People magazine is totally racist
How did no one catch this?
Click to enlarge.
Let's recap:
Oh, no -- dividing people into "aristocratic" and "earthy" groups based on their noses isn't racist. Jesus. You might as well call them "colonialist" and "bushman."
The "face readings" are credited to one Angi Ma Wong, who says "The Chinese have been practicing face analysis as long as they've been practicing traditional Chinese medicine."
I guess People thinks it's okay to say that people with broad noses are "earthy" and materialistic (and not, apparently, aristocratic or possesed of social graces and manners) because, well ... at least the person who said it wasn't white. So ... that's okay, right? Maybe next time they should just cut to the chase and hire a person who "reads" skin tones.
At least we also learn that Reese Witherspoon's pointy chin means she's "very emotional."
Click to enlarge.Let's recap:
Keira Knightley's "long, thin nose" is "an indication of social graces and manners."Are you fucking kidding me? Later on in the "About Face" feature, we learn that "A person with a broad-based nose is earthy and centered; one with a long, thin nose has aristocratic character."
Jamie Foxx's "broad base on nose" is "a sign he enjoys material things."
Oh, no -- dividing people into "aristocratic" and "earthy" groups based on their noses isn't racist. Jesus. You might as well call them "colonialist" and "bushman."
The "face readings" are credited to one Angi Ma Wong, who says "The Chinese have been practicing face analysis as long as they've been practicing traditional Chinese medicine."
I guess People thinks it's okay to say that people with broad noses are "earthy" and materialistic (and not, apparently, aristocratic or possesed of social graces and manners) because, well ... at least the person who said it wasn't white. So ... that's okay, right? Maybe next time they should just cut to the chase and hire a person who "reads" skin tones.
At least we also learn that Reese Witherspoon's pointy chin means she's "very emotional."
posted by JenIsFamous at 5/03/2006 12:16:00 AM
29 Comments:
"The main explanation of face reading, a pseudoscience, is cultural/subcultural association with specific values and habits. For example, most Communist leaders in the world have narrow eyes. This is because the physical trait of narrow eyes just happens to occupy much the same geographical range as does the cultural world-view of Communism (East Asia), not because narrow eyes cause communist ideologies."
It's a shame they didn't juxtapose Reese Witherspoon's "emotional", hillbilly chin with Natalie Portman's "stoic" upper crust, Jew chin.
Face Reading or Physiology is the "Intelligent Design" of racism.
People magazine is depressing.
I'll be brief (if serious rather than witty) and say that I agree with you entirely, Jen. The Chinese? Lemme see here: Aren't they the same folks who also used to hire a cadre of "experts" to sniff a bowl of their emperor's pucky and thus determine if it would rain?
This sort of dime-store "science" is just bullshit. But of course I would think so. After all, I have an overbite and sport facial hair, which means that I am quick to characterize things with which I do not agree as being bullshit. (Note that I AM born on the cusp of TAURUS turning into Gemini. You know what THAT means!)
Nonsense!
It's tough to make generalities about the face of racism when it's cloaked by some pussy Klansman's hood. But that DOESN'T mean it's difficult to identify racism when it rears its ugly head!
It might also be noted that the article pegs Lindsay Lohan's "sharp intellect and wit." That would explain her choice in movie projects, or perhaps her IMDB-referenced appearance on Letterman as "Trick-or-Treater Dressed as Garbage" (I'm not making that up).
Just because something is old and from China doesn't automatically make it good.
The fact that an entire editorial staff at a major magazine has either let this slide or didn't register any of it's content as offensive makes me want to sympathize with Farrakhan.
Right on sister.
Okay, so if a "long, thin nose is an indication of social graces and manners" while a "broad based nose is a sign of enjoying material things"...
...does this mean that over the years Michael Jackson has gone from being materialistic to socially sophisticated?
I agree with you entirely, Jen. The Chinese? Lemme see here: Aren't they the same folks who also used to hire a cadre of "experts" to sniff a bowl of their emperor's pucky and thus determine if it would rain?
Isn't racism also about proliferating those kinds of stereotypical views? Sorry to say it but, you're just as guilty my friend.
When the British Empire conquered most of what we call the third world today, they had developed a classification of intelligence and ability based upon the physical attributes of a person. Some of the darker skinned races were barely considered human.
The British were far worse with their pseudo-sciences. We often hear of Nazi racism in Germany, but little is spoken about the British Empire's history. As they say; the victor writes the history books.
People Magazine is trash reading, like I've said many times before; there is alot of irresponsible junk out there for the stupid people to soak up. Anyone who finds reading about celebrity life more interesting than a good book should really be shot anyway. People magazine is for superficial people.
Nuff said.
Holy cats!
Face readers are people who couldn't make it into body language college.
I recently just e-mailed People magazine about that and also state that I will not be purchasing anymore magazines in the future.
great call jenny.
and the racism ultimately overshadows other ridiculos premises a la a receding hairline (aka high forehead) indicates intellect???
and the thing about jamie Foxx's squared off hairline??? that's a choice you make in the barber shop.
(congratulations on the marriage thing by the way)
Uh, hello? Divining racism in PEOPLE magazine is not even worth the effort. They run crap about actresses who are too thin one week and a piece on how to lose 50 pounds the next. THINK about it: if this this really is an ancient Chinese pseudo-art then the practioners could only have been looking at Chinese FACES!!
What category do "people who've had work done on their schnoz" fall into?
It's stupid, but is it racism? I don't know, I'm part German, so naturally I like to be able to identify (and thus avoid) the more earth-centric classes. And yet, I myself am cursed with a wide nose. Now I know why I'm not the success I should be.
I'm Asian (but definitely, and proudly NOT Chinese) and having heard about this "face reading" before, can say it's about as true as a fortune cookie fortune. Speaking of racism, I found the Met's gala ball the other day - AngloMania - to be another example of racism, on a citywide scale. Lo and behold, Lindsay Blow-hand was there too. Which is why People magazine continues to be the shining light of American culture....yech!
Someone should ask Crash's Paul Haggis to weigh in on this, STAT!
Give at a rest, jeez!
"...and Angi Ma Wong's narrow eyes and broad cheekbones indicate that she's 'inscrutable' and 'likes to lay railroad tracks.' But the astute People reader knows that her straight black hair says 'don't let me drive!'"
This would be laughable if it weren't so contemptible.
Zombie, I was not attempting to proliferate a stereotypical view. Rather, I was trying to state a FACT. The Chinese DID have an emperor. Fact. That emperor DID live in the Imperial City in a castle where a cadre of servants did, among other tasks, sniff his shit in order to divine not only the weather but also everything from the state of his health to that of that entire nation. Also a FACT. No less an acclaimed director than Academy Award winner Bernardo Bertolucci references that ritual in his outstanding film "The Last Emperor", which was the Oscar winner for Best Picture of 1987.
Do I think that the Chinese people are "backward", "crackers", or anything else pejorative because there was a time in their history when they, like the rest of the world, were mired in superstition, regal pageantry, and the like? Of course not. The Chinese are a proud people whose contributions to this planet and to humanity are deservedly well-documented.
So let me be, if not brief--too late!--then at least clear: I WAS absolutely remiss, and you ARE 100%, absolutely right! Not ALL Chinese persons should bear responsibility for the actions of a few of their representatives. I do realize that it is high time that ALL people realized that racial stereotyping will come to an end only when we begin to speak of persons as individuals and not as being emblematic of an entire people.
Look, ANY people have their good and their bad. Albert Einstein was Jewish; so was Joel Steinberg. Mussolini and Guiuliani both happen to be Italian surnames. (Incidentally, Mussolini's son, who bore his father's surname, was in fact an upstanding as well as outstanding opera singer who repudiated his father's fascism, thus making a point about judging the son on the basis of the sins of the father. But that's another thread.) General Vojtek Jaruczelski was Polish; so were Jennifer Dziura's (AND Matt Penn's) ancestors. And the British? Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. Jack the Ripper. 'Nuff said.
The point is, one cannot pin all the glory or all the blame on an entire people, simply based upon the actions of a few of its members. I know that. And so I humbly ask your forgiveness if I offended you. It had not been my intention to do so; only to make a point about how ludicrous pseudoscience can be. (Yes, a value judgment, but I call smelling excreta ludicrous only because I'm quite sure that there are better ways to predict the weather than that. Such as poking one's head outside.)
My choice of words was extremely unfortunate. I know that, and I really DO thank you, Zombie, for having pointed it out. I had not meant to, but I DID give in to an urge that fuels racial stereotyping. All I can say is that I will try to be more careful in the future. And that I hope you believe that.
Peace,
Matt
Dear Mrs. Dziura,
Long time reader and first time caller! LOL
As a person whose dad is Filipino, I am I guess like Tiger Woods (but not as good a golfer!) and "Asian" although I've always considered myself American and have never been to the Phillippines (which I am not even sure how to spell). I want to thank your reader Matt Penn for what he said.
Don't worry about not being brief, sir, because it's more important to have something to say. You seem like a smart and sensitive man. What you said is right on about not judging persons based on their association with an entire ethnic group. I myself have faced alot of racial bias as well as anti-semiticism in my life because my mother is white and Jewish. when I started going to Hebrew school to study for my bar mitzvah my father used to pick my brother and me up after work. I remember introducing my father to the rabbi and before he could even get a word out the rabbi said, "you work for the Lusantas and are here to take Arnald and Edwin home?" I swear that happened! The RABBI actually said that to my father! My father was dressed in a suit & tie and looked as professional as any other kid's father. My brother Eddie and I were very embarrassed. But my dad didn't say anything. He just said that he was Ernest Lusanta. He told Eddie and me about how important it is not to make judgements about people because now a man we were supposed to respect, a RABBI, had made himself look stupid.
Well, I'd just like to say it's not very tolerant, and no offense kind of stupid, to say that people who read magazines instead of books should be shot. Read what you want to read, draw your own conclusions, reach your own opinions, and hink for yourself! As Mr. Penn wrote, people are individuals! So be one and other people will think of you as one. My parents always taught my brothers and me that we were not "different". We are unique. I bet Tiger Woods and the Yankees Derek Jeter (whose father is black and whose mother is white) feel the same way.
Can't we all just get along?
Sincerely,
Arnald Lusanta
Thank you for your kind words, Arnald.
Ang pangalan ko ay,
Matt
Hi Matt,
I suppose that I misinterpreted the point that you were trying to get across. Since the Chinese, at that time, were technologically superior than most other races; I was confused why you would pick such a moot example.
I don't know why you are apologizing to me, I didn't take any offence; but, thanks for being diplomatic about it!
Someone had already mentioned that Chinese face reading was originally intended for Chinese faces, even so, it was never regarded as a science. On the otherhand, Darwin's theories of evolution could be used more effectively as a race weapon than an article on Chinese face reading in People magazine!
By the way, I take back my statement about shooting those people who read People magazine; they should be locked inside a room and forced to watch American Idol until their eyes and ears bleed... then shot.
Anonymous said...
I'm Asian (but definitely, and proudly NOT Chinese)
I guess that means that you're not racist then.
I just saw this issue yesterday and I wasn't shocked, at all, by it. The bigger question to ask is "where have you people been?" Of course People is racist, just as many other magazines are. Look at the magazine covers. How many people of color appear on the cover in a given year? You can argue it's about money, but the fact remains that there is a distinct lack of representation. And when people of color are represented, their "beauty" has to be explained. Give me a break.
I love how a post pointing out a racist pseudoscience has given rise to a whole bunch of comments subtlely bashing the Chinese. Because no member of any other culture/ethnicity has ever created a problematic pseudoscience, right (*cough* phrenology! *cough* eugenics!)
I'm Asian (but definitely, and proudly NOT Chinese) and having heard about this "face reading" before, can say it's about as true as a fortune cookie fortune.
Well, I'm Asian AND Chinese and definitely and proudly NOT a douchebag. But whatever, you're probably still in high school and refusing to study, date, eat or otherwise associate with anybody who doesn't belong to your specific ethnic group. You'll brush that chip off your shoulder once you run out of friends.
"Racial profiling" is as common as excusing behavior by pleading that someone else does the same thing. How is it relevant that other cultures are guilty of promoting their own "sciences", unless you're trying to argue that two "wrongs" make a "right"? We're not talking about phrenology or eugenics, OK? We're talking about face reading, which a Chinese "expert" says originates in China. (Personally, I think it could use a little more practice before going pro. But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.)
If we were talking about Apartheid, we would be talking about a South African practice and not a Chinese one, right? Would you object then? I doubt it. Would you point out that there used to be segregated lunch counters in the US? If so, what would be your point? Apartheid was excusable because America also has a racist past?
Ben, I have no idea what you are talking about, it sounds like you are trying to compare chalk with cheese.
I think Ben was trying to say that how other cultures also have there own "sciences" is irrelevent. I got the point about how if something is raceist (like the example he gave of Aparthide before Mandela) doesn't depend on if there are other examples of raceism in the world (like the example he gave of the lunch counters in our south).
It's not chalk vs. cheese I don't think. It's a good point Ben. I for one happen to agree with you!
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