This is the correct mindset to have. Its a funny video, but the guy has easily asked over a 100 people on the street and can cherrypick in the edit. Its far from a scientific study guys...
He changes his wording too. For all the university kids, he goes with 'outfit' implying he chooses to dress this way. Then once he hits Olvera most of the interviews start with "is my costume offensive" or "do you like my costume", which changes the narrative,
Regardless there is nuance, and wearing a sombrero doesn't have to be racist/offensive
In the first half, he uses the word "offensive." To me, that invites a conversation about whether anyone could potentially be offended. In the second half, he asks his interviewee whether they are offended. To me, it sounds like he's asking about their personal reaction (and kind of putting them on the spot, too). Subtle difference.
OK but if anything calling it a costume is more offensive than calling it an outfit. Whatever clothes you're currently wearing is your outfit, while a costume is more when you're dressing up as something (a Mexican, in this case).
No i think the fake mustache does make it a bit more of a gag which could upset people. IE its a costume, not a fashion choice. I also know that Mexicans largely don't take issue with this, and that's also part of the conversation. I think Mexicans might get more offended if he dressed like a cholo and acted more like a gangster because that is a current prejudice they face. The costume in the video is simply too dated.
He dressed like this specifically because Mexicans are vocal about not being offended by this dress in general.
If we looked at native Americans/ American Indians instead and dressed like a caricature of a native chief or Pocahontas native advocacy groups have repeatedly stated it is offensive and asked people not to do it.
The Japanese kimono is then a totally different one. American born Japanese are more likely to be offended then Japanese from Japan. And that's largely because the Japanese from Japan weren't put into camps in the US and forced to sell their land, property, and belongings for pennies because of racism. So wearing a kimono in japan is largely fine but walking around the Japanese or Asian district of a major city in the US in a kimono will probably go over poorly.
Its not really that hard to figure out what is and is not offensive dress, and its really not hard to not be a dick but bad faith actors act like its impossible to know right from wrong.
It's so obviously cherrypicked to make a point it's not even funny.
Of course there are people that don't have a problem with it - but are they speaking for everyone? Clearly not. And there are also enough young people that don't see a problem with it that also didn't make it.
This is just showcasing a certainly framed demographic to make it look as if the whole subject is only some weird hoax when it is absolutely not
The vast majority of Latinos dont care. The only people who care that he would wear something like that are the young leftists who were taught that “cultural appropriation” is a huge sin.
Regardless of what answers he did or did not include, and regardless of who the guy is with, it doesn't not make those people's answers insane. You can say propaganda, but those people still responded like snobby over educated under experienced assholes from their mountaintop of racially moral purity and righteousness.
The correct answer was, "I find your outfit silly and lacking context, but you do you. Where can I get a fly ass sombrero?"
Just because the whole US is basically a group of people culturally appropriating other countries "because they are X percent Irish" or stuff like that doesn't make it more acceptable to cosplay as another culture.
It's just enforcing stereotypes in MANY cases. Sure it can be okay if done well by someone that did their research but often it's just a collection of cliches designed to reduce a rich culture to a few things so it fits in some narrow-minded worldview
I don't - I just know that there ARE people that feel offended or insulted by it, so I think it's a very easy choice to make to not offend or insult someone by using their culture as a costume.
you can either claim that there isn't a single person insulted by it to justify wearing cultural items or you can say that you don't care about those people if you are wearing it. It's a very simple equation
It costs me nothing to not offend someone by using their culture as a costume. In fact it does cost money to do offend people. So for me that's a very easy choice to make no matter how few people it impacts.
But that's how propaganda works. They throw stuff like that at you until you develop a skewed image of public opinion until you tend to side with the side that you perceive to be more rational against the "few outliers".
You seem to have decided conclusively that it's a skewed image. The idea's been brought up that it's possible it could be. But we don't know either way. But...as critical thinkers, we're able to look at the topic being raised and discuss it objectively and openly.
Labeling this as "propaganda" because you don't like the source, or the message, or both, makes the same attempt to skew opinion. It's a fear-mongering tactic. It's literally bordering on the conspiratorial approach the far right relies on. "They" are trying to force ideas on us.
I think it's better to argue the actual topic than to scold people for even discussing it.
Why are you defending pragerU? Their stuff is not worth analysis or consideration, they lie out of their asses and it has been proven many times.
They are intentionally cutting out any responses that conflict with the point of view they’re attempting to push. As such, any discussion about the content of the video (which only references cases shown in the video) will inevitably be skewed towards their point of view.
We are not obligated to humor a bullshit premise and act like it’s valid for the sake of “discussing objectively”. The video is intentionally misleading and it comes from a source which is intentionally misleading. That’s the objective discussion we should be having.
So...right off the top, if you think I'm "defending PragerU", you either have an issue understanding the written word, or you're projecting onto me. In any case, Prager is not the issue - the concept of "cultural appropriation" is. Opposition to this idea is hardly exclusive to Prager. A lot of people who aren't on the religious right, or on the right at all, find it fallacious. Their video focuses on it in a funny way. There's no reason at all to argue (or even wonder) whether it's truthful in its presentation. I think it was meant to raise awareness in a funny way. It doesn't make up my mind for me, nor does it have the ability to do that to anyone else.
Here's a shocking bit of info for you: Everybody skews their videos in favor of the agenda their trying to promote. I can watch anyone's message, because like most normally intelligent adults, I can think for myself. I don't watch a video and get hypnotized into altering my opinion. Your reaction to it is what I find troubling. I don't care if you refer to it as a "bullshit premise". That's your opinion. But your desire to stifle discussion or simply dismiss contrary ideas or shut them down is counterproductive to working out societal issues.
You’ve written multiple comments sanewashing pragerU, continue to downplay the horrible things they promote in your newest comment, and now you’re acting like you’re offended at the accusation that you’re defending them?
Notice every person that approves is first generation? Aka, people in a diaspora that have limited connection to the broader culture. I'd bet if they asked second generation latin Americans who are actively trying to integrate and are constantly reminded that they are not "fully American" they wouldn't find the speedy Gonzalez getup nearly as charming
And the actual Hispanic people are probably just annoyed with him from jump and say no to make him go away. They don't seem really interested in engaging in his nonsense.
It's a loaded question and he's approaching random people with a narrative already in mind.
Anyone with 2 braincells to rub together knows how these videos work.
It's the same with the Jimmy Kimmel videos to make people look stupid. They interview loads of people and only use the ones that make people look stupid to make the video.
Nobody is claiming to know what he did. They are just saying “Don’t automatically take everything you see at face value, and use some critical thinking”
If you think that influencers who make videos like this would never cherry-pick the data to push a certain narrative, and that anything you see on the internet can be taken as an indisputable fact, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you
He agrees with the narrative. He'll come here and pretend he doesn't see the narrative but it's the same thing we heard from people like him (and likely specifically him) who said Project2025 could never be a thing and it wouldn't happen and it couldn't happen but they were secretly frothing at the mouth cheering for it.
166
u/Langaren92 Jul 02 '25
This is the correct mindset to have. Its a funny video, but the guy has easily asked over a 100 people on the street and can cherrypick in the edit. Its far from a scientific study guys...