General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIs the Obama chia pet racist?
I just saw an ad for it on KRON in San Francisco, and that felt . . . really wrong to me.
Edit: Oh god, I found a link.
Warpy
(111,383 posts)dchill
(38,562 posts)Hekate
(90,865 posts)They're silly, is all.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)dchill
(38,562 posts)A Chia Ozzy?
A Chia Jesus? (Cause he's white, y'know.)
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)I just googled it.
Prism
(5,815 posts)Maybe I'm just catching an off advertisement, but I'm not aware of their array. So this struck me as really odd.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)If I hadn't googled it a little bit ago, I wouldn't have known either.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,347 posts)ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)You can still get one on Amazon
Beartracks
(12,821 posts)Even if that politician happens to be black.
Oh, and here's a chia Lincoln:
And I like the shaping on chia Washington, lol:
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msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Land of Enchantment
(1,217 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Journeyman
(15,042 posts)Don't be surprised, however, when there are others who have different priorities.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)I'd say, no, the Obama Chia is not particularly racist.
However... I would note that one should consider the fact that non-white Chias are actually rare. Why is that?
Perhaps we should look at this from an aspect of endemic white supremacy, where whiteness is the prevailing standard. Exclusively, images of whites, made by mostly white people, for mostly whites are what you would normally find, to the point when a non-white image is eventually offered we'd have question whether or not there was some racist intent behind it.
Perhaps the Obama Chia itself is not particularly racist, but what should we make of the fact that it represents an image of a non-white person in a veritable sea of white imagery? What other images of non-white people does the Chia company offer?
Quantess
(27,630 posts)I ought to take offense that women are severely underrepresented in the Chia pet industry.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Quantess
(27,630 posts)and the chia seed area would be the pubic hair region. Totally sexist!!!
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Sexual objectification of women happens at the drop of a hat in this country.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)I'm actually surprised there isn't a female crotch Chia pet.
Vinca
(50,318 posts)Every chia pet is the same. Some things are just dumb or funny.
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)Doesn't mean it is though.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)csziggy
(34,139 posts)But then I realized that on the Internet you can't believe the color you see in a photo may not be the real color.
Bo could actually be blue and gold and we couldn't be sure!
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)he would be leading marches against the Barack Obama Chia Pet. Quite simply, this Chia Pet is white supremacy at its absolute worst.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)MH1
(17,608 posts)I would say the most offensive thing is that they did such a bad job with his likeness.
But, especially given all the points made above (lots of celebrity chias), not racist.