A Russian government research and development lab is getting ready for International’s Woman’s day in St. Petersburg. However, this party was, as the team describes it “an American costume party.” This act went public thanks to a 23-year old engineer at the office, who posted an image to Twitter boasting “today at the office, we hung a black man!”
After releasing this hatred act, Anastasia Storozhilova deleted not only her Twitter and Facebook accounts, but all social media accounts within hours of releasing the post. She thought the team did such a great job, she had to boast it towards the rest of the world. This resulted in a massive firestorm online, forcing her to deactivate her social media accounts.
However, the damage is done.
As we can see from the image posted on Twitter, the smiling faces of everyone (even the White male painted black); was an amusing act for the small team. The team had a huge blast at their little party and didn’t realize the power of social media. While you and your colleges believe one thing is funny inside a work place, the world will torment you about a single image in another.
Looking at the deeper and uglier truth, this act has come to show that in the United States, as well as other nations across the world, some white people remain, where they still find humor with the pain and torture that has resonated with black communities.
This spirit of entertainment has not died. In fact, and judging by the image above, this humorous act has only shifted to a new level of torture for the black communities. And now we are able to see the full display, from Russia.
In desperate attempts to save her office from several instant enemies, Anastasia Storozhilova defended her lab by protesting on her Twitter account just before deletion, “I can explain what’s happening in the photo: it was a scene from history. The Wild West: cowboys, Indians, blacks. It’s history, you see. It’s the past—it’s not today. They show this sort of thing in movies—this and a lot worse.”
Such a heinous act should not have occurred in the first place. And if this act would have happened on American soil, the entire team displayed within the image, would have faced immediate termination for “acting a scene.”
What outcomes will the Russian Government implement with their research and development team? Will there be any punishment against the mocking other cultures? Unlikely.
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Really, it was a costume party for gods sake….
throw in a little perceived history is all they did.
Idiocy punishing them for horsing around.
Of course it was wrong for lynch mobs to hang blacks in the old west. Still it happened.
Pretending it was not part of the American history is just stupid.
that would be like…. pretending Christopher Columbus was a good guy…
I agree. It was “an American costume party” that they pretty much hit on the head. Imagine what an American costume party of this generation will consist of….
I agree. I don’t know the particulars of this story, but it seems more like they were ridiculing the U.S. and if it tells us anything it shows us how America, and American History in particular, is perceived outside of the United States. As long as there is still something like the KKK in the U.S. they better take jokes like these on the chin. Be a man Uncle Sam!
“it was just a costume party”….
Regardless of their reason for doing this, it feels like a slap in the face to others. Go ahead, dress in blackface with a noose around your neck, tell an African American to just “take the joke on the chin” and see how well that goes.
We all know it happened, but that doesnt make it any less of a sensitive subject for a select few. When people poke fun at it the only ones who have the gall find it hilarious are mainly the very ones who’ve never once had to feel the full impact of this. People can read the history books all they want and learn of the actions that took place but never the full extent of the emotions associated with it. Its just like how some countries (mainly Asia) sell blackface dolls because they believe it looks funny/cute but are completely unaware of how it actually impacted others. I really dont care if people poke fun at the country, there were many way it couldve been done but this can still be seen as f’d up.
“I really dont care if people poke fun at the country, there were many way it couldve been done but this can still be seen as f’d up.”
Yes you’re right, the joke is pretty tasteless and there are other ways in which something similar could have been done, without being tasteless.
“Go ahead, dress in blackface with a noose around your neck, tell an African American to just “take the joke on the chin” and see how well that goes.”
No, that would be a different situation, because the “joke” wasn’t directed toward African Americans (at least I can hardly imagine it was), but more likely toward the U.S. and the recurring rise of fascism and the continuing racism within the U.S. (or it was just like she said, a correct portrayal of a period within American History). I said take it on the chin Uncle Sam. What I didn’t say was take it on the chin Uncle Tom.
People draw the race card way to early nowadays instead of looking at the intention of someone who makes a joke or makes a statement. To give an example, If I want to paint my skin black because I got a paint fetish and black is my favorite color, or I like rap-music and all my friends are black and I’m white but I pick up their mannerisms (or both), I should be free to do so without people telling me I’m racist. If as a white man I can play a black slave better than Morgan Freeman or Chiwetel Ejiofor, I should be able to do so (I don’t think there are many white people who can, but that’s besides the point). Or even if I can’t play a black man better than those two I should still be able to do so, as long as my intentions aren’t to make a mockery out of one perceived race or another.
The moment the U.S. has rid itself from racism and fascism I’ll be the first to condemn stupid jokes like the one in the article above. But since this is still far from the case, I can somewhat tolerate it if people outside of the U.S. (or wherever) shine a light inside the U.S. and its history to show the world what a big lunatic idiot America was and still is. I can’t find it now and am not sure where I read it, but I read somewhere that some of the history books they still use to teach Suthern kids in some States mention slavery as one of the U.S.’ great accomplishments. Don’t take my word for it but feel free to look into it, I’m only human.
I don’t even believe in races. We are all One race, the Human race. You are right if it comes to the dolls you mention though or if it comes to traditions like they have in the Netherlands (Google Black Pete) which are definitely racist. But here we move into the realm of stereotyping which is a different thing altogether. I could find this though:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/whitewashing-civil-war-history-for-young-minds/2015/07/06/1168226c-2415-11e5-b77f-eb13a215f593_story.html
Anyway, this TED talk explains where I’m coming from:
https://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_what_happens_when_online_shaming_spirals_out_of_control/transcript?language=en
It’s was “an American costume party” that’s the stupidest fucking excuse I’ve ever heard. American history extends far beyond the racial conflict. These people committed an act of bigotry and now must deal with the uproar they caused.
People are way too serious over this issue. Can’t we let go of the past horrors and finally focus on present? This was indeed a silly office party, that simply depicted past. They had no political issues behind this. I have seen parodies showing far worse, than this and parodies often come with a message. This is similar as the case, where Prince Harry dressed up as Nazi soldier at a party. Media gulped it down like mad. WW2 happened over 70 years ago and slavery was abolished over 150 years ago. America needs to understand, that it was built upon war and has been at war for over 200 years since the first day!It still is at war as we speak. Basically, my point is-worry about things within your country; things that matter. Fix your inner-self, help your people. Stop bullying others. Stop finding excuses to hate others. Stop interfering. Russia is huge country, so is America-but Soviet Union collapsed and soon the American Empire will too, if it does’t stop acting the way it does.
When did Anon HQ become SJW HQ?
well as fucked up as it might seem, they kinda got it right. there are alot of white supremacist in the south who would love to do fucked up shit like that. i cant even blame those russian studends, seeing as its americas fault the world thinks we are like that