Yellow emojis - do you guys still use them?

[dowie]

How about a different topic to the usual Trump/DailyFail/muslamics etc... something bordering on the inane perhaps

I've noticed on whatsapp, slack, FB messenger groups that Black and Asian(as in Indian/Pakistani etc...) people are now generally using the black/brown hand emojis - i.e. The thumbs up etc... and white people are using the white ones etc...

I've just generally used the yellow ones seeing them as a generic/nonspecific 'simpsons' style emoji.

However today I noticed in one group (full of mostly those "millennials" we often hear about) that I may have made a faux pas... Someone had made a comment that was generally agreed upon, the brown/black people responded with black/brown etc... thumbs up, there were a few white thumbs up from the white people and there were some of the (what I used to assume to be generic) yellow thumbs up responses from myself and some Asian(as in Chinese/Japanese etc...) people.

Now this made me stop and think, I was the only white person using the yellow thumbs up and as someone who in real life is perhaps a bit more sensitive to political correctness than I might be in discussions on here, and given it is [current year], I'm wondering if I've engaged in the heinous crime of "cultural appropriation"?

Are the yellow hand symbols not (as I have generally considered them to be) generic but actually Asian? I guess further to this with emojis originating in Japan this would make sense.

So GD, especially if you're from some background other than that kind of Asian, do you still use the yellow emojis or do you use the various shades of white/black/brown ones instead? Or indeed if you're Asian, do you consider the yellow emojis to be your emojis?

Also are faces different? It does seem that the regular smiley faces are still used as generic emojis (I guess some of them only come in that colour too) I've only noticed this segregated use with regards to the hand symbols.

 

[dowie]

Yellow emojis here — I think you worry too much. Is someone really going to be offended by the kind of emoji you use?

That is what I'm trying to establish, if they are becoming a less generic thing and more of an Asian thing then I could be appropriating them... please remember it is [current year]!

My mum uses the black thumb's up, claiming it's the only version she has available in her phone.

LOL mums and technology

One of my mates uses black for everything. He's not black. There again I guess no one else in that friendship group is.

I'd generally not use the black one, especially in a big group as it could be taken the wrong way very easily. Perhaps in a group of close friends, in a jokey way, that everyone is aware is meant jokingly then sure... but I can't think of many situations where it would be appropriate to use as a white person.

Thus the question about the yellow hand/thumbs up emoji... if that starts becoming less like a generic thing then perhaps I will switch to the white thumbs up/hand emojis.. at the moment I just use what I see (or used to see) as the default/non race specific ones

Dowie - You have too much time on your hands if this is the sort of thing you have to worry about

Personally I don't really use Emojis.

It is a semi-serious question, I could be committing a micro aggression here and those are a big thing these days.

 

[dowie]

Judging by the tags, sounds like more of the usual GD rubbish that you know will rile up the crowd and invitably get closed.

Sorry to hear you've had a sense of humour failure, thankfully most people have treated it in a light hearted way as intended.

 

[dowie]

 

[dowie]

LOL

Dowie 4 years ahead of the curve on this one - using the yellow emoji is now "white privilege"



https://www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1078977416/race-chat-emoji-skin-tone-colors?

 

[dowie]

The posters in this thread must have been blissfully ignorant thinking @dowie 's point was essentially "should I stop using the rainbow emoji because it's reserved for homosexuals?" when it was actually akin to "should I stop using the monkey emojis because they're reserved for 'black people'?"

 

[dowie]

I use yellow because it's the default. if someone changed the default to red, black, white, brown, pink or purple, I'd use that instead.

See that's your privilege showing! You're comfortable assuming the default because of your "whiteness". (I think)

I've read that about 5 times and I still don't understand what they're trying to say.

I think they're just angry that the default setting can be seen as easily catering to white people or that white people are happy to have the yellow hand represent them.

If you were to choose to use the black/brown emojis you'd pick an option that isn't the default, the option to do that is available to white people but because of their privilege, they often just use the default yellow option to represent themselves.

In reality though plenty of people simply haven't given it any thought and this is just the usual grievance scholars finding issues to complain about.

 

[dowie]

??? But no one is yellow. I think you're overthinking it.

It was sarcasm, that's what the people referred to in the article are basically saying and yes, they are overthinking it!

 

[dowie]

I'm referring to the fact that in the OP @dowie directly related the yellow emoji to East Asians, and knowing his history I'd bet it wasn't out of ignorance either.

I mean it has been associated with East Asians...



Justin is obviously making a joke in reply to the NPR tweet, it's hardly an obscure reference though...

 

[dowie]

Yes, obviously it's not obscure. I asked if you knew it was a slur, and judging by the way you've ignored those specific points and on your past provocative racial postings I assume you did not make the OP out of ignorance.

Calling someone "yellow" is dated, could be considered a slur in the same way as calling someone "colored" coud be, I don't see the relevance here so ignored as I do with most of the content you post...

 

[dowie]

I do notice you don't like to reply to specific points when you're incorrect or have been called out on certain things.

What am I incorrect about here?

 

[dowie]

I've not called you out on things being incorrect here, unless we relate that to your manner.

OK so what is your point here?

 

[dowie]

If you need me to spell it out, it's the fact you willingly and knowingly used offensive slurs without care or concern. Your improper manner.

Eh? I've not "used" a slur.

 

[dowie]

I'm not going to repeat what I've mentioned multiple times already.

Glad to hear it, it was getting rather tiresome. Making reference to some association isn't the same thing as calling someone a term that is now considered dated.

 

[dowie]

Again, "considered dated" is not accurate. And I'd say using the term, whether by reference or directly, all depends on the context, which can quite clearly be seen in your OP.

[yawn] honestly, no one cares...