Let me start this rant with a simple statement. I am a Racist. I always tell people that I am prolly the truest Racist they will ever meet. Why, because I apply the terms racist and racism in the sense they should be used, not the lazy sloppy way people like to use it today. See, Racism by its very nature means you hate a specific race. Good example is a Facebook friend of mine, John hates Hobbits. (Don't ask, I never do.) He hates a specific race therefore he is a Racist. There is only one Race of humanity and that’s well, the Human Race. Everything else, where we are from, what color our skin is and what faiths we might believe in, are all imaginary divisions we created because OH MY GOD MYRTLE! THOSE FOLKS DON'T LOOK LIKE US!
Every human being on the planet is pretty much the same critter as every other human on the planet. We can mate and make babies no matter who we are. So there is only the Human Race. When people say they are racist or someone is being racist, they actually mean bigot or bigoted. Now me, I am a pure Racist. In the 53 years I have been alive, I have learned one thing (Wow that sounds kind of sad when you put it like that.) and that is that HUMANS SUCK! That's right, except for a very small minority (Huh pun), Humans are a greedy, selfish and evil lot that are more interested in themselves and how they can make their lives better than actually making a difference. Now I have been blessed to know and be friends with individuals who ignore that mold, but for the most part, people suck. Since I despise most of humanity, I can honestly say I am a Racist.
Okay now that the disclaimer is out of the way, ON WITH THE RANT!
Now I am going to put this as bluntly as I can. (Cause we all know how I am usually so shy and polite right?) If you put up pictures of Barack Obama and his family or any Black People portrayed as Chimpanzees or Apes, You are Racist (Using your usage here not mine.) If you think that said pictures somehow funny, you are Racist. Now let me flip that card over. If you put up pictures of Donald Trump as an Orangutan, you are a Racist. If you think said pictures of Trump are funny, you are a Racist. If you put up pictures of an Anus with an orange toupee and call it Trump, you are not Racist, but not very creative. If you put up pictures of Obama as Black Hitler Devil with big boobs (Don't laugh someone actually wore that costume during Obama's second election), you are being Racist, but you are very confused.
Some images are historically extremely racist. The portrayal of Black People as Apes or Chimps predates the Civil War and were used (Are still used) to imply that the Black man was less than the White Man. There has never been a time where portraying a Black person as a monkey or ape wasn't as insulting and racist as you could possibly get. Even after the actual images became less common, the portrayal of the Black person would always including exaggerated features that made them look more apelike.
People who post charming pictures that portray the POTUS and First Lady as Chimps are racists and no one can defend them by saying they aren't. If you defend them, then you should probably take a very good look at yourself, because odds are pretty good that you are just as racist as they are.
I think that amuses me the most about the Racists who keep posting this crap and the people that support them is that if the situation was reversed (Wait wouldn't that be noitautis eht?) they’d be screaming bloody murder. Using Trump (Hey he's loud and he's orange so he's a convenient pawn) as my example, if people suddenly started posting pictures of Trump decked out in the robes of a Grand Dragon of the KKK and his followers wearing robes and holding burning crosses, people would be honked as hells. They'd be screaming DISCRIMINATION at the top of their lungs. But the analogy would be just as accurate as the Ape one for Obama.
(Side note here. I despise Trump and personally think his followers are short a few synapses in the headparts, but I do not associate him or all of them with the KKK. This is just an example. Besides, we all know Trump would never wear a hood because 1. It hides his face so people can't see him and B. It might make the muskrat on top of his head mad. Like I said this is just an extreme comparison.)
So if you want to use things like apes to insult Black People, feel free to do so, but keep in mind that no matter how you try to justify it, you are being racist. If you sit there at your computer screen and guffaw at those images, you are being racist. I cannot stop you, not would I. It is a free country and even hate speech is protected under the 1st Amendment. But don't sit there and pretend that you aren't being racist. Either change your way of thinking or be okay with idea.
As a final note, I personally not only find people who use racial stereotypes as insults racist, but also lazy as heck. It takes no effort or creativity to use the same old tired tropes that have been used for decades. If you are going to be insulting, at least be creative about it.
Insult everybody equally.
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