Jun 24, 2020, 16:14
Johnson & Johnson has decided to stop selling skin-whitening creams popular in Asia and the Middle East, after such products have come under renewed social pressure in recent weeks amid a global debate about racial inequality.
The company will stop selling its Clean & Clear fairness line of products, sold in India, a spokeswoman told Reuters. It was reported earlier this month that it would drop its Neutrogena Fine Fairness line, available in Asia and the Middle East. Reactions to Johnson & Johnson’s decision on social media ranged from the incredulous to the supportive. “Pure racism and sexism towards Asian women. Our rights as [an] ethnic minority are being infringed [upon],” wrote a commenter based in Hong Kong. “Her body her choice,” wrote a social media user on Twitter, while another said: “A disgrace. If people want to buy them, they have a right to do it.” |
Not sure if that's true. Martin Freeman, who's a British actor, once said Lucy Liu is ugly. He even used the word dog to describe Lucy Liu: the word dog can be used to refer to an unattractive woman in British English.
I don't think so. I think Lucy Liu is a charismatic person whose own beauty is beyond description. She is not a wallflower like some Hollywood female celebs-by which I mean Lucy Liu doesn't just use her va-va-voom to draw eyeballs. The way she swaggers around with other insolent gangsters in tow in the movie Kill Bill is Oscar-worthy.
Moreover, Lucy Liu could have used other emetic British slang terms like tosser, ponce, and prat to describe Martin Freeman. Yet she simply neglected Martin Freeman's provocations, which suggests that Lucy Liu is a well-bred actress who's also Chinese American. At the same time, Martin Freeman is just acting like another unlettered actor when he uses the word dog to describe a lady.
Most importantly, Martin Freeman is ugly if you ask me. He is no match to Pierce Brosnan . And it's so sad that you can hardly find such dapper guys like Roger Moore , Sean Connery, 金城武, 梁朝伟, and 吴彦祖 in American and Chinese movies anymore.
Maybe that's just an embodiment of cultural degradation. Otherwise, it's hard to account for the popularity of 杨超越 and 吴亦凡 in China or some screwball Youtubers in America. You simply become famous by making goofy videos and behaving like a crackpot.
An American writer wrote a book about this: she calls it the dumbing-down of the internet age.
It has nothing to do with race at all. The Chinese have been weaned on the thinking that even plain-looking girls looks attractive if they have white skin. Chinese people call it 一白遮百丑. That's why most Chinese girls yearn to use such skin-whitening creams. Ancient Chinese girls would do the same; besides, they would make a point of making their cheeks and lips appear rosy by using rouge, just like present-day girls who get glammed up. Then lots of poems featuring such girls had been written by Chinese poets, including the most famous ones, with a view to eulogising such features. Please bear in mind that such Chinese poets living in antiquity didn't even know the existence of Europe . let alone Africa.
Johnson & Johnson may be using it as a chance to show public that it's also a fan of stakeholder capitalism; lots of business leaders think that moral leadership takes precedence over profit-making or shareholder value; and they also argue that embracing racial diversity helps them burnish their companies' reputations. That's why lots of American companies have told the press that they are going to hire more black people.
Maybe it's time to learn how to talk like a black rapper in order to get hired if you are Chinese American.
Guess what? I was thinking about writing a song for BLM, man. Yet I decided not to do it, having read the lyrics of a song written by a big-name black rapper named Kanye West. I just couldn't figure out what's the heck is he talking about in this song. And let me finish my gibberish here by showing you guys the last line of this song's lyrics.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo
Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo
Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo"
Wait, I could write something like this too . It seems to be a bagatelle.
So here is my song for BLM movement.
" Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.
Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo."
Ha Ha Ha.
Wa Ha Ha.
Ha Mi Gua"
Hi, I think I'm going to be the next Kanye West.
So people would be well advised to replace the White House with the Black House to show their respect for black people like some members of BLM suggest?
What's wrong with using skin-whitening creams? Are black people asking non-black people to use skin-blackening creams instead?
I'd hazard a guess that 张飞 and 李逵 would have bought such stuff, both of whom are fictional characters looking like black people owing to their black hides.
If BLM's proponents claim that it would be wrong to use the word white, then which word would they choose to describe a white horse? What if black people find white birds chirping in the tree? Are they going to call them white racists as well? Are they going to shoo them away simply because they are white birds?
At this rate, one could argue that we are not even allowed to write " patches of white clouds scud across the blue sky dappled with sunlight " since black people would tell you that you can't use words like white and blue.
This reminds me of a Chinese story featuring a king and a high-wattage courtier who actually calls the shots instead of the king. One day this scheming courtier tells the king that he has bought a new horse.
" I want to give you as a gift, says the courtier. "Please take a look."
Seeing the "horse", the king roars with laughter since "horse" is actually a deer, and says" are you out of your mind? This is a deer, not a horse."
"Nope. You are wrong. This is a horse, not a deer. Just ask around if you think I'm lying, says the courtier spitefully.
" For real? Then you guys tell me is it a horse or a deer? the shell-shocked king asks other mandarins who either pander to the courtier or fret over the courtier's unfettered powers
" It's a horse, not a deer," they reply.
"Thus, the whiter the skin, supposedly the more beautiful and desirable the woman is"
A white skin does not always come with a heart of gold; many Chinese men are paying the prcie for such misconception! |
Another theory, more plausible, is that Chinese men admire western women for their fair complex and translate that into demand for fair Chinese girls! |
Interesting theory there! But hat does not explain the belief that white is beautiful, it merely says darker women work in the fields in lower paid jobs, which of course is not necessarily true! |
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