If a Japanese writer of code, gets asked by a phone company to produce a collection of clichéd cartoon characters for use on Japanese mobiles, and he expresses a preference for pale skinned characters, does that make his work inherently racist? Good question. While we are at it, what about all those, to my mind irrelevant , Asian food and building and transport and festival references ? (I still love using them) Are they politically correct? Maybe the clue is in the label: Emoji ....sounds a bit Japanese to me. Haven't we just grabbed for our daily use, totally out of context, a very Asian thing (their written languages contain characters). If an international body (Unicode) is charged with setting up an international standard, well that is a very different discussion, and surely must take into consideration the full diversity of users?
People need to get a grip, emoticons are used for the emotions they are expressing, and not to represent the colour of the sender. Diversity and equality is lovely and all that but come one - besides, most people use only the yellow faces so that's hardly white is it - unless your a Simpsons character.
Miley Cyrus is compaining about this, just because she has decided she wants to be black now and enjoy black **** doesn't mean anyone should listen to her crap
I am half Jamaican and half Scottish, so while they are on the topic they'd better make a brownish-beige face if they are talking about equality on not just stick us under the black umbrella like these RACISTS love to do hmph!
This is based on some ignorant person's comments made some time ago (exact same one).
EMOJI ARE ORIENTAL NOT CAUCASIAN! Originally designed for use exclusively in Japan, duh! You used to have to get a special app and code to unlock them, previous to apple enabling emoji outside of japan in iOS 4 or 5
As I understand it Emoji were at some point absorbed into Unicode and Apple absorbed Unicode in to it's iOS. The app that you referred to simply unlocked the Emoji embedded in Unicode, and thus the iOS. Apple adopted the Unicode standard (as others have also done) but initially locked the Emoji on the iPhone for some reason. Apple is now making representation to Unicode to update the standard to include more ethnically diverse characters in its Emoji set. The Emoji set included in Unicode was updated a while back.
Looking at Apple's current "People" emoji, I think I counted 139 icons. The vast majority are circles with the color of the sun, which IMO doesn't represent any human race. I count only 35 that could be considered "human" (although cartoon representations) and it's true that those are all Caucasian, although not a particular national group (they don't look Asian, for example).
While I can see the argument that there should be brown-skinned versions of these cartoon characters, is this really an important issue? I get something like 48,000 emails a year and I've never noticed a single one that had any of these Emojis in them. In fact, until this thread, I didn't even realize they existed in the Apple character set. The 18 Emojis available to post with also don't represent any ethnicity or race. Examples: . Come to think of it, I don't I've ever seen these in a post either.
I am afraid I will be politically incorrect and use a LGBT emoticon in the wrong way and offend someone. That would be worse than be labeled a global warming denier.
I think I will play it safe and go back to just plain text.
It should be an Onion story, but there will always be some anti-white or white-guilt liberal stain somewhere who will find a way to see some sort of oppression where none exists, and rally to fix an imaginary problem in the name of "equality"...
God damn liberalism.
"PS: I'm using scientific terms in physical anthropology and not any pejorative slang to which you may only be familiar."
SolipsimX had to make this ridiculous disclaimer why? Because what I said above is the truth. Since he doesn't normally include disclaimers with his posts to avoid offending the ultra-offendable, I have to think he does not believe that most of you are uneducated morons who need such information spoon-fed to them, but who knows, maybe he is that arrogant.
yes, yes, but, the point I'm trying to make is that the first emoji were first designed by the Japanese, so they apply more to the Japanese culture and that, some american claims that the people emoji are caucasian, as if everything originates in the USA, yet, they are not caucasian, but, oriental, (look closely at the faces), this is how presumptuous americans can be (yes, I'm american too, and caucasian). Not only the faces, but all the emoji, the first set did not have a pizza slice, but did have things like a noodle bowl, etc. Some pages are of symbols not used by americans.
Americans are not the only inventors in the world, in this case, the Japanese invented something that caught on internationally, so, while Apple added a few emoji w/iOS 6, and people more widely use it, now, somebody thinks there is a lack of diversity, when it is simply that we like something made in another country & culture and think it has to be adapted to american "diversity" PC. I don't agree or disagree, I just think it's presumptuous, and I wish people would quit quoting this person that has no idea what they are talking about. (The claim about caucasian people was made some time ago, unfortunately, repeated here and a couple other blogs sites.)
Also, the Emoji keyboard used to be found with the Japanese keyboard layout, not just by itself. (I think Apple buried it there on purpose so that people wouldn't get the wrong idea....)
SolipsimX had to make this ridiculous disclaimer why? Because what I said above is the truth. Since he doesn't normally include disclaimers with his posts to avoid offending the ultra-offendable, I have to think he does not believe that most of you are uneducated morons who need such information spoon-fed to them, but who knows, maybe he is that arrogant.
Is it arrogant to consider that anthropology may not be a hobby or career for the majority of people here on this tech forum? Is it arrogant to want to get out in front of any potential miscommunication without having to rewrite my entire post?
Is it arrogant to assert as the only possibility for my post script is that I must believe everyone here is an "uneducated moron" without any consideration that I may respect many of my fellow contributors to the point that I'd hate to offend them with terminology that may be read as racial outside of a very specific field of study that I'd take the time to include such a disclaimer? My anecdotal experience is that most people aren't professional anthropologists or armchair enthusiasts which may mean neural terms like Negroid and Congoid might be seen as derogative.
PS: Why go the passive-agressive route in your response?
I am afraid I will be politically incorrect and use a LGBT emoticon in the wrong way and offend someone. That would be worse than be labeled a global warming denier.
I think I will play it safe and go back to just plain text.
Anyone remember this guy?
No he is not a emoji or emoticon. He was born before Apple even started.
Comments
while apple wants to add more emoji, other companies developp their activities and invest in startups like waze, oculus rift, whatsapp....
And the big question is:
Is J.ive in charge of these emojis design ??
If an international body (Unicode) is charged with setting up an international standard, well that is a very different discussion, and surely must take into consideration the full diversity of users?
Miley Cyrus is compaining about this, just because she has decided she wants to be black now and enjoy black **** doesn't mean anyone should listen to her crap
I am half Jamaican and half Scottish, so while they are on the topic they'd better make a brownish-beige face if they are talking about equality on not just stick us under the black umbrella like these RACISTS love to do hmph!
EMOJI ARE ORIENTAL NOT CAUCASIAN! Originally designed for use exclusively in Japan, duh! You used to have to get a special app and code to unlock them, previous to apple enabling emoji outside of japan in iOS 4 or 5
Looking at Apple's current "People" emoji, I think I counted 139 icons. The vast majority are circles with the color of the sun, which IMO doesn't represent any human race. I count only 35 that could be considered "human" (although cartoon representations) and it's true that those are all Caucasian, although not a particular national group (they don't look Asian, for example).
While I can see the argument that there should be brown-skinned versions of these cartoon characters, is this really an important issue? I get something like 48,000 emails a year and I've never noticed a single one that had any of these Emojis in them. In fact, until this thread, I didn't even realize they existed in the Apple character set. The 18 Emojis available to post with also don't represent any ethnicity or race. Examples:
. Come to think of it, I don't I've ever seen these in a post either.
Emoji's are pointless to begin with, but if you must have them, then you might as well be thorough with the selection...
Perhaps more colors for
?
Maybe one with some bits of corn?I think I will play it safe and go back to just plain text.
Anyone remember this guy?
[IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/40715/width/350/height/700[/IMG]
No he is not a emoji or emoticon. He was born before Apple even started.
Emojis: people with bodies are under-represented.
Accidentally created by Forrest Gump¡
God damn liberalism.
"PS: I'm using scientific terms in physical anthropology and not any pejorative slang to which you may only be familiar."
SolipsimX had to make this ridiculous disclaimer why? Because what I said above is the truth. Since he doesn't normally include disclaimers with his posts to avoid offending the ultra-offendable, I have to think he does not believe that most of you are uneducated morons who need such information spoon-fed to them, but who knows, maybe he is that arrogant.
yes, yes, but, the point I'm trying to make is that the first emoji were first designed by the Japanese, so they apply more to the Japanese culture and that, some american claims that the people emoji are caucasian, as if everything originates in the USA, yet, they are not caucasian, but, oriental, (look closely at the faces), this is how presumptuous americans can be (yes, I'm american too, and caucasian). Not only the faces, but all the emoji, the first set did not have a pizza slice, but did have things like a noodle bowl, etc. Some pages are of symbols not used by americans.
Americans are not the only inventors in the world, in this case, the Japanese invented something that caught on internationally, so, while Apple added a few emoji w/iOS 6, and people more widely use it, now, somebody thinks there is a lack of diversity, when it is simply that we like something made in another country & culture and think it has to be adapted to american "diversity" PC. I don't agree or disagree, I just think it's presumptuous, and I wish people would quit quoting this person that has no idea what they are talking about. (The claim about caucasian people was made some time ago, unfortunately, repeated here and a couple other blogs sites.)
Also, the Emoji keyboard used to be found with the Japanese keyboard layout, not just by itself. (I think Apple buried it there on purpose so that people wouldn't get the wrong idea....)
Is it arrogant to consider that anthropology may not be a hobby or career for the majority of people here on this tech forum? Is it arrogant to want to get out in front of any potential miscommunication without having to rewrite my entire post?
Is it arrogant to assert as the only possibility for my post script is that I must believe everyone here is an "uneducated moron" without any consideration that I may respect many of my fellow contributors to the point that I'd hate to offend them with terminology that may be read as racial outside of a very specific field of study that I'd take the time to include such a disclaimer? My anecdotal experience is that most people aren't professional anthropologists or armchair enthusiasts which may mean neural terms like Negroid and Congoid might be seen as derogative.
PS: Why go the passive-agressive route in your response?
I prefer his dirt loving slacker kid,
The one-eyed trouser snake? That Mr. Happy?
Whaaat? I'm talking about the childrens' books by Roger Hargreaves.
LOL I've never heard of it.