Gracie Gold Apologizes for Racially Insensitive Tweet

I am becoming a fan of AllYouDoIsTalk.

Shayuki said:

Well, people are pretty oversensitive. In my opinion, accent really doesn't have much to do with a race in the first place, if anything. Personally, I hate the Finnish accent(I'm Finnish myself) and I don't really see anything bad about making fun of it(Doing so myself all the time). Since when do accents have anything to do with racism? ;S People getting offended for everything these days.


Japenese language actually doesn't have a L sound so it is replaced by R. Some voice actors are able to use L properly but I guess it's pretty difficult for most people, many voice actors still don't / cannot do it. I still don't see how the original tweet actually was offensive - It's just a quote without her own input.

Though, I wonder how you would say sandwritch. I thought the katakana was something like sanduwiichi as that's actually a japanese word they use in daily life(borrowed from English)

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I don't know, I think a "sandwitch" is a really esoteric term; maybe it is an old woman with a wart on her nose buried in the sand, like in Grimm's Fairy Tales?

I hang out with a diverse set of Asians of all backgrounds and we "mock" our own exaggerated, stereotyped accents out of humor and endearment (our elders often have just those accents.) It is an inside joke thing and it's not malicious or hateful...so I appreciate this as a faux pas from Gracie rather than anything to hold against her. I always try to look at the intent of the words. There are people who can use perfectly polite and proper words in aggressive ways, and such as in this case, there are blunders made on friendly terms.

AllYouDoIsTalk said:

...And of course, quite telling that it is the non-Asians who is most offended, or rather most "offended" by this. Genuine continuity of cultural receptivity is seldom or as dramatic as these selective, artificial outbursts of moral indignation. You see, the role of these soft-subject leeches in fomenting strife add another level of identity exaggeration, not cultural complementarity.

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Nope. Not everyone has identified their ethnicity in this thread (nor should they have to), so don't make dumb generalizations.

jaylee said:

Nope. Not everyone has identified their ethnicity in this thread (nor should they have to), so don't make dumb generalizations.

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Not dumb, but rather true. I'm assuming you're an Asian offended by Gracie Gold's tweet?

AllYouDoIsTalk said:

Not dumb, but rather true. I'm assuming you're an Asian offended by Gracie Gold's tweet?

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I'm American and I said my piece above. Don't make assumptions.

I'm sorry, but Gold is 18 yrs old. She is not that young. She should know better.

jaylee said:

I'm American and I said my piece above. Don't make assumptions.

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My so-called assumption was at least half right, then. (Please, don't let the question mark at the end of my "assumption" get in the way of your cognitve dissonance) If only to say your (hit) piece (against Gracie Gold) also lean heavily on assumptions, no? or are they just highly speculative aspersions you cast to justify your moral indignation?

e.g., "Maybe she hasn't taken a class on the history of colonialism/imperialism yet?" ...Erm, what does that have to do with Gracie Gold and her supposedly racially insensitive tweet? Do enlighten me.

I'm completely confused. I thought the Japanese replace all the curl tongue R sound with the L sound and can't pronounce the Rs at all. They shouldn't have any problem pronouncing "Only" or "Sandwich"(what's that one even about anyway?), but should have problem pronouncing something like "Gracie" (would sound something like "glayxi"?)

I do not think Gracie meant to offend anyone but it is telling that she assumed something like that would go over without anyone taking offense to it. I don't buy the whole "she's young" argument b/c she's 18 years old and most people are taught at a very young age that mocking people is rude and it's especially rude when you mock someone who is different.

It's common sense. Being that she is a public figure in the sport, she needs to be smart and think before she posts something like that to thousands of followers. The Gold PR team needs to have a long talk with her about what is appropriate...

Her tweet could have been considered bad if she intended it. She apologized as soon as people told her that it was a bad tweet to write. I think she is a good person

noidont said:

I'm completely confused. I thought the Japanese replace all the curl tongue R sound with the L sound and can't pronounce the Rs at all. They shouldn't have any problem pronouncing "Only" or "Sandwich"(what's that one even about anyway?), but should have problem pronouncing something like "Gracie" (would sound something like "glayxi"?)

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I believe it's the "L" sound that isn't present is certain Asian languages which is why it's difficult to pronounce and it often comes out sounding like "R"....

noidont said:

I'm completely confused. I thought the Japanese replace all the curl tongue R sound with the L sound and can't pronounce the Rs at all. They shouldn't have any problem pronouncing "Only" or "Sandwich"(what's that one even about anyway?), but should have problem pronouncing something like "Gracie" (would sound something like "glayxi"?)

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The Korean language has one consonant that mixes/interchanges the R and L sound and can go either way depending on the word. I think that might be the same for Japanese (please correct me if I'm wrong.)

AllYouDoIsTalk, can you stop categorizing people as Asian or non-Asian? I think you will find either on the offended and not-offended camps.

koatcue said:

Her tweet could have been considered bad if she intended it. She apologized as soon as people told her that it was a bad tweet to write. I think she is a good person

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Actually, she took a little too long to apologize IMO. The story is she tweeted it, started getting backlash from people calling her a racist, and then replaced the tweet with the correct spelling. People demanded an apology from her for what she'd written and, apparently, she blocked them.

Some time later she tweeted an apology. I'm thinking she had to confer with her PR team and figure out the correct way to apologize which is probably why it took so long...I think if her apology immediately followed the replacement tweet, it may not have blown up so much.

hurrah said:

Does Gracie speak any other language besides English or ever tried to acquire a second language, I wonder?

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I don't know about any other languages besides English, but Gracie was interviewed by NHK this weekend. She was very uncomfortable about saying her word or two of Japanese, and seemed very embarrassed that she could not do better. It was striking because she was paired with Mirai Nagasu (USA) in the interview, and Mirai answered all questions in Japanese.

ikemen said:

Let me speak from a Japanese perspective.

I do not find it offensive at all. It sounds as if she is simply highlighting how distant English Language and Japanese Language are, and how difficult it is for Japanese to learn English. She didn't say anything rude about race.

Additionally, it is very common here to make jokes about weaknesses of others (in a light-hearted and fun way), and in our culture, she hasn't crossed the line.

That's how an average Japanese person would respond to this, I believe.

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Gracie tweeted her stupid tweet to Mao after the banquet for the skaters following the NHK Grand Prix, and it was attached to a photo of Mao & Gracie at the banquet. Clearly, she was referring to the Shibsibs video about a buffet for skaters that occurred during The ICE 2013, in which both Mao & Gracie Gold performed.
The video is called One More Sandwich - thus we see that the Shibsibs are very careful to avoid any accent jokes in the title.

However, Mao is cast as the person to declare that there is, "Only One More Sandwich" (looped to repeat multiple times), which kicks off a fight between all the skaters present to get to the last remaining sandwich. Do you think the Shibsibs were also racist, since Mao's accent is highlighted in this video? This would be a strange conclusion, since both Shibutani parents are Japanese. The error, if any, is not racism, it is ethnocentrism.

As a person with a Polish surname in the US, I endured a lot of ethnocentric humor back in the day, which can be summarized as follows: Polish people are stupid. How stupid are they? Well......... fill in the blank. This form of "humor" only disappeared gradually where I lived during the 1980's. It is not that long ago that making fun of people's many, many different accents was everyday-common in the US. It still seems to be OK to make fun of "redneck" accents country wide, and to make fun of "Yankee" accents in the South.

Here's the Shibsibs video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyKVEDqFDTg

It would make sense that Mao & Gracie shared this joke, because they both appear in the video.

AlexRus said:

It was written at clay plate about 5000 years ago.

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Yes, no kidding, and also famously in this creation from 1907, too
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/01/misbehaving-children-in-ancient-times/

There were also many complaints about polyphonic music, the music of the young in the days of Socrates.

I wonder whether the elders also complained about hairstyles and clothing styles of the younger generation in ancient times?

AllYouDoIsTalk said:

...[whole quote] In other words, obscurantism is dangerous, and clarity is imperative.

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You have a reasonable argument, but many of us are like Winnie the Pooh:

http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1225592-winnie-the-pooh

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

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Indeed, shorter words and simpler syntax are effective tools in constructing a winning argument.

http://www.wikihow.com/Win-Informal-Arguments-and-Debates

Informal arguments and debates are, of course, the order of the day on internet forums.

All the advice on that page is good, but the ninth point is pertinent.

9
Use effective speech and grammar. You don't need to pretend you are a university professor, but if you want to be effective and convincing, you should use decent English. Don't try to use big words in order to sound more intelligent, because most people can see through such an act. On the other hand, don't be afraid to use the right word for the task. If a big word is called for, use it. Most importantly, try to speak (or write) clearly and confidently. Make your point using no more and no fewer words than you need.

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I, of course, fall short of this goal, particularly the part about keeping it brief, , but it's a good goal nonetheless.

However, I don't think that any argument I could make, however well phrased, is going to convince a skating fan that their favorite skater or team isn't the very, very bestest skater ever...

My own belief is that this discussion about Gracie's tweet points out the pitfalls of trying to convey everything you would like to say in 140 characters, particularly when people you don't know at all are drawing inferences from your private conversations with your friends. Gracie's tweet, addressed to Mao, was an essentially private conversation between Gracie & Mao..

I encourage my grandchildren to let Twitter strictly alone.

I think skaters should, too.

It was a silly tweet of hers to put out there, but she did apologize. I think those who are getting pissed that it was HOURS before need to cut her some slack (you know, because people Tweet by the minute, otherwise any apologies that take longer than a few minutes should be seen as insincere! ).

This isn't actually problematic like when Italian gymnast Carlotta Ferlito said if she had a black face she would have won... http://www.webpronews.com/carlotta-ferlito-says-shed-win-if-she-had-a-black-face-2013-10

I think people will be sensitive no matter what, and a joke that wasn't malicious to some (and it obviously wasn't intended to be malicious) would have others (probably haters of Gold in the first place) sharpening their pitchforks, so to speak.

I think her tweet was more of a poke to show how different Japanese speak in english
don't know if its is offensive though for most japanese people

I believe the reason for the delayed apology is that she may have been scared or unsure of how to approach it...and I don't blame her.

lol I remember I was more offended by the "she deserves to be on the podium with me" comment in reference to Ashley. I think Gracie, like Patrick, might just have an underdeveloped social filter.

prettykeys said:

I believe the reason for the delayed apology is that she may have been scared or unsure of how to approach it...and I don't blame her.

lol I remember I was more offended by the "she deserves to be on the podium with me" comment in reference to Ashley. I think Gracie, like Patrick, might just have an underdeveloped social filter.

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ahahah!))) it's from Nationals??omg What was Ashley's reaction (if there was any)??))

prettykeys said:

I believe the reason for the delayed apology is that she may have been scared or unsure of how to approach it...and I don't blame her.

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That's what I think. She was probably taken aback by all of the anger that resulted from the tweet and had to call someone to make sure she handled it correctly. Still, the delay and the blocking of people is a problem b/c it seems like she was ignoring the issue her tweet caused b/c she wasn't apologizing. I don't doubt she was rallying her team and trying to find the best way to approach it.

Undoubtedly she's learned a lesson from this and will think a little more before she posts something like that again. I don't think she's a bad person...just a little dumb/ignorant, that's all.

dorispulaski said:

Indeed, shorter words and simpler syntax are effective tools in constructing a winning argument.

http://www.wikihow.com/Win-Informal-Arguments-and-Debates

Informal arguments and debates are, of course, the order of the day on internet forums.

All the advice on that page is good, but the ninth point is pertinent.

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Thank you!! I thought it was just me thinking this...