Spain's 'Slant-Eye' Team Photo Stirs Ire

[pokerfan]

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=5563668&page=1">More

[Donald Ian Rankin]

1. In what possible alternative universe did someone think this was a good idea?

[pokerfan]

6. Well, I've never been to Spain

but I kinda like the music...

Maybe it's not a racist gesture in the alternative universe of Spain. :shrug:

[mwb970]

9. Spain is great, but this is sick.

I'm so sorry to see antics like this from a country I really admire and enjoy visiting. But don't judge Spaniards by these louts. Would you want America to be judged overseas based on Pat Robertson videos and the vile bush administration?

Oh.

[wtmusic]

14. Every one of them played along

That's what I find amazing.

[mwb970]

28. I know. Peer pressure? Or are they all louts? /nt

[ThatsMyBarack]

2. That's so MEAN!

:grr:

[Blue_Tires]

3. racially insensitve spaniards? whoever heard of such a thing??

:sarcasm:

part of me is surprised that there hasn't been a racial incident between NBA players with the arrival of more spanish/eastern european players...

[marmar]

8. I'm African American and I've been to Spain a few times.....

..... I think it's a bit rash to generalize about Spaniards as racist and xenophobic.

[Blue_Tires]

10. so am i (but i haven't been to spain)

not trying to broadbrush, but there has been a history of sports incidents in recent years from the Thierry Henry thing to the neo nazis at the Bernabeu to the villifying of Lewis Hamilton last year...

[marmar]

11. And there was a Mexican immigrant killed in PA; A black man dragged to death in Texas.....

ETC ETC. High-profile events get high-profile coverage.....The everyday reality is different.

[conspirator]

24. Spanish are not racist in general. They don't interact much with blacks or africa.

But it doesn't mean they hate blacks.

[PCIntern]

4. Beyond human comprehension at this level...

I'd be upset if it were Jr. high students...

WTF is ging on in this world?

don't bother to answer, I know.

[ret5hd]

5. Ich bin ein Chinese?

[City Lights]

7. How mature.

:eyes:

[tavalon]

12. Wow, it's surprising to realize we haven't totally cornered the market

on asinine behavior.

[pokerfan]

13. We have

Now we're exporting it around the world.

[Dreamer Tatum]

17. Boy, do you need to travel more

The world is a shockingly racist place, my friend.

[pokerfan]

18. I have and do

and our sick culture is emulated in all corners.

[Dreamer Tatum]

20. Oh, so that's where it came from

Really? Racism is a uniquely American export?

There was racism abroad before there were colonies, let alone the U.S.

But, whatever makes you feel good.

[pokerfan]

25. No but it was earily similar to an incident

at a local college where one of the basketball players got in trouble for directing the same gesture directed at Asian students on campus. I don't know if it's a pipular basketball thing or just idiocy in general but if it is, basketball (and the NBA) is insanely popular in Europe.

Obviously racism exists everywhere and predates our country. Happy, pappy?

[Marrah_G]

23. yeah because before America was founded the world was a peaceful Utopia .....

:eyes:

[Marrah_G]

22. Sometimes people here forget that there are assholes all over the world

They prefer the delusion that America is bad and the rest of the world would be a peaceful Utopia if not for the evil Americans.

[pokerfan]

26. And others prefer the delusion

the America is pure and good and great and utopian and the it's the rest of the world that is evil and backwards.

[Marrah_G]

27. Both are pretty damn silly

[Political Heretic]

15. I just can't believe someone thought "yeah, this is an awesome idea!"

[Swede]

16. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

I heard the team thought this was done with affection and good intentions. :shrug:

[AspenRose]

19. WTF?

"This is not Spain's first racial controversy involving sport. In 2004, FIFA, the world ruling body in soccer, fined the Spanish Football Federation nearly $90,000 after Spanish fans showered black English players with racist chants during a "friendly" match in Madrid.

The governing body for Formula One auto racing announced in April an anti-racism campaign after British driver Lewis Hamilton, who is black, was racially taunted by racing fans in Madrid. A group, wearing dark makeup on their faces, wore shirts that read "Hamilton's Family."

[pokerfan]

21. Racism in Euro football (soccer)?

I'm shocked!

Like anti-Semetic chants directed at jewish players:

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssss… (the hissing sound of gas)
We’re hunting the Jews!
There is the Ajax train to Auschwitz!
Sieg! Sieg! Sieg! (German for ‘victory’, yelled while performing the Hitler’s Salute)

http://www.jewlicious.com/index.php?p=656

[tuckessee]

29. What do the Chinese think of this?

I'll reserve opinion until they weigh in.