@Plone3000 Yag!!! I didn’t say that racism was in the eye of the beholder. I said that “Offensiveness” was in the eye of the beholder.
And yes, I can tell you differently, because I am looking at the definition of the word, racism. Can you tell me how you see that definition – or any published definition – applying to the billboard?
I’m not debating whether the thing is offensive. Clearly it’s offended a lot of people here. So bringing in “retarded” is no help. Yes, insulting anyone with any word is offensive. That’s the idea.
But just because someone is offended by the billboard, and the picture is a black girl, and the copy mentions black women, it’s not necessarily racist.
Here. Is this racist: same girl’s picture, and the copy says, “John Wayne Public killed thirteen black girls in Baltimore after drinking all night at Mayhew’s Bar. Write your congressman to close Mayhews.”
It’s wrongheaded, it’s exploitative, and it has the picture and talks about black people. But it’s not racist. It’s just offensive—and stupid.—