Ever since Chinese-American journalist Jennifer 8. Lee posted a note on her personal blog pointing out the racism of a new cheesy iPhone application, the bloggers have been all over it.
Is it racist? Yes. How racist? They’re still arguing over that. But the seemingly teensy news item is stirring up interest because it seems to say something sad about our culture: Despite the intelligence and complexity of our technology, our sensitivity and human awareness lags far, far behind.
The application, called “Lucky Fortune,” shows a fortune cookie on a RED background. Shake the phone and gongs bash, the fortune cookie breaks, and a fortune appears. The fortune is read out loud in a voice that sounds, as Lee described it, like “what someone who thinks a native Chinese speaker would sound like in English.” Angry Asian Man calls it “ching chong.” It’s a magic-8 ball for Orientalists! The whole thing reminded us at MTV Iggy of those outright racist t-shirts at Abercrombie & Fitch that had been defended as “funny.”
So you shake this cookie and...
Let's be wise and learn from this foolish developer?
Bloggers, from our beloved Angry Asian Man to snarky Gawker have mused over the application.
“Yikes,” Gawker wrote. “This app looks pretty unredeemable. Of course judging by the popularity of stupid “ching-chong” poses among Olympic athletes and teen celebrities, the app should still enjoy some decent sales until Apple yanks it.”
And will Apple yank it? Over at gadget-y Switched, bloggers looked at past precedents of Apple stepping in and pulling tasteless apps. (Though, if it is yanked, there’s still another application: “Lucky Cookie!“)
On Flavorwire, bloggers drew a comparison between the App’s music and the “Long Duk Dong” entry music in the totally-racist American classic Sixteen Candles. Still, a surprising number of commentators at Gawker didn’t find the application offensive in the least. And developer Charles Hill responded coolly:
“We have no intention of making fun of Chinese people. In fact, prior to its release we showed the application to a few Chinese-Americans and asked them if they found it offensive and they all thought the application was fun and were not offended at all. One person that I showed the app actually said, “You know Chinese people have a sense of humor too!”
A sense of humor? Why is it okay to laugh when race is the punchline asked Japanese American blogger Gil Asakawa, over at the Nikkei View. The problem was the faux Chinese-accent voice–an accent that may not actually exist, but is instead is a creation of the rest of the world to mock Asians, Asakawa wrote, is that:
“This vocal stereotype keeps cropping up from time to time, even in my adult life…This form of verbal “humor” wouldn’t be tolerated if it mocked African Americans, or Hispanics. But it always seems acceptable, even in the 21st century, to mock Asians. What’s with that?”
What is with that?
