- Joined
- Apr 17, 2020
Good evening. I discovered something highly problematic earlier today. Please forgive me for waiting all the way until this evening to share it. I wasn't sure how to best approach this extremely sensitive subject.
As some of you may know, there is a feature here on kiwifarm.com called "Reaction Stickers". These "stickers" comprise a group of several emojis that can be "awarded" to individual posts. Earlier today when I discovered the photo linked below I realized that one of our reaction stickers is an emoji that looks strikingly similar to the one described there. I know that this probably wasn't intentional, but unfortunately I think they may be too similar, and therefore must cease being placed on people's posts here. Why, you ask?
Because this image represents something known as a Moai, a symbol of another culture. I did my research and dug deeper into this claim and discovered that the person who posted it was correct. This was a Moai. Seeing this image might make the indigenous people of Rapa Nui feel disrespected.
In fact, posting this emoji could even be viewed as racist.
Try to imagine for just a moment how hurtful it would be to us Americans to suddenly scroll past an image of the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, brazenly displayed completely without our consent and/or approval by an oblivious (but likely well-meaning) member of a totally different culture who has no idea whatsoever of the historical origins or significance of such monuments. How disrespected you would feel? I imagine you would be completely heartbroken.
To those of you thanking me for bringing this to your attention, you are welcome in advance. Pass this on to everyone else.
As some of you may know, there is a feature here on kiwifarm.com called "Reaction Stickers". These "stickers" comprise a group of several emojis that can be "awarded" to individual posts. Earlier today when I discovered the photo linked below I realized that one of our reaction stickers is an emoji that looks strikingly similar to the one described there. I know that this probably wasn't intentional, but unfortunately I think they may be too similar, and therefore must cease being placed on people's posts here. Why, you ask?
Because this image represents something known as a Moai, a symbol of another culture. I did my research and dug deeper into this claim and discovered that the person who posted it was correct. This was a Moai. Seeing this image might make the indigenous people of Rapa Nui feel disrespected.
In fact, posting this emoji could even be viewed as racist.
Try to imagine for just a moment how hurtful it would be to us Americans to suddenly scroll past an image of the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, brazenly displayed completely without our consent and/or approval by an oblivious (but likely well-meaning) member of a totally different culture who has no idea whatsoever of the historical origins or significance of such monuments. How disrespected you would feel? I imagine you would be completely heartbroken.
To those of you thanking me for bringing this to your attention, you are welcome in advance. Pass this on to everyone else.
