I saw a post that talked about racism towards people and when I talked about it the response I got was very heated and a person even called lemmy.world a community of ‘hitlerites’
I have been around for a week or so and this is my first time seeing such explicit vulgar reaction towards another community, is this a one-off or should I block hexbear?
Why not indeed. Is there any cartoon panda (and another cartoon animal) that look somewhat like the lanky Obama and comparatively stubbier Xi that could have been used when the meme originated?
I don’t fault the origins entirely (though it is suspicious nonetheless), I fault the staying power and the overwhelming usage by right-wing westerners. Why isn’t Obama referenced as Tigger, or Shinzo Abe as Eeyore?
For having had the “pleasure” of discussing the topic with the kind of people you’re talking about, the kind of assholes that wouldn’t be shy about using racist slurs while looking you straight the in the eyes, the color was never brought up. It was all about the “censorship” on one hand (if he hates it, I’ll just do it more), and just a way to demean Xi by comparing him to a, let’s politely paraphrase, a simple-minded character on the other. It’s anecdotal, but I think that it’s nonetheless why this particular comparison broadly stuck in the end.
They generally don’t admit to it, claiming it’s just about censorship is a convenient excuse.
Your right-wingers might be less straight-forward than mine 😅
But I stress it: insulting Xi’s intelligence (and I think you have an idea of what kind of terms they used) was a strong factor for them, whereas, ironically enough in a way, using the yellow color of Pooh didn’t occur to them.