# Is the mask in this picture racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967 "2012-09-27T03:52:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/61 "2012-09-30T11:19:38Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The question wasn’t if the guys in the picture where racist. The question is if the mask was. Its the same mask that vendors sell on the streets near the White House. I think you could also argue that, even if the mask were not inherently racist, being used in a racist manner would make it so. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/62 "2012-09-30T13:44:53Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I think you could also argue that, even if the mask were not inherently racist, being used in a racist manner would make it so. No it would make the guys using it in a racist manner racist. The object is not. Is a watermelon racist? No. Can it be used in a racist manner? Of course. But that is a comment on the person using it. The watermelon didn’t change. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/63 "2012-09-30T18:15:44Z")
Stupid, tacky, and obnoxious, certainly. Racist? Not really. Yeah, it doesn’t look all that much like Obama (other than the huge ears [Have his ears gotten bigger since the last election? They seem bigger to me. Maybe his hair is just shorter.] and hairline.) It’s a pretty ridiculous caricature of him, and it blackifies him till he’s nearly unrecognizable. But a few minutes cruising around on Amazon reveals equally ridiculous and difficult to recognize caricature masks of Romney, Bush Sr. and Jr., McCain, Kerry, Gore, and Reagan, as well as Obama masks that don’t make him darker or widen his nose and mouth but are still equally ridiculous, unflattering, and unrecognizable. Unless you’re willing to ascribe bigoted motivations to the manufacture of every single one of those other masks, it seems to be a bit of a reach to automatically assume this particular mask is racist simply because it exists. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/64 "2012-10-01T23:53:02Z")
I have to agree with all the liberals here in that the mask looks nothing like Obama. They forgot to include the halo. > [@Duckster](#): > > Taken in the overall context of the image, [a white kid wearing a blackface](http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-14/world/sawyer.blackface_1_blackface-black-skin-australians?_s=PM:WORLD) mask touches a historical raw nerve. What claptrap. The guy is basically globetrotting and calling out people for not respecting American sensitivities. The height of the irony is that he even quotes a French person saying “Looks like the Americans are out to enforce their stereotypes again,” and he basically doubles down with “Yeah, but you’re still racist.” ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/65 "2012-10-02T18:33:41Z")
Obama’s dark skinned–if you’re going to mock him with an impromptu image, the image has to be of a dark skinned guy. IThe picture is no more racist than sexist. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/66 "2012-10-02T18:38:40Z")
Bwuh? Man, we really do all look alike to you guys, huh? Obama’s skin is pretty light, negrowise, and that mask is about 100 shades over on the color wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/67 "2012-10-02T19:58:25Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Obama’s skin is pretty light, negrowise, … Apropos of nothing…It wasn’t until I was in the Army living in close quarters with non-whites that I learned Black folks…tan. I was 26 and absolutely gobsmacked when I saw the tan lines. In my defense, I grew up in Seattle–almost nobody tans there. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/68 "2012-10-02T20:03:49Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Bwuh? Man, we really do all look alike to you guys, huh? Obama’s skin is pretty light, negrowise, and that mask is about 100 shades over on the color wheel. Thank you. This thread is making me wonder if my eyes have a different distribution of rods and cones than most of the posters here. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/69 "2012-10-02T21:00:37Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Bwuh? Man, we really do all look alike to you guys, huh? The mask was made in China. Feel free to make your own joke. FTR the Romney mask I saw for sale next to that one looked nothing like Romney either. Except for the hair. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/70 "2012-10-03T03:39:00Z")
It’s one thing to not look much like Obama, but that mask is absurd. Even if Obama were to return to his native land of Kenya and tan like a motherfuck, he wouldn’t be that dark. And what is up with the mouth? Again, [this](http://www.amazon.com/Barack-Obama-Adult-Half-Mask/dp/B007ZKAGR0/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1348813296&sr=8-9) is a normal mask that favors him, [this](http://www.amazon.com/Barrack-Obama-Vinyl-Full-Costume/dp/B00281HF6Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1349235208&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Barrack-Obama-Vinyl-Full-Costume/dp/B00281HF6Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1349235208&sr=1-1) is a normal mask that does _not_ favor him, but meh, is fair enough as far as shitty masks go, and [this](https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/MdulkotIaOYYgEws3pROHxdB8b3Gp0LozA5Mknsyn8s?feat=directlink) is just lunacy. Might as well paint him near tar black and give him cartoonishly oversized big, red lips. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967/71 "2012-10-03T06:03:50Z")
Nah. Not used in an overtly racist manner, and the mask itself isn’t racist, as it’s a non-characterized likeness of the Prez (although, the manufacturer got the complexion too dark, by an order of magnitude). I’m thinking the teeth were cut out so the idiot wearing it can stick out his tongue, mouthbreathe, and talk using small words and grunts. Racism is more about the intent, but there’s nothing _explicitly_ (or arguably, implicitly) racist about anything pictured here; except for maybe where that Kenya comment was going. I do think they’re all stupid, I don’t know why he’s just singling out his masked friend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-mask-in-this-picture-racist/635967.md?page=3)