Is Apu from the Simpsons racist?

I don't think Apu is being phased out, I'm pretty sure he's done and dusted.

And if he reappears... Was he....Indian given?



I know, I know.. fuck me, right?

 

I literally just got done telling you the difference is that, unlike The Simpsons, no one is complaining to me that they are offended.

But sure. Whatever. Me and Matt Groening are literally the same, but it's ok when it's me. Also, I am actually Seth MacFarlane

 

More like yellow peril

 

So basically you're plagarizing.

 

Finally. Someone worse than me at picking up sarcasm over the internet

 

So you think it's all ok to make racist jokes about indian people do you?

It's not ok to use racism in anything.

I know you like to joke about things but if you called an indian person a yellow peril you would be touted as a racist idiot.
If you went and called an indian bloke a monkey or an ape you would get into a licorice allsorts of trouble.

So @everything bagel stick to your cooking degree and stop making racist jokes about people.

 

Eat your Vegemite and watch your cricket.

Oh, was I racist? Or accurate?

 

Sometimes I associate as Indian. When practicing the Karma Sutra

 

I associate as Mexican when I eat tacos...

Best part of being American is that cultural appropriation is almost impossible

 

Oh are you American?

 

Me? Yeah. I love it. We have food and culture from everywhere

 

If I associated as Mexican with the amount of Mexican food I eat, you might as well prefix my name with Señor.

 

???

This is getting fairly interesting now. Are you saying that you (sort of) know Matt Stone and Trey Parker? Well, in your opinion there may be bias in their brand of humor, because both are white guys, but they still make a good point: How are you supposed to get anything done, if everything is banned/forbidden? That's the whole point of that South Park Xmas episode. How are you supposed to accomplish anything, when everybody's feelings are prioritized to a ridiculous degree?

Going back to the Simpsons, Apu was never exactly shown in a poor light, and the show has never gone out of its way to make Indian people look ridiculous. Sure, if they had portrayed Apu as a rapist, drug-using immigrant who openly defecates on public streets, I'd agree with you completely. But this whole issue boils down to white guy making a funny voice. Literally nothing else has happened here, and Apu has been one of the more sensible characters in the whole show for a good 30 years now, whose help was often pivotal to the main characters. Are we supposed to just forget that he existed after all this time? Just because a white voice actor, who probably got chosen for the role just because at the time he was the best guy for the job, spoke too funny to some people's tastes?

This isn't like South Park, where they frequently spray feces on the characters, either metaphorically or literally, just because they can. The Simpsons' humor has never been mean or nasty on that level, which is why this whole issue to me, who's looking at this from a very European perspective, seems quite petty and childish. It was just a voice, nothing more, delivered by a man who was chosen because he was probably the most competent choice at the time. I think it's pretty safe to assume that 30 years ago there probably wasn't that much Indian talent available, who could've comfortably filled the character's shoes.

(BTW, the aforementioned Dr. Hibbert, a black man, is voiced by Harry Shearer, another white guy. Where is your God now?)

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Try my googie googie

 

I'm too high to quote correctly.

Apu is bullshit. I disagree with most of you. I'm done

 

You don't have to like him. You can even find him insulting to others. Just realize he's an enlarged portrayal of an american cultural phenomenom not made to be offensive.
Your thoughts and feelings matter. It's great a character like Apu triggers debate.
Just getting rid of him because he's offensive and indian americans are under portrayed in other programs is the worst you can decide. It's a very unfortunate decision.

 

If comedy would be consistently adjusted like the Simpsons did with Apu then no, we don't have freedom of expression. That's the fricking concern.
I fully agree it's ok to bring it under the attention constantly there are concerns about discrimination or negative ethnic portrayals. But you will always lose this fight if you're for freedom for expression and against provoking humour at the same time. Society benefits more from good discussion than making things taboo.

 

This mania of being offended by everything is moronic and counterproductive. Getting mad and screaming "racism","sexism" at the least perceived provocation is just making a big, big huge favour to the alt-right
and other neonazi scumbags. In case You didn't notice, they're capitalizing BIG TIME over the nuisance of PC brought to an extreme. Don't be PC Babies. No one likes crybabies and moralists. There is some difference between actual discrimination and some idiot claiming that "Let it snow" is an ode to date rape -and other similar amenities. It seems to me that those intolerable individuals that pestered their neighbour in the past using religion and morality and sobriety as clubs,today have updated their arsenal to PC-morals, they are just the same old time bigots in a new package but with the same mission- making everyone miserable and shutting the mouths of other people.

 

The latest in Candys thread shows exactly why this is a problem