Spanish slant eyes

I guess this is why America still has a leg up on Europe in terms of race relations and sensitivity. Despite all our problems and our horrible past, Europe can be more backwards - and the worst part is they don't even see the problem.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/basketball/news?slug=ro-spain081308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Like, how the hell would that company Seur think that the Spanish bball team making slant eyes would generate more business for them? People in marketing are either the smartest or dumbest employees of a company! I guess they're a courier like DHL and want to show they're "international", but maybe the Spanish could have dressed in Mandarin costumes or something? And it's no excuse for the Spaniards who play in the US, because I'm sure they got some "cultural sensitivity" training so they wouldn't say something bad against blacks and get a beat down from a guy like Artest. But still Calderon couldn't believe what the fuss was about. I agree that the media are blowing it out of proportion (it's not like they were hanging nooses like Jena), but you have to issue an immediate apology and not insist it was no big deal. It's the same thing as the Danes and their derogatory Mohamed cartoons.

Personally, I am not offended by the pic because there are plenty of worse things going on (people are being killed because of their race in places like Myanmar and Sudan). Sure the nationalist Chinese are running with this, and they relish every opportunity to play the victim. But for those clueless morons who can't figure out what the fuss is about, what if the Olympics were in Nigeria, and the team painted their faces black and puffed up their lips? Would they think that is harmless? But then the sad part - I read further into the article and it seems Spanish fans did do something like that to a black Formula 1 driver! Well the fans will always be stupid, and in European soccer there is a history of racism against black/Muslim/Turk/etc. players. The problem is so endemic that star player Thierry Henry even leads an "anti-racism" campaign for UEFA. Spain's soccer team got a lot of praise after winning the Euro Championship this summer, but their current coach was recorded calling Henry a "negro de mierda" in a previous match, yet he wasn't sacked (imagine if Phil Jackson or another American coach did that). Strangely, Europeans pay out big contracts to non-white foreigners to come from their home nations, play soccer, and make them money, yet some ignorant fans still make monkey gestures at them.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/magazine/specials/sportsman/2005/11/29/thierry.henry/index.html

I do think that some Americans and others get "too sensitive" on the topic of race, which makes honest, open discussion and reconciliation more difficult. But I guess it'd rather err on the side of caution rather than offend people accidentally with pointless jokes that do no good to anyone.