The ‘social justice’ warriors on Twitter have forced German car giant Volkswagen to pull an advert showing a giant white hand flicking a black man because apparently everything is bigoted until proven otherwise.
In these uncertain times it is nice to know that some things remain the same. Volkswagen has been forced to pull an advert after it was decried as “racist” on social media. Calling things racist on Twitter is like big game hunting for social justice warriors, with getting a company to yank an advert or issue an apology being the trophy, serving as a digital wall mounted rhinoceros head.
This time, the advert that has caused the online witch-hunters to light up their torches and sharpen their pitchforks, is one advertising the latest VW Golf. In the commercial, jaunty, video game style music can be heard as a giant hand pokes and prods a man in a suit around the screen before flicking him into a restaurant, outside which the latest model of Golf is parked. So far, so silly right? Wrong. You see, in the advert the enormous disembodied hand is white and the sharply dressed gentlemen being man handled is black. Ergo, racism.
And if you’re not convinced, look at the signs! With a level of dedication normally ascribed to tin-foil-hat conspiracy nuts, the perpetually offended online are pointing out that the white hand can at one point be seen “making a white power gesture,” the dreaded OK sign (which is also coincidentally what a hand looks like when it’s about to flick something).
Even more insidiously, when the words “der neue Golf” (the new Golf) appear on screen, for a split second the only letters visible are “er”, “ne” and “G” – and if you fail to notice how with some creative moving around they form the German word “neger” (which means exactly what you think it does), then you’re a latent white supremacist in denial.
Sealing the deal with a final “dog whistle” is the fact that the restaurant the man is flicked into is called “Petit Colon” meaning “little settler” – or “little colonist” – in French.
Not that these people will listen, but apparently some things need to be explained. Firstly, every time different races appear on screen together in an advert, a company is not trying to make a statement of racial superiority. Secondly, if you are offended by the fact that a racial slur can be spelled out by rearranging letters then I suggest you may be a little too into anagrams.
Thirdly, and I cannot stress this enough, the “OK sign” being a “white power” hand gesture was literally memed into existence on 4Chan to troll PC types so do yourselves a favor and stop taking the bait like forgetful fish.
In their sad little minds VW doesn’t want everyone to buy their cars, they are clandestinely trying to appeal to the apparently lucrative white nationalist motoring community. After all, as the Guardian is pained to point out, the company was founded in 1930s Germany on the orders of Adolf Hitler, so obviously they are still all closet Nazis. What is sad is that the car maker has capitulated fully, admitting “the historical origins and the guilt of our company during the Nazi regime” and thus handing SJW big game hunters their trophy – and an incentive to keep lighting the torches.
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