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rynlingThe viral backlash over Abby the ‘thicc’ sea otter is peak 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/20/viral-backlash-over-abby-thicc-sea-otter-is-peak/
“Abby is a thicc girl,” the aquarium’s account tweeted along with the picture. “What an absolute unit."
The cuddly snap started burning up the Internet, with well over 17,000 likes and 4,000 retweets, as of early Thursday.
Then, the backlash started.
On Twitter, the aquarium was called out for describing Abby with language straight from memes originating in black culture and African American vernacular English (AAVE).
“I’m certain that @MontereyAq didn’t realize that they were basically comparing Black women to animals by using AAVE developed to talk about Black women’s bodies to describe an animal,” Chandra Prescod-Weinstein, an assistant professor of particle physics and cosmology, wrote on Twitter.
The article then goes on to explain the context for the backlash, as well as the fact that the memes used in the tweet aren't directly connected to black women or black culture. I would never deny the creative energy and cultural power of black women, and it should be clear to anyone who speaks American English that a lot of our slang comes from Black Twitter, but this is patently ridiculous. Also, for what it's worth, "thicc" predates Twitter and comes from gay culture (which I know because I am very gay). It's entirely possible that the term may have originally been used by black women or black drag performers, but a common referent for most of the late 2000s and 2010s was gay men; even Gengoroh Tagame himself has written about this (this link goes to Amazon but probably isn't safe for work).
The original tweet is very obviously an homage to Twitter accounts like WeRateDogs™ and Round Animals, the latter of which tends to use the sort of British "lads" slang that circulates on football accounts. To jump from "what an absolute unit" to "they were basically comparing black women to animals" is such an incredible leap of logic that you can't help but wonder how humorless someone has to be that their social media contains no round boys or cat videos to help them understand where this language is coming from.
Again, this is not to say that Americans of all races don't appropriate slang from Black Twitter, and I am 110% certain that disgusting people do indeed use animal memes to say disgusting things on the internet. Still, the amount of attention and emotional energy that has been devoted to a silly tweet about a cute otter is wildly disproportionate to how much harm it might hypothetically cause. This outrage only serves to make everyone super fucking tired, and honestly, it kind of comes off as a mockery of how serious the underlying issue actually is.
If this backlash is Peak 2018, then I want Peak 2019 to be no-platforming incendiary bullshit while paying attention to things that matter and promoting healthy changes to toxic media cultures. Basically, I want Peak 2019 to be the first line of the article I quoted above:
First off, Abby’s not overweight. She’s just right.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/20/viral-backlash-over-abby-thicc-sea-otter-is-peak/
“Abby is a thicc girl,” the aquarium’s account tweeted along with the picture. “What an absolute unit."
The cuddly snap started burning up the Internet, with well over 17,000 likes and 4,000 retweets, as of early Thursday.
Then, the backlash started.
On Twitter, the aquarium was called out for describing Abby with language straight from memes originating in black culture and African American vernacular English (AAVE).
“I’m certain that @MontereyAq didn’t realize that they were basically comparing Black women to animals by using AAVE developed to talk about Black women’s bodies to describe an animal,” Chandra Prescod-Weinstein, an assistant professor of particle physics and cosmology, wrote on Twitter.
The original tweet is very obviously an homage to Twitter accounts like WeRateDogs™ and Round Animals, the latter of which tends to use the sort of British "lads" slang that circulates on football accounts. To jump from "what an absolute unit" to "they were basically comparing black women to animals" is such an incredible leap of logic that you can't help but wonder how humorless someone has to be that their social media contains no round boys or cat videos to help them understand where this language is coming from.
Again, this is not to say that Americans of all races don't appropriate slang from Black Twitter, and I am 110% certain that disgusting people do indeed use animal memes to say disgusting things on the internet. Still, the amount of attention and emotional energy that has been devoted to a silly tweet about a cute otter is wildly disproportionate to how much harm it might hypothetically cause. This outrage only serves to make everyone super fucking tired, and honestly, it kind of comes off as a mockery of how serious the underlying issue actually is.
If this backlash is Peak 2018, then I want Peak 2019 to be no-platforming incendiary bullshit while paying attention to things that matter and promoting healthy changes to toxic media cultures. Basically, I want Peak 2019 to be the first line of the article I quoted above:
First off, Abby’s not overweight. She’s just right.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-25 08:51 pm (UTC)(Though it does bring up some interesting questions about where the line between appropriation of language and just convergence falls, especially online.)