World of Weird Al Yankovic

TMBJon wrote:Latinos/Hispanics are indeed a race.

I'd call it ethnicity, not race. I thought there were only 3 races - caucasian, mongoloid and negroid (sometimes australoid being separated from the latter), and in that system Latinos/Hispanics are caucasians. A Lithuanian with a dark complexion (or one who regularly visits solarium ) could make a convincing Latino, I see no differences.

I mean race as a biological term, and only these 3-4 seem to be distictive enough. How many races do you count, and how do you define them?

So, if latino is an ethnicity, then that really cements this song as not being racist.
He's singing about food, for crying out loud. "Rico Suave" is far more offensive. Not to latinos, but to women. If you thought the people commenting on the article over on the Cracked site thought this article was garbage, you should see the comments on the Cracked Facebook page. Everyone agrees that this person has no idea what he's talking about. A few comments even state that whoever wrote the article re-posted it after it got tons of negative comments the first time.

algonacchick wrote:So, if latino is an ethnicity, then that really cements this song as not being racist.

This is a really poor semantic argument. The author would just say "okay I mean to say anti-Mexican, not racist" and then you'd be arguing the same point. Race has no actual meaning in a biological sense; it's a human construct based on skin pigmentation. Regardless, the song is not anti-Mexican (and quite certainly pro-Mexican food. )

mellow weasel wrote:I've not tried any food mentioned

Well you oughta. (Just don't drink the water.)

The only thing i see that could be construed as racist is that Al just assumed Cheech spoke Spanish, but even thats pushing it

Yeah, okay, Jon. I have said that this song is just about Mexican food each time I've posted about the article. I also mentioned that it didn't matter about the race/ethnicity of the person singing it.
Btw, I did have huevos rancheros for breakfast after all. Delicious!

algonacchick wrote:I also mentioned that it didn't matter about the race/ethnicity of the person singing it.

Youtube

So what's that supposed to mean? The person who wrote the article assumes the person is Mexican.

I'm not understanding your replies to me today.

I don't understand any of your replies to me either!

I just don't know why you had to post that clip.

We all agree that this song does not deserve to be on this list, and certainly not at #2.

algonacchick wrote:I just don't know why you had to post that clip.

You said it doesn't matter what race the narrator of the song is. I disagree with that; the song tells a very different story if it's a white guy who's obsessed with Mexican cuisine, or if it's a Mexican guy who loves the food he grew up with.