As for why the person who made this decided to make it an asian cat…does the fact that it’s a siamese shed any light on your minds?

Siamese cats were bred in southeast asia. Look it up. And pull the sticks out of your ass. =/

(I typed out a long rant… and then decided that this argument really isn’t worth that much time. Sorry, kids, if you’re offended by this.)

Kiddies, you’re on a website called “I Can Has Cheezburger” What part of that says “take everything seriously” to you? Bahumbug, get a girlfriend. Alla yaz.

*American* English? Can Brits and Aussies not pronounce ‘L’s either then?

I see.

-___-; It’s a cute little cat with a dumb caption. It’s not like it’s mocking some horrific event, some horrible event in history, or putting down anyone.

Every culture has cultural differences, and if no one can gently poke fun at it, even with a picture of a little kitty that in no way was made with a hidden agenda, then we’ve REALLY taken a step backwards, and I find THAT a million times more offensive than anything I’ve seen on Lolcats.

Gives {{{hug}}} to IBK coz she so bigg heartz

*hmm…whirrled peas…nom nom nom*

i knowes dis iz late in da fredd on dis pic. wen i furst sawded da pic, i fot it were funneh. still finks iz funneh. kitteh iz a sour puss. nobuddy gotted DAT joke?? sour… puss… lol. omg. cant hep it. iz keywt.

everbuddy:
totally majer glad i dint reed dis wen i furst sawded da pic coupla months agow. i wudda fot dere iz onlee agressive peepel here. sum gotz waaaay 2 srius bout dis – 2 da point of calling eesh uvver aowt!!! yoikes.

prolly nobuddy mutch gonna comed back here an reed dis, but i still gonna say it: i gives u awl a hug. {{{{{HUG}}}}} i meens it. ebry wun ov u getz a big, sqwuooshy warm hug. if u meen an angreh, u getz a hug. if u offended – u getz a hug 2. in fakt, if u angreh or offended, u prolly needs moar dan wun hug. k – i gibes u moar!! i nebber runz owt ov hugs cause i can jus made moar!! so if u athies, protters- prodes… *hm, lemme start dat agin* if u athies, chrishin, budist, hindu, fatt, skinneh, old, yung, pritty, ugleh, pore, ritch, amerrikan, inglish, chineze, sauddi = = u r a hyooming been. meh 2!! i gonna gibes u a hug.

wai? 1) u needs a hug. it will made u feel bettr. 2) i needs a hug. it will made me feel bettr. 3) iz 2 hard 2 fite wen sumbuddy r huggin u.

dis bee da way 2 whirrled peas.

I’m just an ordinary white girl who happens to be lucky enough to have travelled and made friends in various cultures. I have been a stranger-in-a-strange-land, discriminated against because of my race, mocked for my speech, presumed idiotic because I was white, presumed *American* because I was white (I’m not. American, that is). I’ve even had my life threatened for it. I’ve not had to grow up in this sort of difficulty, but I’ve gone through a little bit, enough to let me experience a bit of what it’s like to be a visible minority.

It’s been my albeit limited experience that racism stems from a) ignorance and b) deliberation. Some people make racist comments out of being sheer @$$holes. Some might make a comment because it wouldn’t occur to them that it was racist–but never intended to hurt anyone.

If there is no intent to belittle or harm, it seems to me that the best course of action for anyone who’s insulted or offended is to *inform*. Tell the person “hey, I didn’t like that, and here’s why”. Screaming at someone for something that was not intended to cause harm is going to leave that person with a bad taste in the mouth and a negative perception of you–and of any group with which you’re associated, be it visible/racial or social. You’re doing more harm than good with your righteous indignation.

In the case of this kitten photo–really, is it worth screaming about? I think not. I can see easily where someone might be offended; I can see that a lot of people chose to laugh it off. The text is a little silly, and perhaps the old-fashioned stereotype of the grinning Hop-Sing-alike coolie should have been avoided, but certainly the intent was not to belittle anyone, nor to cause any harm.

Mention that you dislike it; move on. Life’s going with or without you, so you might as well not miss out. Is all.

-ophelia

Exactly. Which is why people who are complaining at how offensive it is should shut up, too. Because obviously not everyone is offended, either.

I can see how this picture can be offensive. If I couldn’t pronounce my L’s, I’d be embarrassed, at least. But I’d stay quiet about it. Because I don’t see the point of throwing a fit about people bringing up speech impediments.

Thing is, everyone is racist toward other people, even if only in a minuscule sense. People should learn to laugh at themselves. These offended people are the only ones taking this seriously, as if it was a terrible hate crime, which, it’s not. It’s a kitten with an accent.

A PHOTO.

OF A KITTEN.

SUBTITLED TO HAVE AN ACCENT.

An accent that is pretty wide-spread. It’d be one thing if it wasn’t true. This doesn’t say that all Asians can’t pronounce their L’s. This says that this kitty can’t pronounce its L’s.

SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS.

You guys. Seriously.

Those who are offended and choose to throw a pissy fit are the ones that fail.

“If we all could just admit, that we are racist, a little bit, and everyone stop being so PC, maybe we could live in harmony.”

Avenue Q rocks my socks.

I myself am asian, and I didn’t find this offensive.
I think it’s pretty damned funny.

This whole ‘everything has to be politically correct’ pisses me off.
To me, if it’s not meant in a malicious way then it doesn’t really bother me.
=/

I live in Singapore, and I’m Chinese, Indian, Portuguese, Thai, and English.

I get discriminated by the Chinese, they think I’m an Indian and thus I often get referred to as ‘black’ in a very insulting manner, 90% of the job ads in Singapore request for Mandarin speaking individuals.

I get stereotyped by the Americans who came to the Tony Roma’s where I worked, they always assumed I can’t speak English and explain things really slowly to me till I start talking and prove I know the language, probably a lot better than they do.

I get stereotyped by pretty much every race that pops up in my country, because I’m not like anyone else. I have been called black, yellow, mongrel, pariah, shit coloured, gook, chink, gaijin, red haired monkey (it’s an insulting term for a white) in my country and I’ve developed a severe dislike for all things racist, and get pretty easily pissed off by things I deem racist that may add to existing stereotypes about any race.

I’ve had guys I dated eventually tell me, “I think it’s not gonna work out because I’ll never be with someone of a different race,” I’ve had tonnes of experiences where people of other races gossip about me in their language thinking I can’t understand what they’re saying, and these things usually strike a nerve with me..

I didn’t realise this was racist. I’d heard about the controversy from some other post, but when I came to the picture I thought, “Oh, this one.. wait.. what’s the problem with it?”

I don’t think they meant to be racist with it, I think it was just meant to be a cute mispronunciation of the word while spluttering after tasting the horrifying lemonade.

I can understand how it feels to be constantly stereotyped, I’ve gotten it from all sides and will probably get it wherever I go because I’ll never actually fit into a category. I’m a skinhead’s worse nightmare.

Geez, just lighten up. Pictures of kitten mispronouncing things and you wanna beat up everyone here?

I suppose you do beat up the skinheads in real life when they insult you, right, since you have no problems with beating any of us up? What makes you so morally superior anyway?

I don’t ‘know an Asian who is not offended’, I AM an Asian who is not offended, because I’ve been through enough insulting racist crap to realise that this had no malice intended!

Such hoopla over the politically correctness of a CAT picture? Oy! Efforts are better spent elsewhere…

Some people are offended, some are not – ok, established fact.

Some people believe this is the beginning of a slippery slope and that letting it slide without protesting is the first step in compaicency, some believe it’s a pic of a cat with a caption they may or may not find funny – ok, established fact.

Some people feel their beliefs (this is racist or this is not racist) Very strongly (so much so that they are willing to call people holding a different belief stupid, masochists, useless or tell them they can them up in person), some are asking people to move along (officer barbrady fashion? or just crowd control?) – ok, established fact.

How about we all put our heads (and the fingers on our keyboards) together and say, “you know what? we disagree… and some of us feel REALLY strongly about our views. How about we have an intelligent and intelligible conversation (maybe even a debate –> point, counter point)? In this way, we might actually come to understand why some of us find this (and things similar) so offensive and others of us find it mildly (or uproariously) amusing and why it’s OK either way.”

People are allowed to voice their opinions and beliefs. Maybe it’s even healthy for our global-society-at-large-to hear those opposing viewpoints. But maybe, just maybe, it’s best to (try to effect change in others and our world by not assuming we’re right and others are wrong but instead) listen to the views of others without assigning emotion, derision, defamation or derogatory slants to them but rather, try to remove our filters for a second to hear exactly what people mean, not what we think/assume they mean… And maybe, just maybe, we (as a community) can try to approach perceived issues without an agenda of our own and without animosity, insults, aggression or condescension.

The best way to understand yourself can sometimes be to explain yourself to others… The same can hold true of understanding other people and thereby other portions of humanity. Just listen to each other before pouncing…

We’re all kittehs at heart and I’ve never met someone who wasn’t a lolKitteh at heart – maybe that person/those people are out there, but I think we all have the capacity to purr, pounce, power nap and play together.

If this is hurtful to an asian (who isn’t a prick), then perhaps it should be censored.

Of course, if this makes people laugh and have a better day, then maybe it shouldn’t.

It’s a joke, jokes are meant to be funny. If you don’t laugh, you didn’t get the humor. Don’t be a hater too.

I thought it was funny. “Remonade” heheheh.

If anyone is keeping track of the demographics, though, I’m a young 30′s 1/2 caucasian 1/2 ABC (american born chinese) atheist living in the midwest.

Getting upset about race is like getting upset about hair color. We all still bleed red and poop brown. On good days. Or is it the other way around?

“I’m not prejudiced, I hate everyone.”

No, it’s not even close to the same thing. Westerners did not enslave Japanese or other Asian groups for over 400 years, and then create the kind of stereotypes you note above over the following 150 years in an effort to keep them subdued. The caption you give above is like something out of a minstrel show, exagerated beyond reason and including false characterizations expressly for the purpose of ridiculing blacks.

ironically enough, I actually didn’t find the pic all that funny; Fremin Cat, now that was funny!

The only thing I find even vaguely offensive in this whole conversation is the twerp saying the frustrated people have “sand up their pussies.” Hello, my pint-sized sexism-desensitised ignoramus! And not to forget ‘fags’ being the new definition of effeminate or sensitive men. Hello, my little culturally apathetic ragamuffin!

Good times.

That said, I actually find that breed of kitty horribly ugly.

Oops, have I just revealed my inner racist?

But I will say that when I was in my Intro to Japanese class a few years back, struggling with pitch and pronunciation (because, as a native English speaker, it’s hard for me to pick up some of those sounds and nuances), my sensei (a native Japanese woman in her mid 20s) sought me out after class one day to tell me “You rearry, rearry need to work on your pronunciation”.

It’s all a matter of perspective.

It’s supposed to be a cat that just drank lemonade, and was talking funny. It’s mocking that it’s tightened mouth, and squinted eyes are the face one makes after drinking something sour.

Everyone needs to get off their moral high horse, and LAUGH!!! That’s what this site is about.

Excuse me while I climb off my soapbox, and go on living my life!

“Racism is binary, something either is or is not. Given that, if something is racist — and this is — then it is by definition not positive or acceptable. “It’s not bad” is exactly the kind of apologist language that has allowed offensive stereotypes like this to persist, and being an apologist when it’s your heritage that’s being denigrated and mocked is simply inexcusable.”

Mencia isn’t Mexican. His name isn’t Carlos Mencia, either. Carlos Mencia is actually half-Honduran and half-German; in fact, his real name is not even ‘Carlos Mencia,’ it’s Ned Holness!

Larry the cable guy? is actually a guy named Dan Whitney making fun of the stupid rednecks who love him, but are too stupid to get that he’s making fun of them.

Use teh internets to find out the truth.

But you won’t; your mind’s already made up, so don’t bother with any facts.

I’m very anti-racist–you can ask anyone who knows me, they’ll agree. In a science class I almost beat the shit out of some kid for saying Jap one too many times. I hate racism–it’s the stupidest thing on earth. Humans are humans, it doesn’t matter if we’re ghosty white, blacker than the night sky, have a weird slant to our eyes or say our r’s funny–we’re all the same.

That being said, I’ll break this easy: I have no problem with this picture. There’s a difference between being funny and sincerely trying to offend someone when it comes to jokes like this. Look at Mencia–he’s racist even about his own people. He’s not doing it to be an ass–he’s doing it to be funny, he’s a comedian. I’m not saying everyone should not be offended; if you are, fine. Go ahead, leave your comment and low rating–then leave it at that. Don’t keep ranting on and f–king on (coughcoughbencough) about how much humanity sucks for stuff like this. Trust me, humankind sucks for thing much, much more serious than this. I mean, sheesh, I have a Korean friend who would find this funny. Why? He’s smart. He realizes people aren’t all assholes.

It’s a picture, people. Yeah, pictures can be harmful; argue the downfalls of racism on some KKK picture or something, ’cause this isn’t it. If you’re offended, well, I apologize–just try looking at this as a cute little kitty who just ate something sour. Gotta admit, it’s pretty adorable…

My sister-in-law is Japanese, only been in the U.S. for a few years. We joke about her “Engrish” skills all the time, she jokes about American oddities. No one is offended.

Folks should save their ire for racist actions that actually hurt people, and stop crying wolf. By taking offense at everything, you end up trivializing actual racism. We are all different, some are just WAYYY more sensitive than others.

I am white and was born and raised in Japan and am unable to pronounce the L sound accurately. I speak as a Japanese born and raised individual but do not look the part. Language acquisition is independent of genetic racial characteristics, and your genetic differences as determined by the race of your parents neither influence, nor are influenced by language acquisition. The caption is NOT racist – it indicates the differences in acquisition of specific language related synapses due to the dominant language in which children are raised with. You are refusing to see that this is the case simply because other people have acted in an inappropriate and/or racist manner towards you in completely unrelated circumstances.