Someone explain to me the point of fat shaming Sean Spicer? Is it just to humiliate him even more? What is this?! pic.twitter.com/70jMDM7SVQ
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) June 20, 2017
*Hmm, this is certainly interesting and noteworthy. It seems white users online who post GIFs of Black people/celebs’ reactions is nothing more than a form of “digital blackface” according to Teen Vogue.
“Digital blackface does not describe intent, but an act — the act of inhabiting a black persona,” she writes. “Employing digital technology to co-opt a perceived cache or black cool, too, involves playacting blackness in a minstrel-like tradition.”
The writer of the article, Lauren Michelle Jackson says for whites to use the GIFs, which are animations, is just s slick way for them to use black folks as emoticons.
“Ultimately, black people and black images are thus relied upon to perform a huge amount of emotional labor online on behalf of nonblack users. We are your sass, your nonchalance, your fury, your delight, your annoyance, your happy dance, your diva, your shade, your ‘yaas’ moments. The weight of reaction GIFing, period, rests on our shoulders. Intertwine this proliferation of our images with the other ones we’re as likely to see — death, looped over and over — and the Internet becomes an exhausting experience.”
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Me… all day today. pic.twitter.com/OwpCahsMcG
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) July 11, 2017
“If you find yourself always reaching for a black face to release your inner sass monster, maybe consider going the extra country mile and pick this nice Taylor Swift GIF instead, Jackson reminded”
Of course not everyone agrees … like writer Bre Payton of The Federalist:
“Accusing someone of making fun of African-Americans by donning blackface is a serious thing indeed, which is why throwing that term around casually is problematic. When people share a GIF of a black person, they are not painting themselves with blackface makeup to perpetuate a stereotype or bar people entry from theater or even public life. Often they are not even stereotyping, given that posting GIFs is by nature an expression of shared humanity.”
A visual representation of me fighting my depression & anxiety everyday pic.twitter.com/bMR42Qfzyg
— Dory (@Dory) July 16, 2017
So, does Lauren Michelle Jackson have a point or not? Let us know what you think in the comment sectionbelow. In the meantime, you can check out MORE of her article at Teen Vogue.
