What has happened to the world?
In my estimation, the average person has a substantive reason to be offended maybe once a year; I can go with that.
But weekly? Daily?
The latest decrying of insensitivity comes to us courtesy of a Burger King ad.
And let me just say: A Whopper is delicious. It’s fantastic. It’s a great American hamburger. And more people should eat ’em — I don’t think Burger King is doin’ too well.
That may explain the chain’s attempt at offering somethin’ a little more interesting: a Vietnamese-inspired sandwich.
To that end, BK produced a promotional video of people eating the sandwich while a woman holds it…with large chopsticks.
Subsequently, as is par for the 21st century course, pearls were clutched.
Was I just insensitive myself? Don’t those pearl cream commercials feature Asian women?
Regardless, racist Burger King posted white people biting into the Vietnamese Sweet Chili Tendercrisp burger to its New Zealand Instagram account. The caption read, “Take your taste buds all the way to Ho Chi Minh City.”
Somehow, in some way, some goofs claimed the ad was a meanie toward Asian culture.
Horrified, Twitter user @mariahmocarey howled that she’s “so sick of racism”:
Thank you @carlalove for this well-balanced and accurate articlehttps://t.co/IyW8VpGIJJ
— a little mo (@moxieandtv) April 7, 2019
I'm so sick of racism. Of any kind. Of the kind that makes fun of different cultures, to the kind that shoots and murders those peacefully praying in their place of worship. Say no to every single manifestation of it. #GiveNothingToRacism.
— a little mo (@moxieandtv) April 7, 2019
Also @BurgerKing, @jono_key, @YandRNZ – ? Your silence is deafening. We PoC have said ENOUGH to make our point clear. Where is your apology?
— a little mo (@moxieandtv) April 7, 2019
The wielder of the Whopper went wimpy:
Yay. Suck on this racists. You don't get your way, not today. Cry me a river
— a little mo (@moxieandtv) April 8, 2019
🙁
Tech Crunch’s Asia reporter, Catherine Shu, wasn’t impressed with the ad either:
LOL chopsticks amirite??????
Who the hell came up with this? There are a lot of Asian people in NZ, though they probably aren’t getting their Vietnamese food from Burger King 🤢 https://t.co/XSGYX7IVBR
— Catherine Shu 🧶 (@CatherineShu) April 5, 2019
Someone tried to point out to @mariahmocarey that she was being ridiculous.
It didn’t work:
Yawn. https://t.co/hNNRlDzqW2
— a little mo (@moxieandtv) April 7, 2019
Obviously, the commercial and its critics are across the sea, but we’re no different here in the U.S. And this ties into something I wrote earlier: We are living in a world with a staggering loss of purpose (here).
A report recently confirmed atheism as the largest religion in America. And the advent of outrage culture, I believe, is closely related. People are struggling for some kind of meaning. In their lives. In their actions.
But it won’t be found in raging against the use of two sticks holding bread and meat. Or the lamenting of people’s pronouns of choice. Searching for things about which to be offended will never turn up the thing every person in this world needs. There is a wholly different search which leads to fulfillment.
And it is a quest each of us must make on our own.
Here’s to hoping more will.
Before we’ve lost so much hope that a tide has turned which can never be reversed.
-Alex
Relevant RedState links in this article: here.
See 3 more pieces from me: Meghan vs. Trump, vindication, and Germany on Hezbollah.
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