>> ^Sagemind:

Well, to be honest, it's not like they look like they are fishing in the ocean - I'd be shocked too..
This must be an inlet or something connected to the ocean, a place you wouldn't expect to see a shark.
Edit: I like the un-tube chopped version better.


I've seen a few shows on cable which have shown that sharks are being found way up-river in places they thought they couldn't live. One show in particular was looking for Greenland Sharks up near the great lakes and I'm pretty sure they found them... Let's check the internets quick: yup... here's the link to the description of the show:

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/ma04/feature.asp

Basically bigassed sharks near Quebec.

Well, to be honest, it's not like they look like they are fishing in the ocean - I'd be shocked too..

This must be an inlet or something connected to the ocean, a place you wouldn't expect to see a shark.

Edit: I like the un-tube chopped version better.

it's not even a good prank. People were running away, not because he looked like a zombie (he certainly didn't), but because he was acting like a psycho. If he had been in full zombie makeup, it would have been different.

>> ^Barseps:

Not wanting to look like a chump here, but assuming this machine isn't either powered by fossil fuels or an independant power scource (i.e. battery).......... Didn't it ummmm cross anybody's mind to just UNPLUG the damn thing?
The white bit on the top of the concrete finishing machine is the fuel tank.


(Also, it bugs me just slightly that they call it a Zamboni at the beginning.)

Not wanting to look like a chump here, but assuming this machine isn't either powered by fossil fuels or an independant power scource (i.e. battery).......... Didn't it ummmm cross anybody's mind to just UNPLUG the damn thing?

That's not a pug. Looks like a Chug.

I'm not sayin' she looks like she's in heat, I'm just saying the room she's standing in looks very warm!

That's not what ringworm looks like...ooooooooh ringWORLD

>> ^Mandtis:

Wtf is that huge box?? Isn't Halo Reach just a game??


Not if you buy the Super Ultra Mega Hyper edition for 3 million dollars.

Actually, the last Elite Edition for HALO 3 or whatever it was called came with a custom replica helmet (not actual size). Looks like this guy needs one, huh?

It is not dead, but looks like it is taking forever and a day to load..

If this were shot on a miniDV camcorder (or at least not made to look like black and white film) there'd be no debate -- grainy black and white and a song from a Scorsese film doesn't automatically make something art. I'm not saying this does or doesn't belong here because I really don't particularly care, but don't try to pass it off as art, because it isn't. It's clearly jerk-off fodder.

It is not what it looks like, it is what you can prove. Given the right lawyer, the defense could actually use that tape against her as she was combative and agitated from the start. While I suspect she got the hooiey beaten out of her, it is really his word against her's...that simply isn't enough to go on.

No, a bunch of executives did. A bunch of executives do not represent a company, the shareholders do. Unless you have evidence that a majority of the shareholders endorsed the commercial then you can assume any more than what I stated.

You also have no evidence they used a racial stereotype intentionally. I had never heard of this stereotype until I came across it on VideoSift.

I'm not aware of your example but what you're describing is racist. If it was designed to entertain white people at the expense of mocking black people as a racial group then it was racist.
>> ^longde:
I think this is a valiant effort to rationalize something that is cut and dry. KFC did endorse this commercial (obviously, since it's their ad); and the aussie ad team did intentionally use a racist stereotype to sell chicken.
And I disagree that intent is at the core of what makes something racist. The sambo stories are offensive to blacks, but when they were produced, the intent was to entertain whites, not to offend blacks. They didn't care what black thought.
>> ^RedSky:
I think the notion of racism needs to be brought back to the core.
It's not racist unless it's purposely meant to be offensive to a particular racial background. It's clear that no company, least of all a fast food chicken company, would walk off a cliff willingly like this and put on an intentionally racist ad.
At worst it was produced by a bunch of employees that want to play up on a racial stereotype but was in no way endorsed or acknowledged by KFC. At best, and to me most likely, the ad was produced by an Australian marketing team unaware of the stereotype. Cenk to me seems correct, they're not rowdy, they looked like they were generally having a good time at the game. As for the whole 'awkward situation' phrasing relating to being surrounded by a bunch of black people, well yes it's a fact that even now people from different racial backgrounds tend to have more trouble getting along. There's no harm is stating that evolution has made us innately mistrustful of those that look different to us, there's nothing offensive about admitting that.
Point is, regardless of which it is, it's overblown and diverts attention away from actual examples of racial hate.



It comes down to how you define it, and yes I agree that ignorance with no hateful or prejudiced intent can be harmful but I wouldn't think of it as racism. The point where you draw the line is definitely fine though. Being wilful ignorance as a form of denying your prejudiced views is not the same as simply being unintentionally offensive. Being culturally acceptable is also of course not a defence either. Jokes about Aborigines are common place around here unfortunately, although I can definitely say I've heard less of them since I left high school.

It also doesn't help that it's virtually impossible to separate the two. We will never really know if the people who made this ad were purely ignorant or racist. Looking from the point of view of a minority I can see that perhaps past experience would gravitate you towards assuming the latter but I think it's an important distinction to make.

>> ^Throbbin:
RedSky - racism doesn't have to be intentional to qualify as racism. Ignorant/inadvertent racism is just as harmful, maybe even more harmful than intentional (hateful) racism. At least with hateful racism it's easy to isolate, identify, and mock/ridicule the racists. When it's ignorant/unintended racism it's tacitly accepted by society, and thus harder to isolate and rectify.
I don't buy the 'Australia doesn't have the same stereotypes of black people that Americans do' line. Aussies consume just as much American media as Canadians do, and all of the stereotypes about black people I encountered came from American media. In general, I have heard that Australia is an exceptionally racist place - I heard this firsthand from Aborigines (and Maori from NZ). I have even even heard it from 'white Aussies' themselves. One Aussie was trying to congratulate me (us? as in Inuit) for having our shit together much more than the good for nothing Aborigines down under. I shit you not.

I think this is a valiant effort to rationalize something that is cut and dry. KFC did endorse this commercial (obviously, since it's their ad); and the aussie ad team did intentionally use a racist stereotype to sell chicken.

And I disagree that intent is at the core of what makes something racist. The sambo stories are offensive to blacks, but when they were produced, the intent was to entertain whites, not to offend blacks. They didn't care what black thought.

>> ^RedSky:
I think the notion of racism needs to be brought back to the core.
It's not racist unless it's purposely meant to be offensive to a particular racial background. It's clear that no company, least of all a fast food chicken company, would walk off a cliff willingly like this and put on an intentionally racist ad.
At worst it was produced by a bunch of employees that want to play up on a racial stereotype but was in no way endorsed or acknowledged by KFC. At best, and to me most likely, the ad was produced by an Australian marketing team unaware of the stereotype. Cenk to me seems correct, they're not rowdy, they looked like they were generally having a good time at the game. As for the whole 'awkward situation' phrasing relating to being surrounded by a bunch of black people, well yes it's a fact that even now people from different racial backgrounds tend to have more trouble getting along. There's no harm is stating that evolution has made us innately mistrustful of those that look different to us, there's nothing offensive about admitting that.
Point is, regardless of which it is, it's overblown and diverts attention away from actual examples of racial hate.

I think the notion of racism needs to be brought back to the core.

It's not racist unless it's purposely meant to be offensive to a particular racial background. It's clear that no company, least of all a fast food chicken company, would walk off a cliff willingly like this and put on an intentionally racist ad.

At worst it was produced by a bunch of employees that want to play up on a racial stereotype but was in no way endorsed or acknowledged by KFC. At best, and to me most likely, the ad was produced by an Australian marketing team unaware of the stereotype. Cenk to me seems correct, they're not rowdy, they looked like they were generally having a good time at the game. As for the whole 'awkward situation' phrasing relating to being surrounded by a bunch of black people, well yes it's a fact that even now people from different racial backgrounds tend to have more trouble getting along. There's no harm is stating that evolution has made us innately mistrustful of those that look different to us, there's nothing offensive about admitting that.

Point is, regardless of which it is, it's overblown and diverts attention away from actual examples of racial hate.