You know, Walky being partially black was never brought up much in this webcomic, and really he just looks like a white dude with a tan, but regardless — Jason, damn, maybe you shouldn’t call him “monkey boy.”
You know, Walky being partially black was never brought up much in this webcomic, and really he just looks like a white dude with a tan, but regardless — Jason, damn, maybe you shouldn’t call him “monkey boy.”
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I always presumed that him being called monkey boy was a reference to him hanging upside down a few strips ago.
It was, but still probably something one should avoid saying!
Thanks for saying it, so I didn’t have to wonder if you realized how badly that line could come off!
He’s takin’ it back!
Had you decided on Walky’s ethnicity when you wrote the “Monkey boy” line?
to be fair, he looked Mexican to me
but yay for racism
I thought he was Native American.
I kinda thought he might be Indian/Pakistani. Dunno why.
I knew he was half-african American from Dumbing of Age. When I started reading Its Walky, I was like “oh, so Walky’s white in this universe – I guess Willis added the multi-racial thing to give Walky something to be conflict with Sal over.” I felt kinda stupid when I later realized that he was half-African American over here too.
It’s mentioned explicitly later on, but not until waaaaaay later. Makes sense if you didn’t pick up on it if you missed the, what, two strips it’s relevant in.
I think they’re 1/4 Black, actually.
I always thought he was Polynesian.
Same here!
Generically beige indeed, look at all this variety.
Mexican like Billie? 😉
…who’s half-asian/half-white? 😛
I’m from Pennsylvania, so I just never connected “monkey” as being a slur.
I think Jason probably wouldn’t see why it’d be racist since the monkey/ape comparison with black people is more an American thing (At least as far as I’ve seen). Sort of like how in Europe and Australia spastic is considered worse than retard but in the US it means child-like.
Its funny I was waiting for this page to come out so I could him out on this, but then I remember that wise crack I made about the Brits last night.
wrong
Yeah, the ape comparison thing is a thing here in the UK as well – though slightly complicated (not made better, just complicated) by the fact that for a long time, it was the Irish that were most likely to be represented as apes. I bet there is a thesis to be written (or has been written) comparing American racist cartoons of the late 1800s/early 1900s to anti-Irish Punch cartoons of the same period…
No lie, when I first read this, I thought he had a tail hidden in his pants.
Have I mentioned I was dumb as a teenager lately?
When I first read this, it was on the Joyce and Walky site and it had those buttons on the side (like the ones here, but for all the Walkyverse comics). Because of the button with the purple helmeted, dancing person, I figured Walky was going to turn out to be the villain (like Head Alien’s half-human son that he wanted to follow in his foot steps), but was just super inept and goofy and fell in love with Joyce and became good because love. And, y’know, obvs didn’t die because Joyce and Walky.
I just felt like sharing (did I share this before? I can’t remember.)
He does, but apparently it’s not very long.
Had you been playing Final Fantasy IX? (That’s what I always think of for ‘monkey boy’.)
Walky is Goku, CONFIRMED
If only Joyce had thought to ask if Jason could drive a stick shift, the whole story would be very different.
He can, but only in the left lane.
No, because Joyce was looking for an excuse to bring Walky along. If Jason had said he could drive stick, Joyce probably would have said something about needing as much help as they can get.
“I don’t want to lose this key to my past” — Joyce.
Walky: monkey boy? Well fuck you slim Jim.
“I don’t want to carry things.” is my new favorite line ever.
Jason – lowkey racist and UOENO it.
At first I thought that Sal and Walky would be hispanic.
I thought Sal and Walky were Hispanic also. Hard to keep track of, I pretty much ignore racial aspects unless pushed in my face: like with the feud between the older Walky and Sal.
Don’t think Jason is being racist, after all Walky WAS hanging upside down in the elevator, resembling a monky’s action I guess. Jason is just a stuffed shirt.
As for references to retard, classes for children with learning disabilities were called retarded back when schools has separate classroom for children who couldn’t handle the mainstream, it was not an insult and meant exactly what it said: they were retarded in mental/physical development.
Later development of putting emotionally disturbed children in mainstream classrooms was one of the bigger mistakes of our screwed up school system. Ah well. What don’t kill us makes us stronger, I hope.
Referring to another child as retarded was only an insult when you called the kid a ‘retard’.
As was spastic (a kid with a disease like ms) or spaz, if you were insulting a kid being a jerk.
Political correctness will be the death of me: drives me nuts. It is well and good to be polite, but there is a limit.
A retarded person is not ‘exceptional’, any more than a radioactive particle is a ‘sunshine unit’ (really, Govt. pamphlet on radiation in an attempt to dumb down the danger of atomic fallout in the ’50’s).
Deaf and dumb wasn’t an insult either. Look up dumb, it refers to the inability to speak. But, calling a kid dumb is an insult.
We are losing our ability to understand the ‘real’ meaning of the English words.
I will bet that this happens every couple of generations or so, as the language changes. I just think it’s really happening faster with us that with previous generations.
And now, the brilliant educators are going to stop teaching cursive writing in school. Yay. When our kids grow up, they won’t be able to read the US Constitution. But that’s okay, I’m sure our govt. will be glad to tell us what it means.
that sure is a lot of words to whine about wishing you could use “retard” without being called an asshole
I was kind of wondering whether I should just delete the whole thing for being amazingly terrible, but that last bit was too good to not snark on.
Maybe I could put in some blinking text that reads THIS IS WHAT JERKS ACTUALLY BELIEVE
YES. And you’ve clarified so succinctly, it’s great!
Before we know it the government will have these nine guys whose actual job is to tell us what the Constitution means!
This is a pretty common phenomenon called the Euphemism Treadmill.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill
It’s just the evolution of language in progress. Complaining about it is akin complaining that you can’t get away with loudly farting in public once you’re not a kid anymore (the latter of which might actually be a problem for Walky here).
I did not know no transcripts of the US constitution existed. That’s fascinating.
I know, right?
(Hell, I was taught to write cursive and I still have trouble reading it because, guess what, I don’t fucking use it for anything but my signature these days and NEITHER DOES ANYONE ELSE.)
I was taught to write cursive, and very well, but I still have trouble reading it because people write like shit
like, even PRINTED letters are gibberish kind of shit
Even people who are atrocious at cursive can learn Palaeography, we will be okay XD
It’s one of those things where, while there is context that makes it less bad, the historical context of that specific phrase to this specific person makes it an extremely unfortunate choice of words.
And, hi. I’m an autistic woman who was put in mainstream classes (with a one-on-one aide for a while to help me adjust) because, guess what, I was also excelling in academics and needed the challenge of higher level courses. I took algebra in seventh grade, and ultimately graduated from high school with so many AP credits my college wouldn’t actually accept all of them.
There are still classes offered for students who need extended and continual support, of course, which would be what we call special education. Because learning disabilities require different educational approaches and accommodations to get the same information across than neurotypical students. Funny concept, that.
Kids with learning disabilities are, in fact, exceptional, because we are an exception to the standard educational system which is in some cases only barely equipped to handle us, depending on the disability. I was and am an exception during testing- my handwriting is illegible, and the struggle to manually write things down impacts my ability to get information across. As a result, I have to test with a laptop, in a different testing location to ensure proper fairness. I am not at an unfair advantage compared to my classmates by having accommodations: I am at an unfair disadvantage compared to my classmates by not having and using them. I am routinely forced to navigate a system of social expectations and demands that is not designed for me, and rather than make it more accessible would rather I be excluded entirely.
I don’t have anything to say about your whole rant about words that isn’t covered more eloquently by the Euphemism Treadmill bit linked above. But seriously: I don’t have a word specifically applied to my disability being used as a general, highly negative insult. But I am used to being stared at in public as though something is wrong with me because I am frustrated with a system that even neurotypical people find insufferable. I am used to society saying something is wrong with me and I need to be cured of something I see as fundamental to who I am, and that it would be better for children to be dead than to be like me even though there is no evidence supporting the theories they’re touting in the first place. I am used to being the butt of jokes simply for my existence. And so if I did have a word that was used so insultingly associated with my disability, I would damn well be telling people to stop using it because I am still capable of emotions and it is hard enough trying to survive without that additional frustration.
In other words, you’re an asshole. Stop complaining about the fact that you’ve got the vocabulary of a belligerent thirteen-year-old and don’t like that it’s not socially acceptable anymore, and grow the fuck up.
Autistic women unite!
While I agree to an extent as far as language changing, and have/still do use(d) words like that myself (don’t judge me, my cousin is mental disabled, if you want to judge me in other ways…. meh, go for it.) still most people will (and it is deserved) call you an ass.
If you want more examples I could talk about bundle of fags…. (ie, bundle of sticks) Has it changed meanings? Yup. But if I use the word I am (usually) called an ass or worse. (Hell Ass = donkey, so you should be proud, you points being proven! Your still an tete de merde though.)
I wish to pour bleach in my eyes after reading this, but that would prevent me from reading the rest of this comic.
People who balk at language change irritate me, ESPECIALLY the ones who do so to justify their own shitty use of language.
Until today, it did not occur to me that “monkey” could be interpreted as racist in this context. This is probably a cultural thing. I’m from Germany, and “Affe” (monkey) is usually used as insult for people with stupid, childlike behavior. It does not help that Walky was hanging upside down from the ceiling. In fact, “sich zum Affen machen” (literal translation: “making a monkey of oneself”) means “making a fool of oneself”.
Most of the prejudices in the area where I live are directed against people whose parents or grandparents immigrated from Turkey (because they are more numerous). This is just as bad, but it explains why you don’t hear much slurs against black people around here: racists use their energy for other targets.
There’s a pretty much identical phrase in English.
There’s also a long and ugly history of comparing people of African descent to apes, to the point where we still have assholes doing it with regards to President Obama.
No comments on Jason advocating mugging a civilian and stealing his car?
Well, he does not “steal” his car, he “confiscates” it 😉
Besides, Walky is a member of SEMME.
If Jason is “confiscating” the truck, he’s got a bizarre definition of “backseat driving.”
♫And when she smiiiiiles…
The whole world stops to stare for a while!♫
It’s kinda only racist if he meant it specifically about Walky’s ethnicity.
Otherwise it’s just another insult.
Don’t limit you’re characters in what they can say, make it so that they’ll insult EVERYONE equally.
Honestly never connected the monkey racism thing here. Guess it’s could be the fact that most racists I know, run the other way when they see me…… or that I just don’t pay attention.
Historically, I am aware of the use but since I have not heard it used that way in my lifetime, so I assumed that reference had gone the way of the dinosaurs.
In this manner, to me, it’s less racism more reference to him in the elevator, even if he was obviously black in the comic.
Yeah, it’s not a big deal in this particular case (especially considering his race hasn’t been made clear to the audience yet), but it’s still really really unfortunate and an alternative would be preferable. Like saying “the subprime mortgage crisis crippled the American economy” to a person in a wheelchair. It’s forgivable, but still not exactly ideal.
Alternate-universe Britain for the the alternate-universe British! Join the AUBNP today!
To be fair, Jason is British, and as a fellow Brit I can inform you that we are very casually racist.
I think it’s due to a combination of old imperial superiority combined with a sense of humor that’s mostly self-deppreciative. Since “British” is one of those weird ethnicities that can be stapled on to the front of any other ethnicity (British White, British Irish, British Indian, British Chinese, British South African, British American, British Canadian, British Caribbean—I could go on forever. The ‘ethnicity’ part of the census takes up an entire page, just about), we end up insulting both ourselves and other “Brits”, even when those Brits are not British.
Heck, I like to think of myself as an open minded person with no prejudices, but it wasn’t until an Italian friend pointed out how offensive a popular advert for Dolmio pasta sauce was that I realized it was racist—for the uninformed, it involves puppets representing a stereotypical (very, very stereotypical) Italian family (Google it yourself). Dolmio is actually the biggest brand of pasta sauce in the UK, owned by Mars, this advert is shown on daytime television, and I didn’t see anything wrong with it until an Italian pointed it out.
So yeah, we’re bad people. Bad, bad people. Funny, though.
Walky? You need to get out more if you think that smile is ‘pretty’ – I’ve got a ‘staring at your ear, listening to a voice only they can hear’ fanatic vibe from Joyce’s expression (which is some cool art, but kinda jarring to the story there)
Wait, walky isn’t just a white dude with a tan or italian?
….
Huh… Yeah, I would not have figured that out until you mentioned it in the commentary right here.
Also, not sure if it’s racist since Walky does act like a monkey a lot.
Well maybe it was racist for you the author for making the black kid act like a monkey, I dunno.
The problem is for DECADES people will either use monkies/apes or redraw a character as one to make fun of them.
its 2014 and several countries wanted to make fun of Obama. Never mind he’s an American (easy enough to make fun of) , or that he’s president, or a democrat, or wears a suit or has many funny Obama-isms.
They turn him into a monkey. Cus he’s black.
Even a term like “Jungle fever” was seen as acceptable.
Its the “go to” way to dehumanize someone of that descent, a century ago, and even today.
So yea if our society werent complete colossal jerkholes for the last few centuries then maybe we could make jokes like that.
it is significant to note that this confusion happens but part of the problem is the fact that apparently (based on DoA’s Walky grade freak out) that BOTH kids use ALOT of product to straighten their hair.
So its kinda ironic. Human culture makes it seem like only straight hair is attractive, So Walky and Sal, both half black straighten their hair, probably not intentionally but because their parents thought “i want my kids to look well groomed so I’m going to straighten their hair”
and then bamf, people get the “benefit” of not having to realize they are dealing with a black person.
Its all very systemic, and the fact that it ( I think, I’m still new to David Willis) was unintentional shows just how ingrained stuff like this in our society is.