Israeli Army’s Social Media Director Poses as Obama in Blackface(yourblackworld.net)
yourblackworld.net
Israeli Army’s Social Media Director Poses as Obama in Blackface
http://www.yourblackworld.net/2012/11/black-news/israeli-armys-social-media-director-poses-as-obama-in-blackface/
4 comments
Two things to note here -
1. The concept of "blackface" does not exist in Israel.
2. Looking at the picture, it was taken at the Dead Sea - where people go to put black, mineral rich mud all over their body (faces include). So this wasn't even someone pretending to be black, it was just someone putting mud on his face, taking a picture, than making a lame (private?) joke when uploading to Facebook.
Not only a non-HN story, but also just a non-story.
1. The concept of "blackface" does not exist in Israel.
2. Looking at the picture, it was taken at the Dead Sea - where people go to put black, mineral rich mud all over their body (faces include). So this wasn't even someone pretending to be black, it was just someone putting mud on his face, taking a picture, than making a lame (private?) joke when uploading to Facebook.
Not only a non-HN story, but also just a non-story.
[deleted]
Could someone point out what the story is here? The linked article seems to suggest that an Israeli official painting his face black and captioning it 'Obama style' is racist, but I fail to see why. People dress up as other people all the time, and usually it's a sign of appreciation.
Flagged pending clarification.
Flagged pending clarification.
The story here is how could the person responsible for delivering war news/propaganda over social media actually paint their face black and not realize many people would find it racially offensive.
With respect, it's not clear to me that outside of the US, many people do find it racially offensive.
Sacha Dratwa is a 26-year-old immigrant from Belgium. (http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/117235/the...)
Does Dratwa understand what blackface is all about? Or as the website states it, Apparently, he’s also into some good ‘ol fashioned Jim Crow styled blackface as well.
Does it make sense to say that a 26 year old Israeli from Belgium is into Jim Crow styled blackface?
Sacha Dratwa is a 26-year-old immigrant from Belgium. (http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/117235/the...)
Does Dratwa understand what blackface is all about? Or as the website states it, Apparently, he’s also into some good ‘ol fashioned Jim Crow styled blackface as well.
Does it make sense to say that a 26 year old Israeli from Belgium is into Jim Crow styled blackface?
Yes, things can be lost in translation across cultures. However, given the context is war, the head of social media should expect their personal Facebook account to come under scrutiny. The target audience of the IDF's social media strategy is an English speaking Western audience, who most definitely find blackface offensive.
As someone who doesn't pretend to understand the conflict over there, the IDF's social media efforts have come across as terribly crass; this picture and caption could explain a little bit of the immaturity of the person behind the social effort
Honestly, I've spent decades of my life living amongst Americans, and I had no idea that 'blackface' is something offensive. This is totally harmless, and no racist by a long stretch.
Mud is applied to a soldier’s face as part of a training session about camouflage.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/09/09/sunday-review...
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/09/09/sunday-review...
Moreover, in the last summer there was one time a small mob protested against Africans in a demand that the gov will take control of them, while the crime rates between them is very high. To take this exceptional event and throw it as the writer describes "Israeli protesters had begun attacking them in the streets with rocks and sticks" is just a try to give bad name to all Israeli. If you care enough for the facts, go and try to find the number of times such behavior was done, and don't blame the media for lack of sources since the media in Israel is pro-immigrants most of it.
There, I can continue on and on defending Israel against such shitty blames, although I lost hope in the recent years that my voice will be ever heard among all the reddit-israeli-hating mob.