Wednesday 13 September 2006
Well, another tie to Taiwan bites the dust. This is the last of the Taiwanese toothpaste, and I thought it deserved a picture. Not because it is great toothpaste (although the flavor is quite nice) but because of its social message. (man, one of these days I am going to have to put up a "ooh, that's purty" picture)
This is interesting, however, because the name, in Chinese, literally translates to "Black Man." And as you can see, there is a nice picture on the front of a black man. I went to the Museum of African American History in Detroit this summer, and they have an entire room full of racist artifacts exactly like this, mostly from the last century or the early part of this one. In Taiwan, however, you can buy this right now.
Now, I do not mean to imply that all of Taiwan is hateful and racist, or even that they put this picture on toothpaste with the same intention that Southern Whites in the 1930's would have. No, it is simply a result of stereotypes (black people have very white teeth) which go unchallenged in Taiwan because there are very very very few black people. There is a curiosity fed by hollywood movies, of course, but the number of black foreigners in Kaohsiung could probably be counted on one hand.
The fact remains, however, that these stereotypes still exist, and are being fed to yet another generation.
Well, another tie to Taiwan bites the dust. This is the last of the Taiwanese toothpaste, and I thought it deserved a picture. Not because it is great toothpaste (although the flavor is quite nice) but because of its social message. (man, one of these days I am going to have to put up a "ooh, that's purty" picture)
This is interesting, however, because the name, in Chinese, literally translates to "Black Man." And as you can see, there is a nice picture on the front of a black man. I went to the Museum of African American History in Detroit this summer, and they have an entire room full of racist artifacts exactly like this, mostly from the last century or the early part of this one. In Taiwan, however, you can buy this right now.
Now, I do not mean to imply that all of Taiwan is hateful and racist, or even that they put this picture on toothpaste with the same intention that Southern Whites in the 1930's would have. No, it is simply a result of stereotypes (black people have very white teeth) which go unchallenged in Taiwan because there are very very very few black people. There is a curiosity fed by hollywood movies, of course, but the number of black foreigners in Kaohsiung could probably be counted on one hand.
The fact remains, however, that these stereotypes still exist, and are being fed to yet another generation.
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