Marred? Gracie's "controversy" got their work thousands of extra views.
You might be right. But, see, that's where the issue of social media comes in. It would have been one thing if Gracie had joked like this privately to Mao alone, or even if she had said something like this on Japanese television. But she put it out there for the world to see. That tweet wasn't for Mao's eyes alone, it was also for her many followers, most of whom (I'm assuming) happen to be American.Mao is not an Asian-American and obviously a foreigner from Gracie's standpoint. English is just a foreign language for Mao that she does not need to speak daily. I don't think Gracie would have said something like this if Mao was someone living in the US.
You might be right. But, see, that's where the issue of social media comes in. It would have been one thing if Gracie had joked like this privately to Mao alone, or even if she had said something like this on Japanese television. But she put it out there for the world to see. That tweet wasn't for Mao's eyes alone, it was also for her many followers, most of whom (I'm assuming) happen to be American.
The thing with inside jokes is that that stops becoming a viable defense when you say said jokes on a public platform. That invites scrutiny. You don't want the public to comment on your "joke", then you don't make the joke public. You take it to email or in a private tweet. Now, I think Gracie's young and she's grown up in the age of social media, so she hasn't yet learned how to do this yet. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, so many kids these days think nothing of splashing their every thought on places like twitter and facebook. The boundaries between private and public behavior are slowly eroding.
For the record, I don't think Gracie meant the tweet maliciously, and I don't think she needs to burn in the fiery pits of hell or anything, lol. But she definitely messed up here.
You mean this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zvhNjWF2DE
Are you dim, or are you young?
Unreal that you would even compare that to something 'cute' a small child would say while learning to talk.
:disagree: hurrah.
1). I agree w/Mrs. P's on how social media invites scrutiny. One, it is speculation, no matter how seemingly well-founded, that this is an inside joke. Two, even if it was an inside joke w/either Gracie's Japanese fans, w/Mao, or both, the fact that she posted it on a social platform available to both Japanese and American fans does invite scrutiny. It's kind of like having a loudly spoken conversation in a public place, and then spinning around and accusing the bystanders of eavesdropping. Well sorry, but by utilizing a public forum-- Twitter-- you've also invited the public's scrutiny and criticism.
It is amazing that despite being "native" to the technology, that they probably don't realize the power social media can have to make or break you.
Except that she did in the practice for the video and was coached by her fellow skaters to say it better, so stop judging an inside joke.
No, I mean before they even filmed anything and were telling her what she would be saying and doing. ...
I idly wonder (and doubt) if there would be a debate of these proportions if the accent tweet was about a skater of the same race as Gracie. Say, if she mimicked the pronunciation of a Russian skater.
Her comment wasn't racist.
What has race to do with English pronunciation?
Her comment wasn't racist. What has race to do with English pronunciation?
In the OJ Simpson trial, someone was judged "racist" because he said a man, whom he could not see, sounded "black".
Asada was shown eating the sandwich. She seemed to find it delicious or at least edible. The story has already reached NBC sports news.