Spain Basketball Team pictured in Controversial Pose.

[QUOTE=wang4three]I hate people who think the dictionary can define a word like "racism." It's like defining "emotions," "happy," or "sad." Sure you can point to a general idea or conception, but those words mean very different to everyone. Webster to Wikipedia will have different styles of categorizing these emotions and beliefs...because that's what they are. They're not scientific words constricted to the laws of some book published. Which is why language was meant to be interpreted in all different ways. Which is why we have people today arguing over literature and scriptures because meanings apply differently to others. For you to think that it's some sort of formula you can apply is inherently wrong and inherently narrow-minded.

At the end of the day, people are not going to care about this in America. It's become socially acceptable to degrade and belittle Asians and other tertiary race in America. And that's the way it is and it will be for a long time. Maybe ignorance and disbelief in humanity (sample size of this board) has made me bitter, but it's a truth and reality I've noticed. I've done my battles for it in the past, but what's the point when people continue to be as ignorant as they are? People on this board can't even VIRTUALLY get together, how they ever going to embrace ideals in real life?

It's funny because our USA team is fulled of mix cultures and mixed people, which is supposed to give us an edge, supposed to seem coherent..Working together cohesively for a common goal. That's what we should be representing when we look at the US flag. It's what makes us "advanced" even. It's this ideal that should bring about disdain and disgust to what the Spanish team..but instead we're just like "**** it, it wasn't my race or my life." or whatever NIMBY response people put out. And that's ok, because we all knew America was actually far from the ideal it professes.

As far this Spanish team is concerned, whatever. It's not as if my little post in this inconsequential board will do anything. People will continue to ignore because it's what they're accustomed to doing with Asian cultures. I stand in disgust, and maybe as long as I find integrity in myself, that is all that's sufficient.[/QUOTE]

Thats interesting. Guess one would have to be in the shoes of an asian to see it.

[QUOTE=GOBB]Everyone is slamming Sain but I refuse to think they were this dumb. I cant see a collection of players where none objected what they were doing. So I'm more likely to give this the benefit of the doubt and wait to hear the players explaniation for what they were attempting to pull off and look further into thier reasoning.[/QUOTE]

i don't think any official explanation is coming unless someone pulls one of these players aside and they are frank about it. the team's official statement was they were joknig and it's not a big deal, but they don't say if they were joking poking fun at chinese or doing something else. i dont think they will elaborate at this point.

for me, it clearly offended the chinese crowd so why they couldn't just say "we didnt mean what you think, but we are sorry because we didnt mean to offend you" and then move on is beyond me.

[QUOTE=niko]i don't think any official explanation is coming unless someone pulls one of these players aside and they are frank about it. the team's official statement was they were joknig and it's not a big deal, but they don't say if they were joking poking fun at chinese or doing something else. i dont think they will elaborate at this point.

for me, it clearly offended the chinese crowd so why they couldn't just say "we didnt mean what you think, but we are sorry because we didnt mean to offend you" and then move on is beyond me.[/QUOTE]
It was the same idea as Japan 2006 when they put the japanese headscarf.It's stupid advertising for the spanish tv viewers(we go to China) who are not very interested in basket.And the whole idea started because a chinese reporter asked Ricky Rubio to do it.

Correct me if I

[QUOTE=biisak]Correct me if I

I can't detect any racism in this picture.

[QUOTE=biisak]Correct me if I

[QUOTE=DatZNasty]To us yes, but that's because it's very monocultural compared to the US, so it would never be seen as a huge problem. ESPN did a story on their soccers fans and racism leading up to the world cup

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-iRLmaZf4A[/url]

ANyways, here's Jose Calderon's explanation[/QUOTE]That's in soccer stadiums in all Europe, the craziest fans who are retarded used to insult the adversary players and if they were black it was very easy for them.But then they adored their black players so it's more a problem of intelligence

I like the attitude of Jose Calderon, and I am going to vote him in the 2009 NBA All Star Game.

Pau's apology [quote]

Wow that's pretty ignorant. Spain deserves to be criticized, what a bunch of idiots.

That's what I said, its not offensive but its not funny either.

Good to see that from Pau.

I'm wondering if anyone in the US, or the people posting here that are saying the picture was not offensive, would be upset if the Spanish team posed while sticking out their lower lip to make it look bigger as a friendly gesture to Team USA.

To those of you who judge without knowing the whole scene (sp. to you all of anglo-saxon culture), let me state this:

1. The photo is for an advertisment.

2. The company paying for the ads is A CHINESE COMPANY (Li-Ning`s T-Shirt).

3. It was the GUYS FROM THE CHINESE COMPANY who told the Spanish NT what they had to do.

4. Since every single guy in the Spanish team is spanish (huh), it's not unlikely that none of them could think of the gesture being racist. In Spain (a country where nothing is ever taken seriously, and where no offense is ever taken -or almost-) almost noone would see that gesture as offensive.

5. Even if two or three players had thought "hey, this might be offensive to chinese people" (which is VERY improbable), the fact that it was all the idea of a Chinese company obviously convinced them of the contrary.

6. If a third party (a quite over-reacting third party, as a matter of fact - English meida) comes into this two-sided game and starts messing it up with their own stuff, they are to be blamed.

7. No offense intended (and apparently no offense taken from the guys in the Chinese company). No mocking intended. Absolutely no sign of "racial superiority". NO RACISM whatsoever.

8. If a word or a gesture or any issue is considered offensive or [I]sensitive [/I]in a a certain country, it doesn't mean every single country in the world should avoid it in their own territory (where ir may have completely different significance or background).

In fact, there's a gesture (:rockon: ) which Americans may understand as "man, this rules", whilst in Spain it means "**** you" or even "you're an idiot whose wife constantly fu(ks another men". Do we get annoyed wen an American (o any other) uses that gesture in their own "scenery"? No. I mean, we know that's the way it works.

From the point of view of a Spaniard, the only way to see "Racism" in all this is to have a race-based mindset at first. It is said that the ones claiming "racism!" are too often the very first ones to be racist.
Please better look at yourself before judging the others, especially if you don't know it all (but who knows anyway?)