Email: info@asianraisins.nl
By comparing a Chinese car to a dish from a takeout restaurant, the product is arbitrarily reduced to stereotypes linked to Chinese restaurants. The remark about “number 35 with sambal” has nothing to do with cars. If anything, this reduces China’s rich and diverse culture to a cliché about food. It is disrespectful and distracts the reader from the actual subject of the article. Comparisons like these prevent Chinese products and achievements from being seen independent of stereotypes, causing them to be taken less seriously. In addition, such remarks normalize racist language, reinforce existing prejudices, and as such, contribute to the racism which many people from the Chinese community face in the Netherlands.
East and Southeast Asian people in the Netherlands are often subjected to harmful stereotypes and racist remarks. A well-known example is the racist comment made by folk singer Gordon on Holland’s Got Talent in 2013. During the show, he made a discriminatory comment, addressing a Chinese contestant with “number 39 with rice”.These comments may not be ill intentioned, but these jokes nonetheless normalize existing stereotypes and reinforce racism.
Racist statements like these have serious consequences. In addition to what we mentioned earlier, normalizing stereotypes reinforce prejudices, which gives space for (micro-)aggressions and everyday casual racism to arise. Additionally, they result in the achievements of East and Southeast Asian communities receiving less recognition and appreciation.
Any media platform publishing any form of online content carries significant responsibilities when mentioning minorities, and must therefore stop using racist language. Of course, products like the Xiaomi SU7 can still be discussed, but making racist remarks as click bait is unnecessary and blatantly ignorant.
Attempts have been made to contact *Autovisie*, but unfortunately, they have yet to respond. Correcting and changing the unnecessary comments of their article would be the first appropriate step forward. This correction could give Autovisie the chance to show respect and understanding towards cultural sensitivity in the media, and to promote awareness of thoughtful language that respects cultural diversity in the Netherlands.
Comments are closed