Mbappe is memed as ‘the dictator’. He was asked by a journalist if he has seen the memes online and what he thinks of them. He said he likes the meme of his face photoshopped on an image of ‘I think, a Chinese dictator’, that he finds it funny.

What’s resulted is non-stop racial abuse on Chinese social media and annulment of contracts and sponsorships with the entire Spanish league. The government itself has condemned him. He apologized publicly for referring to Mao as a dictator and yet a lot of people online are just going whole hog on the racism.

  • Lussy [he/him, des/pair]@hexbear.netOP
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    10 days ago

    Structural racism is a fairly ambiguous and nonsensical term being used here

    Also, if the government actually wanted to put a stop to the racism why wouldn’t they do anything to censor the racism, why not invite Mbappe for a state visit, why egg on the racists for a fairly innocuous comment by making him an example?

    • Feed_el_Castro [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      10 days ago

      why wouldn’t they do anything to censor the racism

      Can you provide examples in China of racism in media? Whether it be state or private media.

      I did say they should be stricter about racism, unfortunately many Chinese netizens also spend time in western social media where they absorb those forms of racism.

      • SexUnderSocialism [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        10 days ago

        He’s talking about Chinese social media platforms like Xiaohongshu. You’ll often see nationalists coming out of the woodworks whenever something controversial regarding Indians or Black people is in the news, and then the comments are full of the kind of blatant racism you’d expect to see on Twitter.

        • Feed_el_Castro [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          10 days ago

          That was kinda my point, that you won’t find the racism in legacy media that we’re used to. Sure, they should increase efforts to eliminate racism in social media too, I agree, but it’s kinda what I meant, that they do have a policy of censoring racism, at least in the broader legacy media

          • SexUnderSocialism [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            10 days ago

            I’m not sure why you want to make it about legacy media though. I don’t see how that’s relevant to someone pointing out racist comments on social media. You don’t always have to look for ways to try and defend something that deserves legitimate criticism.