Joe Kinsey
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Can a font style be racist? CNN reporter Anne Quito seems to think so, and she has published a massive report on why those letters you’ve seen on the front of buildings, on to-go boxes and on menus are a problem.
“It’s hard not to cringe at the Chinese stereotypes bundled up with each font package — especially when seen through the lens of today’s heightened vigilance toward discrimination and systemic racism,” Quito writes. “Critics believe that using chop suey typefaces is downright racist, particularly when deployed by non-Asian creators.”
So is it racist when Asians use the font? How are we supposed to know the race of the person who ordered ‘chop suey’ fonts on buildings? On menus? On signage? Will Quito and her fellow critics request the full cancellation of certain fonts?
Will Quito call for Mexican restaurant fonts to be removed from Mexican restaurants? Will Quito call on Bud Light to stop using Mexican-themed fonts on Chelada packaging?
If you thought there were bounds for the stupidity, you’d be wrong. People have time on their hands, outlets who’re more than willing to allow space for such stupidity and that leads to weirdos cooking up things like chop suey fonts making a CNN reporter cringe.
Hey Anne, what happens when a Chinese restaurant calls up the local graphic design shop and orders up new menus with the chop suey theme they’ve been using for the last two decades?
Printshop: “Uh sorry, sir, Americanized Chinese fonts have been canceled. Not sure what to tell you. We can use Helvetica.
Chinese businessman/businesswoman: “What the hell is going on?”
Printshop: “Sorry, sir, CNN said the fonts are racist. We had to delete them from our font menu. Should we use Helvetica or Times New Roman?”
Chinese businessman/businesswoman: “&^%$#$%^^^&.”
So what are Chinese businesses to do now that CNN is so worried about these fonts? Ms. Quito asked Tom Rickner, who was a lead type designer at Apple, what he would suggest. The guy has a Wikipedia page so he must be important.
“The right way forward is to have bilingual, trilingual, even multilingual typography,” he added, suggesting that Chinese restaurant menus could perhaps, be presented in both English and (either simplified or traditional) Chinese characters.”
What does that even mean, Tom? You going to go into the China City Buffet here where I live in Ohio and tell them to change their menus and make them more English? Good luck with that, Tom and Anne.
What does this English font even look like? You’re going to write up a report on how Chinese signage fonts are racist and yet you don’t provide what the fonts will be changed to? That’s malpractice.
Do better, CNN.
These are low self esteem people who compensate by fabricating misdeeds of others.
Makes me wonder what font isn’t racist to these people. Arial sure sounds a lot like Aryan…
I knew this was a Kinsey article before I even clicked on it. Once again, Joe doesn’t disappoint.
“If you thought there were bounds for the stupidity, you’d be wrong.”
Truly. If I’ve learned anything these past few years, that quote right there sums it up.
The reason they do this is because they’re successful right around 100% of the time they try something.
They’re the same group that dug up a word that ceased being used 75 years ago…”colored”…and now use it in a similar form…”people of color”. And trying to lump all non-whites into the term, to boot. Most of them, especially Asians, want no part of being associated with the dumb, aggrieved people who called themselves POC.
OMG I hate people.
I am almost there too buddy smfh
No more racist bunch than white, woke liberals. Take the very thing you’re most guilty of, and point the finger at others.
From a sheer number standpoint, you’d be right, but from a % standpoint, that’s nowhere near correct. The % of blacks who are racist towards other colors FAR exceeds that of other colors towards blacks.
CNN is run by homosexuals and women with daddy issues…they are going to be riding this let’s find racism everywhere to cover our problems train til it runs off the tracks.
Ray, it is only the women or also the homosexuals that have daddy issues?
Most homosexuals have daddy issues too.
Asians just need to watch their front and backs for blacks…they are the shade that most often, %-wise, that do harm to Asians.
13%/80%
As a fully-fluent and native Chinese speaker, this is further proof that these types of woke-motivated cancel campaign is not only HARMFUL to minority businesses, but often lead by extreme-left activist or ivory tower-type (often out-of-touch, highly educated white folks like Mr. Tom Rickner). Why would a perfectly fine Chinese restaurants with only English menu be forced print another menu in Chinese that most of my Chinese American friends don’t even comprehend? Why would you force perfectly fine Chinese restaurants with pre-existing font on their storefront to spend thousands of dollars just to appease liberal whites’ sensitivity to Chinese font? They are getting this so BACKWARD!
Don’t people realize everything and everyone will be cancelled soon?! Wisdom, nuance, context, and discretion are sorely lacking with certain people in America now. As Gene Wilder would put it, “they’re morons.”
Blacks are the most bigoted people on earth. That’s why they are the only race that continually play the victim card. Every other ethnicity that has immigrated here value family, education, and work ethic.