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naraburns  nihil supernum  3yr ago (text post)   34270 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 31, 2022

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Any fans of the Great British Bake Off here? I think this season has been a case study in the mechanisms by which wokeness latches on and does its best to ruin things. I'm so sick of people talking about how offensive Mexican week was. If you ask me, I really have no idea what was so offensive about it. Acknowledging that Mexican culture and food exists is not the same as being racist towards Mexicans. Also, since when are Mexicans even considered to be oppressed, and worthy of people getting outraged over? Have Mexicans historically been oppressed, especially by the British?

Following Mexican week, now, I guess the outlets all saw that claiming offense at GBBO was a great way to get more views, because every week I see at least one article about how viewers were "shocked and outaged" at the latest episode of Bake Off. Often, these are related to the fact that several contestants this season aren't native to Great Britain and are not being handled sensitively enough with regards to the recipes they do and their ability to follow the instructions in the technical challenges.

"YOU KNOW WHAT NOBODY HATES EACH OTHER ABOUT YET? THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF."

I would like to say "I can't believe anyone would be offended by 'Mexican week' on a cooking show," but of course, I have no trouble believing it at all. The cold open definitely made me say, "oh, someone is gonna be pissed," not because I think anyone should be upset about it, but because I knew someone would be. When I try to steelman this sort of reaction, I just come up empty. If you happen to be Mexican (or even more generally Hispanic) I'm sure it can get quite tiresome to have your heritage routinely boiled down to tacos and sombreros. But I can't think of a single ethnicity, nationality, religion, or other group that is immune from that sort of reduction. So long as you're not being actively and genuinely persecuted, the appropriate response is to just roll with it. People need to stop making mountains out of molehills, and anthills, and level ground.

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