Pardon me but the only words I have upon seeing this are WTF?!?!
I don't make a habit of criticizing the actions of other countries, especially with regard to cultural sensitivity. I tend to think that we Americans don't exactly have the high ground in that area and that we have a tendency to project our own complexes and unique history onto areas where they don't apply.
But this? What is this?
I'd really like to believe that Paul Gasol and the entire roster of the Spanish basketball team are not racist. Considering that they are sponsored by a Chinese shoe company, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that there was no malicious intent. But seriously. What is this? What is it even supposed to mean?
Jose Calderon describes it as "an affectionate gesture" What does he think is affectionate about it? I suppose he also found it affectionate when spectators made monkey noises at black soccer players or when they dressed in blackface to mock an F1 driver?
It seems that in the 21st century, we are entering into a new era of "humor." One where people exaggerate physical and cultural characteristics not to teach or to poke fun at hyppocrisy but simply to marginalize and nothing more. The Chinese have slit eyes, black people look like monkeys, Muslims wear strange clothes. Hell, even in Asian countries, white people are often portrayed as big nosed foreigners.
I keep hearing people tell me I need to lighten up, that this is funny. Maybe someone can explain to me why? What is the message? Maybe I'm off base but I thought humor was supposed to reveal essential truths about life? That it was supposed to be a leveler, a weapon that puts the powerless on equal footing with their masters? This? This is humor being used to hold people down, to make them feel unwelcome. To remind them of their heritage and status as an "other."
When I went to school we had a word for that. It was called bullying. And you wouldn't find many people defending it. Even though the aggressors always insisted they were just having fun.
But who am I kidding? This stuff has been around for years. We like to tell ourselves we've risen above it but clearly we have a long way to go. I just hope that this isn't a sign that legitimate criticism of China is on the verge of descending into a deafening roar of "fuck the chinks."