Post by cjm on Jun 11, 2016 11:24:01 GMT
takimag.com/article/black_emperors_of_the_north_pole_david_cole
“Dat Boi” is an Internet meme that sprung up randomly, as so many memes do, about two months ago. It’s a low-resolution frog riding a unicycle, with the caption “Here come dat boi!” Don’t try to overthink it. It’s (supposedly) funny because it’s silly and random. A frog, retro low-res graphics, a unicycle, and slang for “that boy.” If you insist on knowing more, there’s no shortage of Dat Boi explanatory articles. But really, all you need to know is that it’s arbitrary on purpose, a non sequitur, a head-scratcher for “noobs”...everything that makes a good meme.
Except that according to black social justice warriors, it’s a bad meme. A very bad meme. Because it’s racist (you expected a different reason?). Yes, the frog on the unicycle is racist. According to a May 25 piece in PAPER magazine, proud African-American warriors have decided that Dat Boi is yet another case of “cultural appropriation,” as well as “white privilege and the Internet’s casual appropriation of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).” Over the course of three days, the influential, 40,000-person meme-appreciation Facebook group Post Aesthetics experienced a mutiny of sorts as black members demanded that posts featuring Dat Boi be censored, and that Dat Boi be banned from ever showing its froggy face again. The moderators agreed, and the frog on the unicycle was banished, along with many group members whose racism was so severe that they were blinded to the obvious fact that the unicycle frog was a greater menace to black people than a thousand noose-wielding Klansmen.
...
“Dat Boi” is an Internet meme that sprung up randomly, as so many memes do, about two months ago. It’s a low-resolution frog riding a unicycle, with the caption “Here come dat boi!” Don’t try to overthink it. It’s (supposedly) funny because it’s silly and random. A frog, retro low-res graphics, a unicycle, and slang for “that boy.” If you insist on knowing more, there’s no shortage of Dat Boi explanatory articles. But really, all you need to know is that it’s arbitrary on purpose, a non sequitur, a head-scratcher for “noobs”...everything that makes a good meme.
Except that according to black social justice warriors, it’s a bad meme. A very bad meme. Because it’s racist (you expected a different reason?). Yes, the frog on the unicycle is racist. According to a May 25 piece in PAPER magazine, proud African-American warriors have decided that Dat Boi is yet another case of “cultural appropriation,” as well as “white privilege and the Internet’s casual appropriation of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).” Over the course of three days, the influential, 40,000-person meme-appreciation Facebook group Post Aesthetics experienced a mutiny of sorts as black members demanded that posts featuring Dat Boi be censored, and that Dat Boi be banned from ever showing its froggy face again. The moderators agreed, and the frog on the unicycle was banished, along with many group members whose racism was so severe that they were blinded to the obvious fact that the unicycle frog was a greater menace to black people than a thousand noose-wielding Klansmen.
...