of Ann Coulter spouting off her trademark hyperbole and hate. Some material about “illegals” and “democrats are the real racists”…

yellowface kim jong ilI understand that given any political/global climate, the comedians and the impersonaters are going to come out and make fun. So when North Korea starts to dominate the breaking news, what do folks do? Impersonate Kim Jong-Il and make videos called “Spam fly lice.” That’s all fine and good and I almost expect people to crack the usual jokes about how he’s crazy and about how he’s got a funny haircut but I mean seriously, do we really have to make the usual Breakfast At Tiffany’s joke again? MrCook, the creator the video, is trying to entertain along with his god-awful “cooking” instructions so expectedly the quality of the video, the food, the humor, everything is just rock bottom…

mr pregnantRemember MrPregnant from last time? Well, he’s back again except this time he’s decided that the world must know this: MrPregant doesn’t like dark skinned women. MrPregnant likes women who look like his mother (blonde hair, light eyes) and this doesn’t make him prejudice because, uh, he only has “a preference.” What an idiot. In the beginning, I think people (as I admittedly did) assume that he’s talking about lighter skinned Black women but of course as he goes on, he gets all Freudian but wont really say that he likes white women specifically. I imagine mixed race folks get a ton of crap like this (this, “oh, your dad/mom is X so that must mean that you naturally prefer X’s!”) and this only heaps onto that stereotypical way of thinking. Honest to God, I don’t know why people feel compelled to tell others (strangers, I might add) information like this…

freedom writersTouted as a “YouTube EXCLUSIVE!!” this movie trailer got a lot of views recently and it’s a story that you may have seen a few times over in film and TV. Well, OK maybe not this exact story but you know what i’m talking about. I think films like these always have the potential to make some really important statements about race, class and gender (as well as the ‘isms of our public education systems) but seems like things have always been going downhill since Dangerous Minds and, my personal favorite, The Substitute where the Black school principal turns out to be, uh, a giant dealer…

minouye abbegirlYouTube can be funny too! YT personalities “minouye” (Mikey) and “abbegirl” (Abbe) are pretty popular and though they make their own separate videos, they really started getting views when Mikey brought Abbe on board to which a horde of “you’d better have hit that you p****” comments ensued. And while their videos are usually completely non-serious and pretty funny, it’s interesting to note that because Mikey is an Asian man and Abbe a White woman (and Mikey even tags his videos with Abbe with words like “hot” “white” “girl” “asian” “boy”) and because they’re both seen as attractive and friends spending time together, the immediate racist/sexist assumptions made by many viewers (through early comments though they do a bit more moderation now) is that Mikey A) “must be gay” or B) is straight but isn’t “hitting that”…

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Trackbacks & Pings

  1. In case you missed it… at Anti-Racist Parent - for parents committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook on 20 Oct 2006 at 2:15 pm

    [...] YouTube Wire: conservatives, yellowface, and white teachers in the ghetto: Our intrepid YouTube correspondent Luke Lee sums up the latest videos you should know about. Michelle Malkin discusses racist and misogynistic attacks on her, an aspiring comic dons yellowface to mimic Kim Jong Il, the latest angelic white teacher in the ghetto movie Freedom Writers releases a trailer on YouTube, and more. [...]

Comments

  1. Luke wrote:

    Clarification: I just realized that “I think it’s a sad comment when people will make the most vile sexist and misogynistic attacks at her not for her screwed up politics and baloney ideas but rather that she’s a woman and a woman of color saying her opinion” can be read as me saying that making vile, sexist comments would be OK if they were directed at Michelle (or La Shawn)’s racist politics instead of being direct at them as women bloggers and women b.o.c.. Which of course is not what i’m saying.

  2. Howard wrote:

    Now that’s just nitpicking.

    It’s weird, but I get that feeling too. Say I’m making a presentation to my group or work colleagues, for some reason I always expect racial slurs in their counterpoints, especially when they have nothing productive to say. Hence I get surprised (and relieved) when all criticisms are above board and fair,as if it’s some major achievement that I was “rewarded” with, rather than entitled to.

  3. Rosarita wrote:

    Hi Jen & Carmen,

    Love your podcast and your overall mission mujeres! What I find even more disturbing than MrPregnant’s “preferences” are the 334 comments (to date) on youtube of his clip. Not a single, intelligent, response to counter the inherent self-hate and prejudice laden in his clip. Nothing but comments reinforcing racist supremacist views. One mixed race woman even posted a comment saying “I’m so mixed up, no one knows what I am, so I can date whoever I want!” Right, because non-mixed folks don’t have the luxury of dating who they please? How contemptible!

    Btw, have you considered having Michael Eric Dyson on your show? We could all use a healthy dose of knowledge and wisdom in these uncertain times. Is it me, or does it seem like this society is regressing on multiple levels?

  4. Jay wrote:

    Luke: certainly, ideally, Michelle and Barber wouldn’t be attacked for their race/gender, but the world of politics is full of ways of rewarding people who use ad hominem, especially since the people seem to gobble it up.

    Anyways: youtube isn’t bad, but the fact is, they let everybody comment. Even people without brains. Or sense. Or impulse control.